What can a Buddhist monk teach us about Christ?

I first ran across the name of Thich Nhat Hahn in an airport bookstore. No less than Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. himself nominated Thich for the Nobel Prize in 1967, with the following ringing endorsement:

I do not personally know of anyone more worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize than this gentle Buddhist monk from Vietnam…. He is a holy man, for he is humble and devout. He is a scholar of immense intellectual capacity.
— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Anyway, the book was entitled “Going Home: Jesus and Buddha As Brothers.” As someone who believes that Jesus was not the only great spiritual teacher, this intrigued me enough to pick up the book, which is so indescribably peaceful to read that I’m not even going to try to do so here. Suffice to say that since then, I’ve read many of Thich’s books, including True Love and Peace Is Every Step.

Every two years or so, Thich teaches at Magnolia Village in Batesville, Mississippi. In 2009, I was planning to go and learn from him, but unfortunately, he caught pneumonia and was hospitalized. But while I couldn’t make the trip that time, I eventually did go to Magnolia Village. I’ll share more another time.

Updated September 2024: I originally wrote this in 2014, and while you might assume that I was experimenting with Buddhism, that wasn’t the case at all. As I read Thich’s books, I just FELT a sense of peace in his teachings, and they helped me understand that the teachings of Jesus and those of the Buddha do not run counter to each other, at least not as taught by Thich Nhat Hahn. They complement each other.

If Jesus was teaching us not to worry, then the Buddha (and Thich) are teaching us HOW not to worry — by being mindful, by connecting with our breath. And it goes full circle, because Jesus teaches us to “be alone with God in our private room” — and it doesn’t get any more private than the stillness of mindfulness, the divine silence of God’s presence. 

Here’s a clip of Thich answering a young French boy’s big question at Plum Village, the Buddhist monastery in France where Thich and his disciples practice. As you watch, notice not just the words themselves; but just allow yourself to feel the calm of Thich as he teaches. I hope it blesses you as it has me!