My previous article in this series discussed how Thích Nhất Hạnh’s Engaged Buddhism took concrete form during the war years, addressing the suffering in Vietnam. After returning from the United States in 1963, he co-founded Vạn Hạnh University the following year to modernize Buddhist education. In 1965, he established the School of Youth for Social Service, which trained young monastics and laypeople to carry out humanitarian work in war-torn areas. Despite life-threatening risks, he remained firmly committed to nonviolence and compassion, teaching his students to prepare to die without hatred.
The article also explored the founding of the Order of Interbeing in 1966—a community of monastics and laypeople committed to mindful and socially engaged living, guided by the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings. This marked a further step in his vision of Buddhism as a path of compassionate action.
Finally, we saw how these commitments were grounded in Thích Nhất Hạnh’s deep insight into the interbeing nature of reality, which transcends dualities such as self and other, life and death. This was most deeply and powerfully expressed in his personal reflections on dying without hatred, written just before he embarked on a peace mission abroad. His unwavering compassion, even in the face of cruelty and death, revealed a spiritual clarity that empowered both his inner practice and his outward action.
In this next part, we continue to trace the development of his Engaged Buddhism. We begin by examining Thích Nhất Hạnh’s engagement with other religions, another important aspect of his teachings.
Interfaith engagement
During his trip to the West in 1966 to appeal for global support to end the Vietnam War, Thích Nhất Hạnh formed an interfaith friendship with the American Christian monk Thomas Merton, who expressed: “He is more my brother than many who are nearer to me by race and nationality because he and I see things exactly the same way. He and I deplore the war that is ravaging his country.” (Apel 2006)
Thích Nhất Hạnh also met Martin Luther King Jr., the renowned Baptist minister and civil rights leader, who nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize the following year. In the nomination letter, King stated: “His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity.” (King 1967)
Robert Harlen King, a notable scholar of philosophy and religion, describes this powerful encounter:
A strong personal bond developed between King and Nhất Hạnh, not unlike that between Merton and Nhất Hạnh. Their relationship helped to transform the Buddhist’s view of Christianity as well as strengthen his appreciation for the practice of nonviolence. At the time of their last meeting, not long before King’s assassination, Nhất Hạnh recalls saying to him: “You know, Martin, in Vietnam they consider you a bodhisattva.” He could apply this Buddhist title of honor to a Christian leader because he recognized in him the same spirit of peace and love so important to his own religious tradition. (King 2001)
Interfaith engagement is an important aspect of Thích Nhất Hạnh’s Engaged Buddhism; Living Buddha, Living Christ and Going Home: Jesus and Buddha as Brothers are two of his books that particularly contribute to interfaith dialogue. In future articles, based on my PhD interview data, I will explore whether and how his approach to Buddhism is applicable and effective for people of different spiritual backgrounds and also those without any religious belief.
Banned from returning to Vietnam
According to Thích Nhất Hạnh’s teachings, war, which causes all to suffer, is the result of misunderstanding. He therefore aimed for reconciliation rather than victory. (Thích Nhất Hạnh 2005) His refusal to side with either the South or the North Vietnamese government during the war led both sides to regard him as an enemy. As a result, he was banned from returning to his homeland in 1966. (Kyte n.d., Plum Village n.d., Powers 2016)
Buddhist leaders in Vietnam also urged him not to return, warning that he might be killed or imprisoned. In fact, he was nearly assassinated before departing on his trip. (King 1996, Powers 2016) It wasn’t until nearly four decades later, in the 2000s, that Thích Nhất Hạnh was permitted to return to Vietnam on three occasions, in 2005, 2007, and 2008. During these visits, he gave Dharma talks, led retreats, met with the leaders of the Buddhist community, published several of his books in Vietnamese and conducted ceremonies for those who had lost their lives in the war. (Chapman 2007, Powers 2016, Thích Nhất Hạnh 2017, Unified Buddhist Church 2016)
Initial years living in exile in France
During his years in exile, Thích Nhất Hạnh resided mostly in France, which granted him asylum. (Unified Buddhist Church 2016) Living in a foreign land—while everything and everyone he knew remained in his home country—was not easy for him in the beginning. As he reflected:
