This stunning commentary on the cultural and political background to the war in Vietnam resonates deeply as the first work of Vietnamese writer, peace activist, and Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh

This rare book from 1967 is one of the very few written in English giving a Vietnamese perspective on the Indochina Wars. Many years ahead of its time, Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire will be welcomed by historians and readers of contemporary Vietnamese narratives.

As war raged in Vietnam, the Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh became a leading figure in the Buddhist peace movement. With the help of friends like Catholic monk Thomas Merton, he published Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire in 1967 in the US (and underground in Vietnam as Hoa Sen Trong Bien Lua), his uncompromising and radical call for peace. It gave voice to the majority of Vietnamese people who did not take sides and who wanted the bombing to stop. Thomas Merton wrote the foreword, believing it had the power to show Americans that the more America continued to bomb Vietnam, the more communists it would create. This was Thich Nhat Hanh's first book in English and made waves in the growing anti-war movement in the United States at the time.

Thich Nhat Hanh's portrayal of the plight of the Vietnamese people during the Indochina Wars is required reading now as the United States and Europe continue to grapple with their roles as global powers--and the human effects of their military policies. Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire is of special interest for students of peace and conflict studies and Southeast Asian history. It also gives the reader insights into the thought of the young Thich Nhat Hanh, who would later go on to found--in exile--Plum Village in France, the largest Buddhist monastery outside Asia, and influence millions with his teachings on the path of peace and mindfulness.

Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire, Thich Nhat Hanh, Parallax Press, Paperback, 192 pages, $17.95

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926�2022) 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.

CONTENTS: Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire
	Introduction: A Path of Peace Forged in Fire	ix
	Foreword by Thomas Merton to the 1967 First Edition	xix
I.	THE LOTUS IN A SEA OF FIRE	1
II.	THE HISTORICAL SETTING	5
	Vietnamese Buddhism	7
	Colonialism and Resistance: "The Monks War"	30
	Buddhism and Nationalism in Southeast Asia	45
III.	THE STRUGGLE TODAY	67
	Enter Communism	69
	Enter the United States	87
	What Can Be Done?	105
IV.	CONCLUSION	125
APPENDIXES		131
	Afterword by Alfred Hassler	133
	Comments by Thich Nhat Hanh on Some Frequently Asked Questions about Vietnam	139
	"In Search of the Enemy of Man": From a Letter by Thich Nhat Hanh to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., 1966	147
	Remarks to His Holiness, Pope Paul VI, July 16, 1966	151
	Statement to the Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh, Washington, DC, June 1 1966	161
ABOUT THICH NHAT HANH		165