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Brothers in the Beloved Community: The Friendship of Thich Nhat Hanh and Martin Luther King Jr.
The never-before-told story of the friendship between Martin Luther King Jr. and Thich Nhat Hanh—icons who changed each other and the world
The day after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, Thich Nhat Hanh wrote a heartbroken letter to their mutual friend Raphael Gould. He said: “I did not sleep last night…. They killed Martin Luther King. They killed us. I am afraid the root of violence is so deep in the heart and mind and manner of this society. They killed him. They killed my hope. I do not know what to say…. He made so great an impression in me. This morning I have the impression that I cannot bear the loss.”
Only a few years earlier, Thich Nhat Hanh wrote an open letter to Martin Luther King Jr. as part of his effort to raise awareness and bring peace in Vietnam. There was an unexpected outcome of Nhat Hanh’s letter to King: The two men met in 1966 and 1967 and became not only allies in the peace movement, but friends. This friendship between two prophetic figures from different religions and cultures, from countries at war with one another, reached a great depth in a short period of time. Dr. King nominated Thich Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. He wrote: “Thich Nhat Hanh is a holy man, for he is humble and devout. He is a scholar of immense intellectual capacity. His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity.”
The two men bonded over a vision of the Beloved Community: a vision described recently by Congressman John Lewis as “a nation and world society at peace with itself.” It was a concept each knew of because of their membership within the Fellowship of Reconciliation, an international peace organization, and that Martin Luther King Jr. had been popularizing through his work for some time. Thich Nhat Hanh, Andrus shows, took the lineage of the Beloved Community from King and carried it on after his death.
In Brothers in the Beloved Community, Marc Andrus tells the little-known story of a friendship between two giants of our time.
The day after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, Thich Nhat Hanh wrote a heartbroken letter to their mutual friend Raphael Gould. He said: “I did not sleep last night…. They killed Martin Luther King. They killed us. I am afraid the root of violence is so deep in the heart and mind and manner of this society. They killed him. They killed my hope. I do not know what to say…. He made so great an impression in me. This morning I have the impression that I cannot bear the loss.”
Only a few years earlier, Thich Nhat Hanh wrote an open letter to Martin Luther King Jr. as part of his effort to raise awareness and bring peace in Vietnam. There was an unexpected outcome of Nhat Hanh’s letter to King: The two men met in 1966 and 1967 and became not only allies in the peace movement, but friends. This friendship between two prophetic figures from different religions and cultures, from countries at war with one another, reached a great depth in a short period of time. Dr. King nominated Thich Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. He wrote: “Thich Nhat Hanh is a holy man, for he is humble and devout. He is a scholar of immense intellectual capacity. His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity.”
The two men bonded over a vision of the Beloved Community: a vision described recently by Congressman John Lewis as “a nation and world society at peace with itself.” It was a concept each knew of because of their membership within the Fellowship of Reconciliation, an international peace organization, and that Martin Luther King Jr. had been popularizing through his work for some time. Thich Nhat Hanh, Andrus shows, took the lineage of the Beloved Community from King and carried it on after his death.
In Brothers in the Beloved Community, Marc Andrus tells the little-known story of a friendship between two giants of our time.
216 pages, Hardcover
First published November 16, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
December 12, 2021
While this book is not without merit—I learned a lot about the history and meaning of the Beloved Community and more context for King’s life—it’s a white male Episcopalian’s take on the ‘meaning’ of the friendship between Thay and King, and so sometimes his projections hit me a little weird. There’s a lot of speculation about what was said between them, how they felt about each other that may be more wish-fulfilling than real. It’s pretty obvious they met and found support and brotherhood in each other…many of us have had similar experiences. But to try and verbalize, dissect, concretize that experience just never captures it, limits it, and distorts it.
As a practicing Buddhist, I found his attempt to discern Thay’s understanding of the afterlife, without quite understanding no birth/no death in the Buddhist sense, is especially jarring.
That said, I really appreciate the notion of the healing nature of community, both in healing our relationships with each other, and with the ‘world’, the Earth. So while I found the Christocentric monotheistic orientation problematic and reductionist, I benefitted from the thoughtful exploration and discussion.