I have to admit that the first two years of exile were quite difficult. Although I was already a forty-year-old monk with many disciples, I had still not yet found my true home. I could give very good lectures on the practice of Buddhism, but I had not truly arrived. Intellectually, I knew a lot about Buddhism: I had trained for many years in the Buddhist Institute and had been practicing since I was sixteen, but I hadn’t yet really found my true home. (Thích Nhất Hạnh 2016)
While he had excellent knowledge of Buddhism and extensive experience in the practice, he realized that his insight was still not very deep. During that difficult period, he remained active and met people from diverse backgrounds, getting to know their cultures and religions. He explained:
My practice was the practice of mindfulness. I tried to live in the here and now and touch the wonders of life every day. It was thanks to this practice that I survived. The trees in Europe were so different from the trees in Vietnam. The fruits, the flowers, the people, they were all completely different. The practice brought me back to my true home in the here and now. Eventually I stopped suffering. . . . (Thích Nhất Hạnh 2016)
“I have arrived, I am home”
For Thích Nhất Hạnh, our true home is not found in any particular country but always in the present moment. He said, “only in this moment, in this place, called the here and the now, is life possible.” (Thích Nhất Hạnh 2014) This means we do not need to take any form of transportation; our mindful breaths and steps, which can free us from the past and the future, are enough to bring us home to the here and now.
We can therefore arrive home anywhere, at any time. As a result of this insight, the phrase “I have arrived, I am home,” which represents the essence of Thích Nhất Hạnh’s own practice, has become a core teaching of Plum Village. (Thích Nhất Hạnh 2016) A calligraphy of this phrase, written by Thích Nhất Hạnh himself, can be seen at Plum Village:
He also encouraged people to use this phrase when practicing walking meditation:
Usually, our in-breath tends to be a little shorter than our out-breath. When you breathe in, you may take two steps and say: “I have arrived, I have arrived.” When you breathe out, you might like to take three steps and say: “I am home, I am home, I am home.” “Home” means being at home in the present moment where you can touch all the wonders of life. We should be able to walk with a lot of tenderness and happiness on this beautiful planet. “I have arrived, I am home,” is not a statement but a practice. (Thích Nhất Hạnh 2014)
Thích Nhất Hạnh expressed that such an insight came “precisely because I did not have a country of my own that I had the opportunity to find my true home.” (Thích Nhất Hạnh 2016) In other words, his lack of a national identity created a situation in which such a breakthrough became possible.
“No mud, no lotus”
This experience not only demonstrates how mindfulness practice can transform suffering into insight, but also affirms that suffering is a necessary condition for insight. As the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths assert, we must first recognize our suffering (First Truth) in order to understand its cause (Second Truth); only then can we see that suffering can end (Third Truth) by following the Noble Eightfold Path (Fourth Truth). (See my previous article “Buddhist Mindfulness Versus Secular Mindfulness, Part 2” for more on the Four Noble Truths).
The phrase “no mud, no lotus” can be found at Plum Village (see photo below). Thích Nhất Hạnh often used it to illustrate the inseparable nature of suffering and happiness. He explained:
Everyone knows we need to have mud for lotuses to grow. The mud doesn’t smell so good, but the lotus flower smells very good. If you don’t have mud, the lotus won’t manifest. You can’t grow lotus flowers on marble. Without mud, there can be no lotus . . . suffering is a kind of mud that we need in order to generate joy and happiness. Without suffering, there’s no happiness. (Thích Nhất Hạnh 2014)
He elaborated:
If you haven’t suffered hunger, you can’t appreciate having something to eat. If you haven’t gone through a war, you don’t know the value of peace. That is why we should not try to run away from one unpleasant thing after another. Holding our suffering, looking deeply into it, and transforming it into compassion, we find a way to happiness. (Thích Nhất Hạnh 2014)
Thích Nhất Hạnh expressed that mindfulness, which enables us to see things deeply, has the capacity to transform the mud of suffering into the lotus of compassion, understanding, and happiness. While suffering is essential for creating happiness, he reminded us that “most of us have enough suffering inside and around us to be able to do that. We don’t have to create more.” (Thích Nhất Hạnh 2014) Based on my PhD interview data, I will explore the role of suffering in cultivating insight and propelling one’s practice in future articles.
