A monk at sixteen
Born Nguyễn Xuân Bảo in 1926, he entered Từ Hiếu Temple in Huế, Vietnam as a novice monk at age sixteen. He would go on to become one of the most influential Buddhist teachers of the twentieth century, known to his students simply as Thầy — "teacher."
Exile, and a new community
During the Vietnam War, Thich Nhat Hanh founded the School of Youth for Social Service, training young volunteers to rebuild bombed villages and support orphaned children — work that led to decades of exile from Vietnam. In 1982, he founded Plum Village in southwestern France, which has since grown into one of the West's largest Buddhist monasteries.
Making mindfulness simple
Across more than 100 books, Thich Nhat Hanh became known for teaching mindfulness in plain, practical language — including simple breathing exercises still taught to children today, like breathing in as though smelling a flower and breathing out as though cooling a bowl of hot soup.
