He established the Plum Village Monastery in southwest France and began spreading his teachings throughout the West.
In lectures around the world, he drew on his studies of other religions to point out similarities between Buddhist practices and those of other faiths.
On a school trip, he visited a mountain where a hermit lived who was said to sit quietly day and night to become peaceful like the Buddha.
Thich Nhat Hanh and his colleagues and students retreated to the small farmstead in 1975.
He became the chair of the Vietnamese Buddhist Peace Delegation.
By then he had gained fluency in French, , , and English, in addition to his native.