Thích Nhất Hạnh

1926–2022 · Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk, poet and peace activist

Thích Nhất Hạnh — born Nguyễn Xuân Bảo in Huế, Vietnam, in 1926 — was a Thiền Buddhist monk, poet and peace activist who became one of the most widely read Buddhist writers in the English language. Exiled from South Vietnam in 1966 for refusing to take a side in the war, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King, Jr. the following year, founded the Plum Village monastery in southwest France in 1982, and is credited with coining the term “engaged Buddhism.” His gift was rendering Buddhist teaching in plain, warm English — which is precisely why so many sentences that are his now circulate under the Buddha’s name.

Traced to source

4 quotes we’ve traced to Thích Nhất Hạnh

“It is possible to live happily in the present moment. It is the only moment we have”

Disputed

“My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions”

Disputed

“The moment you know how your suffering came to be, you are already on the path of release from it”

Disputed

“The past is already gone, the future is not yet here. There's only one moment for you to live”

Disputed

Not actually Thích Nhất Hạnh

Often misattributed to Thích Nhất Hạnh

Famous lines widely pinned on Thích Nhất Hạnh that we’ve traced to someone else.

“Don't just do something, sit there”

actually Ollie Crawford

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