Thich Nhat Hanh delivered a message on Leading with Courage and Compassion
Event Date: September 10, 2003

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Thich Nhat Hanh spoke at the Library of Congress on September 10, 2003. The Buddhist spiritual leader delivered a lecture titled Leading with Courage and Compassion at the Library of Congress in the Coolidge Auditorium of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street, S.E., Washington, D.C. The event, which begun with a reception was open to Members of Congress, Congressional staff and others by invitation only.

The event was part of the annual Capps-Emerson lecture series organized by the Faith& Politics Institute to honor the work of Reps. Alter Capps and ll Emerson, who died while serving in the U.S. House of Representatives. The event was co-sponsored by the Asian Division of the Library of Congress.

A Zen Master, poet, peace and human rights activist, Hanh was born in Vietnam in 1926 where he became a monk at the age of 16. During the 1960's he founded the School of Youth for Social Services, a grass roots relief organization. Following his exile from Vietnam, he came to the United States to help galvanize the peace movement. Hanh succeeded in enlisting the support of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., who subsequently nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize for his courageous and compassionate leadership during the Vietnam War. The author of 75 books on literary, spiritual and historical subjects, Hanh continues to work for world peace.

Founded in 1990, the Faith & Politics Institute

is an interfaith, non-partisan and non-profit organization that provides Members of Congress and other political leaders with opportunities for moral and spiritual reflections.

Asian Division