As a practicing Buddhist, I found his attempt to discern Thay’s understanding of the afterlife, without quite understanding no birth/no death in the Buddhist sense, is especially jarring.
That said, I really appreciate the notion of the healing nature of community, both in healing our relationships with each other, and with the ‘world’, the Earth. So while I found the Christocentric monotheistic orientation problematic and reductionist, I benefitted from the thoughtful exploration and discussion.
February 5, 2022
This is a very interesting treatment of the relationship between two pivotal figures in the peace movement during the American war in Vietnam. I learned things from this book about Thich Nhat Hant (TNH), even though I had studied TNH (various books he's written, etc.) for some time previously. My main complaints are literary: the discussion drags in places, and (my perennial complaint), the book lacks an index. Not all of us use E-books!
The book told me quite a bit I didn't already know. For one thing, I had been unaware of how many waves TNH was making among the Buddhist hierarchy (in Vietnam) during the 1950's and 1960's, when he was getting started. He really was quite forward-thinking, and not just in the movement for peace, but also by trying to establish gender equality within Buddhism. I knew that King had nominated TNH for the Nobel Peace Prize, but they actually had quickly developed a close friendship based on the close synchrony of their ideas, and similarity of the strategies that they were pursuing in their respective countries.
I had completely missed the real significance of the Buddhist monastics who burned themselves during the 1960's. This was the subject of TNH's initial letter to King. I knew that one of these people was one of TNH's close followers, Sister Mai, one of the original six people in the "Order of Interbeing." The fact that Mai was a woman, showed that TNH had not only enabled women to be equal in the sphere of leadership, but also to be equal in martyrdom. I had vaguely thought that TNH had silently disapproved of Mai's action because it was a suicide, but TNH's first letter to King showed that while he may have been saddened, he did not disapprove of these "suicides" at all. They were, in fact, not suicides, but a positive action to show to the world that they felt very deeply and completely the tremendous importance of this issue.
TNH in fact wrote a play, which I hadn't heard of before. It is referenced in his book, "Love in Action"; I haven't looked at this book, but it may be that it contains the entire text of this play, which I am now rather curious about, since the play has never been produced. In this play, Sister Mai and several others in a group that TNH founded, the School of Youth for Social Services, who were killed during the war, all talk to each other after their "deaths." Another book that TNH wrote during the war was "Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire." I remember seeing this book in the 1960's when I became interested in the Vietnam War and started reading widely on the subject, but somehow never got around to this one. I didn't realize until now that TNH was the author, and I wonder how different my life would have been if, 50 years ago, I had been introduced to his writings. Instead I read books like "Behind the Lines: Hanoi" (Harrison Salisbury), "Hell in a Very Small Place" (Bernard Fall), and "The United States in Vietnam" (Kahin and Lewis). These highlighted the viewpoints of the parties to the conflict, but TNH's book would have probably alerted me to the viewpoint of more ordinary people.
I was also interested in King's background and his introduction to nonviolent resistance, through his encounters with Gandhi and the Fellowship of Reconciliation. The F. O. R., which I also vaguely recall from the 1960's, has an interesting history which the author also traces. I found it interesting to find out that two authors that I had encountered briefly in other studies, Charles Peirce and Walter Wink, were briefly connected to this narrative.
Even though I have a Christian background, I found some of the discussion a bit baffling. He started to lose me when he started talking about original sin and its connection to nonviolence; I'd have to go back and reread that part.
I appreciate that the author wants to explore every conceivable angle of this subject, though for my purposes it started to drag as the book went on. He wants to give some practical tips on how to start your own beloved community, but at this point he seems to be directly his attention---naturally enough---to those with whom he's most familiar, namely Christians. This is fair enough; obviously we're still struggling with racism, but I'd like to see this idea also taken in a more environmental direction, as I believe TNH wanted.
Part of the problem is not his fault; the fact is, that MLK and TNH didn't really fully work out their ideas about "the beloved community." TNH does talk a great deal (as the author notes) about "interbeing," and says that the next Buddha will not be a single person, but a group of mindful people, a sangha. Beyond these vague prescriptions, we do not have a lot of guidance beyond the "mindfulness trainings": the five precepts ("mindfulness trainings" in Plum Village lingo) for everyone, the 14 trainings for the Order of Interbeing, and more rules for the monastics.
