The most popular Zen master in the world, Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, died in Vietnam at the age of 95. For decades, due to his pacifist commitment, he was exiled and returned to his country three years ago. The death occurred in a temple and the news was spread by Plum Village, his organization of monasteries.
Thich Nhat Hanh was semi-paralyzed and unable to speak following a stroke in 2014. He had started his studies when he was 16, and in the 1960s and 1970s his anti-war commitment put him on a collision course with the governments of North and South Vietnam, as well as the United States. Forced to leave the country, only in 2005 he was given permission to return for a visit. 39 in total the years he spent in exile during which he founded a network of monasteries. The largest, in southwestern France near Bordeaux, has around 200 monks and nuns and was hosting tens of thousands of visitors a year before the coronavirus pandemic. The monk is the author of about 130 books devoted largely to the concept of "awareness", developed with the practice of meditation which, he said, "is not an escape from society, but a return to ourselves and see what happens. Once that is seen, there must be action. With awareness we know what we must and must not do to help ".
(Unioneonline / ss)
