Thich Nhat Hanh, influential Zen Buddhist monk, dies at 95
- He introduced ‘mindfulness’ and Zen Buddhism to the West for inner peace and advocated for world peace through his anti-war activism
- To weather the storms of life he counselled a ‘return to the breath,’ even while doing routine chores like sweeping and washing dishes
Thich Nhat Hanh, the revered Zen Buddhist monk who helped spread the practice of mindfulness in the West and socially engaged Buddhism in the East, has died. He was 95.
The death was confirmed by a monk at Tu Hieu Pagoda in Hue, Vietnam who said that Nhat Hanh, known as Thay to his followers, died at midnight on Saturday. The monk declined to be named because he is not authorised to speak to media.
A post on Nhat Hanh’s verified Twitter page attributed to The International Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism also confirmed the news, saying, “We invite our beloved global spiritual family to take a few moments to be still, to come back to our mindful breathing, as we together hold Thay in our hearts.”
Born as Nguyen Xuan Bao in 1926 in Hue and ordained at age 16, Nhat Hanh distilled Buddhist teachings on compassion and suffering into easily grasped guidance over a lifetime dedicated to working for peace. In 1961 he went to the United States to study, teaching comparative religion for a time at Princeton and Columbia universities.
For most of the remainder of his life, he lived in exile at Plum Village, a retreat centre he founded in southern France.