This book deserves further reading. The main negative of the book is actually a positive in one sense. The reason the discussion lags in places is because the author seems determined to exhaustively examine every facet of a friendship in which the friends met exactly twice. So what the book lacks in style is made up for in an effort for historical completeness.
The book told me quite a bit I didn't already know. For one thing, I had been unaware of how many waves TNH was making among the Buddhist hierarchy (in Vietnam) during the 1950's and 1960's, when he was getting started. He really was quite forward-thinking, and not just in the movement for peace, but also by trying to establish gender equality within Buddhism. I knew that King had nominated TNH for the Nobel Peace Prize, but they actually had quickly developed a close friendship based on the close synchrony of their ideas, and similarity of the strategies that they were pursuing in their respective countries.
I had completely missed the real significance of the Buddhist monastics who burned themselves during the 1960's. This was the subject of TNH's initial letter to King. I knew that one of these people was one of TNH's close followers, Sister Mai, one of the original six people in the "Order of Interbeing." The fact that Mai was a woman, showed that TNH had not only enabled women to be equal in the sphere of leadership, but also to be equal in martyrdom. I had vaguely thought that TNH had silently disapproved of Mai's action because it was a suicide, but TNH's first letter to King showed that while he may have been saddened, he did not disapprove of these "suicides" at all. They were, in fact, not suicides, but a positive action to show to the world that they felt very deeply and completely the tremendous importance of this issue.
TNH in fact wrote a play, which I hadn't heard of before. It is referenced in his book, "Love in Action"; I haven't looked at this book, but it may be that it contains the entire text of this play, which I am now rather curious about, since the play has never been produced. In this play, Sister Mai and several others in a group that TNH founded, the School of Youth for Social Services, who were killed during the war, all talk to each other after their "deaths." Another book that TNH wrote during the war was "Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire." I remember seeing this book in the 1960's when I became interested in the Vietnam War and started reading widely on the subject, but somehow never got around to this one. I didn't realize until now that TNH was the author, and I wonder how different my life would have been if, 50 years ago, I had been introduced to his writings. Instead I read books like "Behind the Lines: Hanoi" (Harrison Salisbury), "Hell in a Very Small Place" (Bernard Fall), and "The United States in Vietnam" (Kahin and Lewis). These highlighted the viewpoints of the parties to the conflict, but TNH's book would have probably alerted me to the viewpoint of more ordinary people.
I was also interested in King's background and his introduction to nonviolent resistance, through his encounters with Gandhi and the Fellowship of Reconciliation. The F. O. R., which I also vaguely recall from the 1960's, has an interesting history which the author also traces. I found it interesting to find out that two authors that I had encountered briefly in other studies, Charles Peirce and Walter Wink, were briefly connected to this narrative.
Even though I have a Christian background, I found some of the discussion a bit baffling. He started to lose me when he started talking about original sin and its connection to nonviolence; I'd have to go back and reread that part.
I appreciate that the author wants to explore every conceivable angle of this subject, though for my purposes it started to drag as the book went on. He wants to give some practical tips on how to start your own beloved community, but at this point he seems to be directly his attention---naturally enough---to those with whom he's most familiar, namely Christians. This is fair enough; obviously we're still struggling with racism, but I'd like to see this idea also taken in a more environmental direction, as I believe TNH wanted.
Part of the problem is not his fault; the fact is, that MLK and TNH didn't really fully work out their ideas about "the beloved community." TNH does talk a great deal (as the author notes) about "interbeing," and says that the next Buddha will not be a single person, but a group of mindful people, a sangha. Beyond these vague prescriptions, we do not have a lot of guidance beyond the "mindfulness trainings": the five precepts ("mindfulness trainings" in Plum Village lingo) for everyone, the 14 trainings for the Order of Interbeing, and more rules for the monastics.
This book deserves further reading. The main negative of the book is actually a positive in one sense. The reason the discussion lags in places is because the author seems determined to exhaustively examine every facet of a friendship in which the friends met exactly twice. So what the book lacks in style is made up for in an effort for historical completeness.
August 26, 2023
I appreciate the view this book gives me of some of the key principles of Martin Luther King Jr. and Thich Nhat Hanh, and how they're brief connection in the living realm allowed them to develop their own thinking and activism. Thich Nhat Hanh was working to end the war in Vietnam, called there the American War, at the same time that King was working to awaken white America and claim the rights of Black people. After King's assassination, Thich Nhat Hanh made a vow to continue the work that King and he new to be vital to transforming society: that of generating and nurturing the Beloved Community.
I knew some of this story, particularly about the life and worldview of Thich Nhat Hanh, and there was much that I didn't know. Having it all pulled together was very useful for me. I recommend it for social justice activists of the present day. It certainly isn't the whole story, but it's a window into a part of the story that is generally unknown or partially understood, and is a good jumping off place for more reading (and more activism).
I knew some of this story, particularly about the life and worldview of Thich Nhat Hanh, and there was much that I didn't know. Having it all pulled together was very useful for me. I recommend it for social justice activists of the present day. It certainly isn't the whole story, but it's a window into a part of the story that is generally unknown or partially understood, and is a good jumping off place for more reading (and more activism).
February 5, 2022
Even though I've been a student in Nhat Hanh's Buddhist tradition for a number of years, this book showed me aspects of his life and teachings that were new to me and most gratifying. For example, I had not realized how he was a pioneer in gender equality, and in including non-human beings as well as humans in compassionate concern. I also was very interested to see how the idea of "beloved community" developed from the writings of several little-known thinkers, and how they and later Martin Luther King, Jr. connected with the teachings and practice of Gandhi, including actually traveling to India.
I appreciate the author's deep interest in the subject over many years, and his dedicated research to uncover new aspects in the lives and teachings of these two remarkable teachers and activists.
I appreciate the author's deep interest in the subject over many years, and his dedicated research to uncover new aspects in the lives and teachings of these two remarkable teachers and activists.
April 23, 2023
As a Black former Christian and now Buddhist, I appreciated this book so much. I have been trying to tie together my spiritual beliefs and experiences as a Black woman. Thich Naht Han is one of my teachers. MLK is one of my heroes. Learning more about their friendship and early convergence of Asian religion and politics with Black American religion and politics is so helpful. This book provides important insights and documents key history that would otherwise be lost. It’s clearly a work of academia from a Christian perspective but it’s readable and thought provoking. I recognize the author’s questions about Buddhism in my own experience. How amazing that he traveled to Vietnam while Thay was still here! This is a book of special interest. It was very satisfying.
February 25, 2022
This was a very challenging book. I am grateful for the tangents on which it sent me. But the book itself was quite academic and a difficult read. We found in our discussion with the author that this was his doctoral dissertation. That explained much. It was interesting to learn the lineage and growth of the concept of Beloved Community. Also to see the sad misinterpretation of the monks' self immolations during the Vietnam War. We have so much to learn in trying to communicate across languages and cultures. I'm glad to have read this with others to help me understand. I think we all found it to be hard work but with some wisdom to be gained with perseverance.
September 25, 2024
The never-before-told story of the friendship between Martin Luther King Jr. and Thich Nhat Hanh—icons who changed each other and the world
The day after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, Thich Nhat Hanh wrote a heartbroken letter to their mutual friend Raphael Gould. He said: “I did not sleep last night…. They killed Martin Luther King. They killed us. I am afraid the root of violence is so deep in the heart and mind and manner of this society. They killed him. They killed my hope. I do not know what to say…. He made so great an impression in me. This morning I have the impression that I cannot bear the loss.”
Only a few years earlier, Thich Nhat Hanh wrote an open letter to Martin Luther King Jr. as part of his effort to raise awareness and bring peace in Vietnam. There was an unexpected outcome of Nhat Hanh’s letter to King: The two men met in 1966 and 1967 and became not only allies in the peace movement, but friends. This friendship between two prophetic figures from different religions and cultures, from countries at war with one another, reached a great depth in a short period of time. Dr. King nominated Thich Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. He wrote: “Thich Nhat Hanh is a holy man, for he is humble and devout. He is a scholar of immense intellectual capacity. His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity.”
The two men bonded over a vision of the Beloved Community: a vision described recently by Congressman John Lewis as “a nation and world society at peace with itself.” It was a concept each knew of because of their membership within the Fellowship of Reconciliation, an international peace organization, and that Martin Luther King Jr. had been popularizing through his work for some time. Thich Nhat Hanh, Andrus shows, took the lineage of the Beloved Community from King and carried it on after his death.
