Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh is a monk and “Zen Master” in the LinChi Chan (JP: Rinzai Zen) tradition, a poet, and author of dozens of Dharma books. He founded the Order of Interbeing during the Vietnam war and was banished from Vietnam by both the North and South Vietnamese governments because of his neutrality. He headed the Buddhist delegation to the Paris Peace Talks and was subsequently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. In 2005 he was finally allowed to return to Vietnam to teach after 39 years in exile. Two Open Way members were on the delegation which accompanied him.

Thich Nhat Hanh, affectionately called “Thay” by his students, lives at home in exile at Plum Village Monastery in France where he serves as teacher for some three hundred monks and nuns in Western Europe and the USA, as well as many resident lay students. He established the Green Mountain Dharma Center and Maple Forest Monastery in Vermont. In the Summer of 2000, Deer Park Monastery was established near San Diego, California, to give greater access to monastic support for practice in the western states. In 2007, Blue Cliff Monastery opened in upstate New York, and Green Mountain and Maple Forest were incorporated into it.