For Immediate Release
Global Buddhist Leader in Hospital
Plum Village, France, November 12, 2014 – Thich Nhat Hanh, the world’s most famous Zen master, has been hospitalized in Bordeaux, France.
With a deep mindful breath we announce that on Tuesday 11th of November 2014, Thay, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh experienced a severe brain haemorrhage. The 88-year-old spiritual leader is receiving 24 hour intensive care from specialist doctors, nurses and his monastic disciples. He is still very responsive and shows every indication of being aware of the presence of those around him. He is able to move his feet, hands and eyes. There are signs that a full recovery may be possible.
Due to Thich Nhat Hanh’s advanced age, his health had already been fragile for the past two months. He was hospitalised in Bordeaux on the 1st of November and had been gaining strength day by day until this sudden and unexpected change in his condition.
The ten monasteries founded by Thich Nhat Hanh in Europe, the United States and Asia, are organising special chanting sessions to generate the energy of mindfulness and to send him healing and loving energy at this critical moment.
“Our stability and practice in this very moment is the best support we can offer to Thay,” said a spokesperson in a message to Thich Nhat Hanh’s 800 monastic students and hundreds of thousands of followers worldwide. “Let us all around the world take refuge together in our practice, going together as a river to offer Thay our powerful collective energy. We are all cells of the great Sangha Body that Thay has manifested in his lifetime.”
The pioneer of the Engaged Buddhism movement was due to join Pope Francis and other world faith leaders for a historic summit at the Vatican this December 2nd, hosted by the Global Freedom Network, to take action against modern slavery and human trafficking.
Thich Nhat Hanh
The eighty-eight-year-old Vietnamese Buddhist monk, scholar, poet, artist, peace activist and prolific author, is a global spiritual leader, loved and revered around the world. His powerful teachings and bestselling writings on the art of mindfulness have reached an audience of millions, from Europe and America to China, Russia, Korea and India. He is the man Martin Luther King called “an apostle of peace and nonviolence,” and who is now known as “The Father of Mindfulness” and “The Zen Master Who Fills Stadiums.” For more than fifty years, Thich Nhat Hanh has been a pioneer of ‘Engaged’ and ‘Applied’ Buddhism, applying ancient Buddhist wisdom to contemporary issues. In recent years Thich Nhat Hanh has been invited to address the United States Congress, the Parliament of India, UNESCO and the World Parliament of Religions, as well as the World Bank, Google HQ and Harvard Medical School.
>>official full Thich Nhat Hanh biography
Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation
The Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation works to continue the mindful teachings and loving practice of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. The funds donated to the Foundation support Thay’s North American monasteries and Plum Village monastery in France, humanitarian assistance, and Dharma education and outreach programs.
