The life of Thich Nhat Hanh

Thich Nhat Hanh at the age of 16 in 1942 after he received novice ordination to enter monkhood.

He was born in Thanh Trung Village of Quang Dien District in Thua Thien Hue Province in a family of six siblings. He is a middle child.

After becoming a monk at the age of 23, he left Hue for Saigon in 1949.

Thich Nhat Hanh as a young Dharma Teacher (back row, right) with his students at the An Quang Buddhist Institute in Saigon in 1950s. Photo by Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism

Thich Nhat Hanh teaches children in Saigon to read and write using a song about the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion, early 1960s. Photo by Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism

By then, he had developed a social work program for rural development and founded the School of Youth for Social Service.

Thich Nhat Hanh is with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at a joint press conference to call against the Vietnam War in Chicago, the U.S, in May 1966.

In January 1967, in his role as the Nobel Peace Prize laureate of 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called Thich Nhat Hanh "an Apostle of peace and nonviolence" when nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Thich Nhat Hanh had kept traveling from place to place to spread the message of peace and brotherhood, and led the Buddhist delegation to the Paris Peace Talks in 1969. Photo by Sweeping Zen

Thich Nhat Hanh in south-west France, early 1980s.

He had continued to teach, lecture and write on the art of mindfulness and in the early 1970s, he became a lecturer and researcher in Buddhism at the University of Sorbonne, Paris.

In 1975 he established the Sweet Potato community near Paris, and in 1982, moved to an area in the southwest of France, where he and his students found what is now the mindfulness practice center, "Plum Village." Photo by Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism

After more than four decades away from home, Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh returned to Vietnam for the first time in 2005. He came back three more times in 2007, 2008 and 2017.

In this photo, he was standing at Tu Hieu Temple. Photo by Touching Peace Photography/Paul Davis

Thich Nhat Hanh reviews one of his newly-published books in 2011.

He had written over 120 books of poetry, fiction, sutra translations on Buddhism practices and meditation. Photo by Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism.

Thich Nhat Hanh leads a walking meditation with his community in Plum Village, June 2014. P hoto by Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism.

Thich Nhat Hanh’s students celebrate his 92nd birthday in Thailand in October, 2018.

Following a major stroke in November 2014, Thich Nhat Hanh moved to Thailand and stay at the Plum Village meditation center there.

Thich Nhat Hanh join his students and followers for a morning walk around Tu Hieu Temple in Hue in 2020.

He moved back in Vietnam and stayed at the temple from October, 2018.

Thich Nhat Hanh is taken care of by his students at Tu Hieu in February 2021.

He died on Jan. 22 at the age of 95.