He first visited the United States in 1960 to teach at Princeton and Columbia universities, and again in 1966 to speak out against the Vietnam War. Since 1982, he has visited the U.S. regularly, presenting workshops, retreats, and speaking at public events. In 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., nominated Nhat Hanh to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. He is a scholar of immense intellectual capacity. His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity.
Mindfulness means paying attention to the details of life, which always brings about new insights.
The greatest of these, Nhat Hanh claims, is peace. Yet, to bring peace, we must first be peace. Self-awareness is thus the first component of mindful living. This topic constituted a major portion of Nhat Hanh's presentation. The Buddha says not to do or say anything when angry.