Nhat Hanh

Thích Nhất Hạnh (born 1926) is an expatriate Vietnamese Buddhist monk, peace activist, and prolific author in English. (The title Thich applies to all Vietnamese Buddhist monks. The full combination is pronounced Tick-Naught-Han. Further nuances are discussed below.)

Biography

Thich Nhat Hanh born in Vietnam and left home as a teenager to become a Zen monk. He founded the Van Hanh Buddhist University in Vietnam.

For his pacifist activism during the Vietnam War, Thich Nhat Hanh was nominated by Martin Luther King, Jr for the 1967 Nobel Peace Prize. (Despite King's high praise, the committee decided not to make an award that year. King's revelation of his nomination was a violation of tradition and the explicit "strong request" of the prize committee.)

In 1982 he founded Plum Village Buddhist Center, a meditation community in the Dordogne in the south of France. As of 2005 he heads a monastic community and the lay group, the Order of Inter-Being, teaching the fourteen Mindfulness Trainings and "Engaged Buddhism".

Names applied to him

The Vietnamese title Thich means, roughly, "of the Shakya (Shakyamuni Buddha) clan", and is usually translated as a title "Venerable". All Vietnamese monks have this title, implying that their first family is the Buddhist community.

Apparently neither "Nhat" nor "Hanh" -- which approximate the roles of surname and given name, respectively, in referring to him in English -- was part of his name at birth. "Nhat" approximates "first-class", or "of best quality", in English; "Hanh" approximates "right conduct" or "good nature".

Nhat is referred to as "Thây" ("teacher") by his followers.