Continuing effort to end war in Vietnam
While in France, Thích Nhất Hạnh continued to visit various Western countries, seeking international support to end the Vietnam War. In 1968, he established an office of the Unified Buddhist Church in France, which was transformed the following year into the Vietnamese Buddhist Peace Delegation, chaired by himself. The delegation worked to influence the Paris Peace Talks and to inform the world about the realities of the war in Vietnam. (King 1996)
In the early 1970s, Thích Nhất Hạnh also taught Buddhism at the University of Paris-Sorbonne. (Plum Village n.d., Powers 2016) The Vietnam War eventually ended in 1975, with the country reunified under communist rule.
Conclusion
Thích Nhất Hạnh’s 1966 peace tour to the West brought him into contact with influential Christian leaders Thomas Merton and Martin Luther King Jr. They both deeply resonated with his message of nonviolence and compassion. These encounters shaped his vision of interfaith friendship as a powerful force for social transformation, rooted in mutual understanding, spiritual solidarity, and a shared commitment to peace.
However, his refusal to take sides in the conflict led both the South and North Vietnamese governments to deny him re-entry in 1966, marking the beginning of his exile in France. Cut off from his homeland, he deepened his understanding of mindfulness and suffering. “I have arrived, I am home” and “no mud, no lotus” became not only personal insights but foundational teachings of his Engaged Buddhism. For Thích Nhất Hạnh, the path of peace required not the avoidance of suffering, but its mindful transformation.
The next article will wrap up this series on Thích Nhất Hạnh’s Engaged Buddhism during wartime Vietnam by highlighting its key characteristics. After that, we will turn to his Engaged Buddhism in the post-war period, after he had settled in France.
References
Apel, William. 2006. Signs of Peace: The Interfaith Letters of Thomas Merton. New York: Orbis Books.
Chapman, John. 2007. “The 2005 pilgrimage and return to Vietnam of exiled Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh.” In P. Taylor (Ed.), Modernity and Re-enchantment: Religion in Post-revolutionary Vietnam (pp. 297–341). Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
King, Martin L. 1967. Nomination of Thích Nhất Hạnh for the Nobel Peace Prize. Retrieved from http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/025.html
King, Robert H. 2001. Thomas Merton and Thích Nhất Hạnh: Engaged Spirituality in an Age of Globalization. New York: Continuum.
King, Sallie B. 1996. “Thích Nhất Hạnh and the Unified Buddhist Church: Nondualism in action.” In C. S. Queen (Ed.), Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Liberation Movements in Asia (pp. 321–63). Albany: State University of New York Press.
Kyte, Lindsay. n.d. The life of Thích Nhất Hạnh. Retrieved from https://www.lionsroar.com/the-life-of-thich-nhat-hanh/amp/
Plum Village. n.d. The life story of Thích Nhất Hạnh. Retrieved from https://plumvillage.org/about/thich-nhat-hanh/biography/
Powers, John. 2016. “Thích Nhất Hạnh.” In J. Powers (Ed.), The Buddhist World (pp. 606–16). New York: Routledge.
Thích Nhất Hạnh. 2014. No Mud, No Lotus: The Art of Transforming Suffering. Berkeley, California: Parallax Press.
Thích Nhất Hạnh. 2016. At Home in the World: Stories and Essential Teachings From a Monk’s Life. London: Penguin Random House.
Thích Nhất Hạnh. 2017. The Other Shore: A New Translation of the Heart Sutra with Commentaries. Berkeley, California: Palm Leave Press.
Unified Buddhist Church. 2016. Timeline: Calligraphic meditation: The mindful art of Thích Nhất Hạnh. Retrieved from
http://www.thichnhathanhcalligraphy.org/newyork/timeline/
Related features from BDG
Thích Nhất Hạnh’s Engaged Buddhism During Wartime Vietnam, Part 1
Thích Nhất Hạnh’s Engaged Buddhism During Wartime Vietnam, Part 2
Thích Nhất Hạnh’s Engaged Buddhism During Wartime Vietnam, Part 3
