Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese monk and peace activist. Thich or Thay in Vietnamese means teacher. He is the author of more than 100 books and was nominated for the Nobel Prize by Martin Luther King Jr. Since then his life has been dedicated to the work of inner transformation for the benefit of individuals and society. Nhat Hanh was born in the city of Quảng Ngãi in central Vietnam in 1926. He was inspired to become a monk when he was seven years old. He saw the image of Buddha sitting on the grass peacefully and smiling. He was impressed and had a desire to be like him. His parents initially opposed his will because they believed the life of a monk was difficult. When they are ordained, Vietnamese order for their entire lives. He continued learning it until the age of 16 when he got permission from his parents to enter the monastery in Vietnam. He received training in both Zen and Mahayana. He was appointed editor-in-chief of Vietnamese Buddhism in 1956. In the following years he founded the Youth School for Social Service, a neutral body of Buddhist peace workers who went to rural areas. to establish a school to build health clinics and help rebuild villages. Vietnam War In 1960, Nhat Hanh came to the United States to study comparative religion at Princeton University and the following year was appointed professor of Buddhism at Columbia University. Then, in 1963, he returned to Vietnam to help his brothers in their nonviolent peace efforts, valiantly opposing his own government. During the Vietnam War, he and his fellow monks had difficulty making a decision: Should he still live peacefully in the monastery to practice mindfulness or go out and help people who were suffering? Since for him becoming a monk meant having time to practice transformation and heal himself, and thus help transform suffering and heal other people, he decided to do both. By this decision, he has already established the idea of ​​Engaged Buddhism – a Buddhist movement involving peaceful activism for social reform. “We often think of peace as the absence of war, that if powerful countries reduced their weapons arsenals, we could have peace. But if we look deeply at weapons, we see our minds, our prejudices, fears and ignorance. Even if we transported all the bombs to the moon, the roots of war and the roots of bombs are still there, in our hearts and minds, and sooner or later we will build new bombs..