Thích Nhất Hạnh is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk as well as a writer, scholar, and teacher. He was born in central Vietnam in 1926 and was ordained as a Zen Buddhist monk in 1942 at the age of 16. At the age of 24, he co-founded the An Quang Buddhist Institute in South Vietnam. In 1961 he travelled to the United States where he studied at Princeton and later lectured on comparative religion at Columbia.

In 1964, Thích Nhất Hạnh returned to Vietnam and with other Buddhist students, helped found Van Hanh University. Through the University and the La Boi Press publishing house they also set up, they released a steady stream of publications and writings calling for peace and reconciliation. Nhat Hanh also founded the School of Youth for Social Service, which performed various services such as rebuilding villages destroyed by bombings. By the mid-70s, more than 10,000 monks, nuns, and students were involved with the organization. They are perhaps best known for their role in evacuating villagers caught in the cross fire: monks and nuns, dressed in their yellow robes, would enter the battlefields, form a double line and walk the villagers to safety.

Thích Nhất Hạnh's writings and publications were censored by both opposing Vietnamese governments. In 1966, after travelling to the United States to lecture about the plight of the Vietnamese people, he was warned not to return to Vietnam. He has been living in exile since then. He was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1967, and led the Vietnamese Buddhist Peace Delegation to the Paris Peace Talks in 1969.

Thích Nhất Hạnh lived in Southern France where he founded the Plum Village retreat center in 1982 until near his death. He died in Tu Hieu Temple in Hue, Vietnam, at the age of 95.