The Heart of Understanding: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra

Thich Nhat Hanh was​ a Vietnamese Buddhist Zen Master, poet, and peace activist and one of the most revered and influential spiritual teachers in the world​. Born in 1926, he became a Zen Buddhist monk at the age of sixteen. His work for peace and reconciliation during the war in Vietnam moved Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. In Vietnam, Thich Nhat Hanh founded Van Hanh Buddhist University and the School of Youth for Social Service, a corps of Buddhist peace​ workers. Exiled as a result of his work for peace, he continued his humanitarian efforts, rescuing boat people and helping to resettle refugees. ​In 1982 he established Plum Village France, the largest Buddhist monastery in Europe​ and the hub of the international Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism​.​​ Over seven decades of teaching, he published a hundred books, which have been translated into more than forty languages and have sold millions of copies worldwide.