by Mark Stover | Aug 17, 2023
Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk, poet, peace activist, and author, was born in 1926 in Vietnam. He entered the monkhood at sixteen and has since become one of the West’s most recognized and beloved Buddhist teachers. A pioneer in the concept of engaged Buddhism, he was chair of the Vietnamese Buddhist Peace Delegation during the Vietnam War and was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King Jr. The author of more than twenty-five books, he has lived in exile since 1966 in Plum Village, France, a small monastic community where he writes, gardens, teaches, and helps refugees.
by Mark Stover | Aug 16, 2023
Archbishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu was born in 1931 in Klerksdorp, South Africa. Following his father’s example, Tutu became a schoolteacher in 1954 but left his post in 1957 and was ordained an Anglican parish priest in 1961. Among his many pioneering church positions, he became the first black archbishop to lead South Africa’s 1.6 million Anglicans. Tutu has remained a leader in the fight against AIDS, homophobia, poverty, and racism and a supporter of women’s rights in Africa. As an opponent of apartheid, who vehemently opposes violence, Tutu supported peaceful negotiation and international sanctions against the South African government. Tutu won the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize, and was appointed chair of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1995. More recently, amongst many other honors, Tutu was awarded the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism, and the Gandhi Peace prize in 2005 for his work in Africa and around the world.
