Influential Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh dies at 95

Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. File Pic/AP

Thich Nhat Hanh, the revered Zen Buddhist monk who helped spread the practice of mindfulness in the West and socially engaged Buddhism in the East, has died at the age of 95. The death was confirmed by a monk at Tu Hieu Pagoda in Hue, Vietnam who said that Nhat Hanh, known as Thay to his followers, died at midnight on Saturday. The monk declined to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

A post on Nhat Hanh's verified Twitter page confirmed the news. Born as Nguyen Xuan Bao in 1926 in Hue and ordained at age 16, Nhat Hanh distilled Buddhist teachings on compassion and suffering into easily grasped guidance over a lifetime dedicated to working for peace. In 1961, he went to the United States to study, teaching comparative religion for a time at Princeton and Columbia universities. For most of the remainder of his life, he lived in exile. There and in talks and retreats around the world, he introduced Zen Buddhism, at its essence, as peace through compassionate listening.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever