Just the name Thich Nhat Hanh has helped sell out the Zen Buddhist monk’s upcoming UBC retreat in just a month, the local organizer is claiming.

“The retreat, called Awakening the Heart, Mindulness Retreat, was originally for over 700 people, and they took extra beds at UBC, so I think that it’s closer to 800 that are going to be on the retreat,” Jeanie Seward-Magee told the Straight by phone. “And it sold out within a month of it going up on the website [on January 14], which is unbelievable. I was down in Deer Park in California about a month ago, meeting with the monks and nuns there, and they have another retreat on there in California, for about the same number of people. And they were only up to about 150 at that point.”

Nhat Hanh is referred to as Thay, meaning “teacher”, by students. He is also famous for his vocal opposition to the Vietnam War, which eventually resulted in his exile to France in 1966, where he has continued to spread the message of mindfulness and engaged Buddhism at Plum Village in France. Martin Luther King called him “the apostle of peace and nonviolence”.

The five-day retreat will take place from August 8 to 13. A waiting list is now in place. Also, a public talk is also planned on Sunday, August 14, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Orpheum Theatre. The topis for that talk, which costs $20, is “Open Mind, Open Heart: Touching the Wonders of Now”.

Seward-Magee and her husband started a meditation group in 1998 based on Nhat Hanh’s mindfulness practice—and at his own request, she added. In terms of explaining engaged Buddhism, she said it is “actually practising Buddhist principles in our lives on a day-to-day basis”.

As an example, she noted that Nhat Hanh will visit Japan from April 23 to May 8.