Thich Nhat Hanh was a world-renowned spiritual teacher and peace activist. Born in Vietnam in 1926, he became a Zen Buddhist monk at the age of sixteen. Over seven decades of teaching, he published more than 100 books, which have sold more than four million copies in the United States alone. Exiled from Vietnam in 1966 for promoting peace, his teachings on Buddhism as a path to social and political transformation are responsible for bringing the mindfulness movement to Western culture. He established the international Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism in France, now the largest Buddhist monastery in Europe and the heart of a growing community of mindfulness practice centers around the world. He passed away in 2022 at the age of 95 at his root temple, Tu Hieu, in Hue, Vietnam. Known to many as the Matisse of Japan, artist Mayumi Oda was born to a Buddhist family in Japan in 1941. Oda graduated from Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Pratt Institute in New York. Since 1969, Oda has exhibited over 50 one-woman shows throughout the world and her work is part of the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY), The Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, MA), Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, CT), Library of Congress (Washington, DC), among many others. Oda has also spent many years participating in anti-nuclear campaigns worldwide. She lives with her family at Ginger Hill Farm and Retreat Center in Hawaii, teaching workshops in creativity and self-realization.
