Influential Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh dies in Vietnam

 

The master died peacefully at the Tu Hieu temple in the city of Hue, the heart of Vietnamese Buddhism, said his organization on the Twitter account of the man who had popularized the concept of mindfulness as far as Hollywood, through numerous books and meditation retreats.

 

We invite our beloved global spiritual family to take a few moments to be at peace, states the organization of the man who had resettled in his native Vietnam in 2018, after nearly four decades of exile in France.

 

He used his years of exile to popularize the concept of mindfulness in the West, particularly with celebrities such as the television star Oprah Winfrey and the actress Gwyneth Paltrow. He was also influential with many industry leaders in Silicon Valley, including the giant Google, where he was invited to deliver his teachings.

 

Thich Nhat Hanh was exiled in the 1960s for calling for an end to the Vietnam War. A position that earned him a nomination by Martin Luther King for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. He was then allowed by the Vietnamese authorities to return, but remained under close police surveillance in the communist country.

 

Since his return to Vietnam, devotees flocked to accompany the monk on his walks through the lush gardens of his temple.

 

His messages have not always been well received, as the authorities in Buddhist-majority Vietnam are wary of organized religion: in 2009, his followers were chased out of their temple in the southern province of Lam Dong by committed mobs.