Thich Nhat Hanh believed that Buddhism should be a force for change

IN THE WEST’S imagination a Buddhist monk is a model of otherworldliness. He sits silently in his temple, or under a tree in a manicured garden, lost in the inner vastness of contemplation. A small bowl of water and a bowl of rice are all that sustain him. His day is marked out by gentle gongs and bells, and he causes no more disturbance to the earth than a falling leaf or passing clouds.

Thich Nhat Hanh was a Buddhist monk, drawn to his calling in childhood by a picture of the smiling Buddha and a cold, astonishing draught of water from a natural well. He, too, often prayed. But there the similarity ended. As a novice he abandoned his Buddhist training college for Saigon University, where he could study world literature, philosophy and science. He was one of the first monks in Vietnam to ride a bicycle, hitching up his robes. He went to Princeton, taught Buddhism at Columbia and, at the height of the Vietnam war, confronted Robert McNamara, then secretary of defence, with his pleas for peace. Photos from that time showed him, tiny among towering Americans, with his jaw set, his arms folded and his gaze firmly determined.