Plum Village Practice Center

SAN DIEGO – As a young man in the 1960s, the Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh drew attention for his efforts to persuade the North and South to stop fighting.

Last night, Nhat Hanh, 80, who lives in a monastery in France, spoke at the University of San Diego of how “compassionate listening” could help American leaders understand their opponents and build bonds.

Wearing a brown robe and seated with his legs folded on a small platform in Jenny Craig Pavilion, he gave the keynote address to about 2,000 people during USD's 18th annual Social Issues Conference.

Sister Barbara Quinn, director of USD's Center for Christian Spirituality, said she thought the presentation had particular meaning given the conflict in Myanmar, where the military government's troops have fired on protesters, including monks, who are seeking more freedoms.

At Plum Village, the monastery in Bordeaux, he and others host groups of foes who apply Buddhist practices of breathing and principles of developing compassion and understanding so they can know one another better. He cited an example of sessions with Israelis and Palestinians.

Each recognizes “the other group of people, they have suffered like the people in our group,” the soft-spoken Nhat Hanh said.

They can change their perceptions and understand what generates suffering that leads to anger, he said. Political leaders can benefit from such spiritual skills, he added.

For his efforts in Vietnam, he was exiled from the country. Martin Luther King Jr. nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967.