Vietnamese Buddhist Leader Seeks to Heal Wounds of War

Eighty-year-old monk Thich Nhat Hanh has been backpositive. We breathe, and we smile - this is the name
in his native Vietnam for a month, holding a series ofof the program. And it's quite interesting to combine
ceremonies aimed at healing the wounds of theinto our business life."
Vietnam War. In the 1960's, Hanh was one of theThis is Hahn's second return visit to Vietnam. The
leaders of South Vietnam's Buddhist "strugglefirst came in 2005, 39 years after he was exiled for
movement," which opposed the war and the Southhis actions against the war.
Vietnamese government. He was later exiled, andIn 1965, he founded the Youth School for Social
few of today's Vietnamese remember him from thatServices in Saigon. At the time, South Vietnam was
era, but many are attracted by the modernized formnot only fighting a war against the communists, it
of Zen Buddhism he has brought from the West.was also torn by conflict between the mainly Catholic
Matt Steinglass reports from Ho Chi Minh City.government and the Buddhist movement to which
Thich Nhat Hanh leads thousands of Vietnamese inHanh belonged.
prayer rituals at Vinh Nghiem Pagoda in Ho Chi MinhThe movement opposed the war, and some of its
City. The prayers are dedicated to the dead of bothmonks burned themselves alive in protest. Hanh
sides in the Vietnam War.wanted to form a peaceful "third force," training
Hanh was an important figure during the war, one ofBuddhists in agriculture and medicine, and sending
the leaders of a Buddhist movement that stagedthem out to poor villages to start development
huge anti-war protests in the city then called Saigon.projects.
But almost no one in the crowd on Saturday knewThat ultimately proved dangerous. Former monk Tran
of Hanh's actions in the 1960's. Many, like Trang TriDinh Nguyen, now 68, was a student at Hanh's
Son, were born after the war ended in 1975, andschool.
were drawn not by Hanh's history in Vietnam, but byNguyen says in May of 1967, someone threw a
his fame in Europe and America.grenade into one of the classrooms, killing two
Son says he has read that Hanh is among the 60female students. Two weeks later, eight students
most important spiritual leaders in the world.disappeared from a village and were never seen
Hanh has lived mainly in France since he was exiledagain. In July, five students were kidnapped and shot.
by the South Vietnamese government in 1966 for hisNguyen says the students might have been killed by
anti-war activities.either side. The government thought Thich Nhat Hanh
His Order of Interbeing has thousands of followers inwas a communist. The communists thought he was a
monastic communities there, and in the AmericanCIA agent.
states of Vermont and California. His philosophyBy the time of the attacks, Hanh was already in exile.
centers on what he calls "mindfulness:" focusing onHe traveled to the U.S. in 1966 to build links with the
what one is doing, not being so distracted by materialAmerican anti-war movement, and convinced Martin
things that one allows life to pass by.Luther King, the American civil rights leader, to speak
Brother Phap Lo, a Swede who is one of dozens ofout publicly against the war.
Western followers who accompanied Hahn toFor his efforts, the Saigon government barred him
Vietnam, explains.from returning home, and after North Vietnam
"We're trying to find ways of using the teachings ofdefeated the South in 1975, the communist
the Buddha and our teacher so that we can livegovernment continued the ban.
more happily and peacefully, whether it's as aHanh stayed in the West, building up an entourage of
therapist or at an office," he said. "We want to liveZen monks and devoted lay followers.
more simply, taking better care of the earth andOlder Vietnamese have been drawn on this visit by
each other."Hanh's attempt to heal the lingering trauma of the
It is a philosophy well suited to the spiritual needs ofwar. At Vinh Nghiem Pagoda on Saturday, 75-year-old
harried Westerners. As Vietnam turns to capitalismVu Thi Quy said the bitterness remains.
and the pace of life increases, it is a philosophy thatQuy says she gave eight thousand dollars last year
also appeals to today's ambitious Vietnameseto monks at another pagoda to pray for the family
professionals.she lost in the war. Her father-in-law died in a
Hanh drew a crowd of several hundred to a lecturecommunist prison, and one of her daughters perished
for businessmen, held at a country club near Ho Chiwhile trying to flee Vietnam by boat in 1978.
Minh City. Chau Zesiger, a Vietnamese fashionQuy says she, like many Vietnamese, remembers
entrepreneur married to an American, says she findsnothing of the Buddhist movement of the 1960's. But
Hanh's Zen philosophy more attractive than traditionalother shared memories have not disappeared. When
Vietnamese Buddhism.Hanh and his followers began chanting last weekend,
"Buddhist philosophy is usually negative, because life isthousands of Buddhists showed they still know the
sorrow," said Chau. "But for Thich Nhat Hanh, life istunes.