In Brothers in the Beloved Community, Marc An
The day after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, Thich Nhat Hanh wrote a heartbroken letter to their mutual friend Raphael Gould. He said: “I did not sleep last night…. They killed Martin Luther King. They killed us. I am afraid the root of violence is so deep in the heart and mind and manner of this society. They killed him. They killed my hope. I do not know what to say…. He made so great an impression in me. This morning I have the impression that I cannot bear the loss.”
Only a few years earlier, Thich Nhat Hanh wrote an open letter to Martin Luther King Jr. as part of his effort to raise awareness and bring peace in Vietnam. There was an unexpected outcome of Nhat Hanh’s letter to King: The two men met in 1966 and 1967 and became not only allies in the peace movement, but friends. This friendship between two prophetic figures from different religions and cultures, from countries at war with one another, reached a great depth in a short period of time. Dr. King nominated Thich Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. He wrote: “Thich Nhat Hanh is a holy man, for he is humble and devout. He is a scholar of immense intellectual capacity. His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity.”
The two men bonded over a vision of the Beloved Community: a vision described recently by Congressman John Lewis as “a nation and world society at peace with itself.” It was a concept each knew of because of their membership within the Fellowship of Reconciliation, an international peace organization, and that Martin Luther King Jr. had been popularizing through his work for some time. Thich Nhat Hanh, Andrus shows, took the lineage of the Beloved Community from King and carried it on after his death.
In Brothers in the Beloved Community, Marc An
July 30, 2023
An excellent monograph that makes a significant contribution to understanding both the legacy of two major spiritual/political figures in the 20th century dialog between Buddhism and Christianity, and to the understanding of the path that led to Martin Luther King's decision to speak out against the war in Vietnam. Emphasizing the idea of the "Beloved Community," both as an aspiration and as a lived reality, Andrus clarifies the origins and implications of an idea which retains its transformative potential. His discussion of how Nhat Hanh helped shape late 20th and 21st century Buddhism was particularly striking. Important for both its historical and spiritual contributions.
January 15, 2023
The great civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was born today, January 15, in 1929. This nonfiction book explores the friendship between Dr. King and another great peace activist and spiritual leader, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. After their first meeting Dr. King declared Thich Nhat Hanh his brother, and nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize. In his nomination letter, King wrote: "...Thich Nhat Hanh is a holy man, for he is humble and devout. He is a scholar of immense intellectual capacity. His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to eucumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity."
As the author, an American Episcopal bishop, points out, this was an unlikely friendship, especially for the 1960s. The two men came from countries (the US and Vietnam) that were at war with each other; their cultures and backgrounds were radically different; they espoused different religions; and were active in different social movements. Yet they forged a deep connection during that first meeting, where they both agreed that community would save humanity. Dr. King had developed the idea of the Beloved Community, which Nhat Hanh was familiar with through a peace and justice organization that both men belonged to: the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR). The FOR, founded in 1915, continues its peace and justice work to this day.
Nhat Hanh was devastated when Dr. King was assassinated in 1968. He vowed to continue to work for the rest of his life to establish King's vision of the Beloved Community. What follows is a fascinating exploration of this vision, and its practical application, from early 20th century Christian theological ideas to Dr. King's refinement and Nhat Hanh's expansion. The author makes a good point that these two men's friendship was a concrete example of how a Beloved Community would work: people of different backgrounds and beliefs finding common cause in building a world where every human, and other species, would thrive living in harmony.
This book will interest anyone interested in social change; in active nonviolence; and especially in the peace and environmental movements. It is inspiring and practical at the same time, just like Dr. King and Thich Nhat Hanh. I only wish an index had been included, as there are many people, organizations and ideas in it that also deserved attention and investigation.
As the author, an American Episcopal bishop, points out, this was an unlikely friendship, especially for the 1960s. The two men came from countries (the US and Vietnam) that were at war with each other; their cultures and backgrounds were radically different; they espoused different religions; and were active in different social movements. Yet they forged a deep connection during that first meeting, where they both agreed that community would save humanity. Dr. King had developed the idea of the Beloved Community, which Nhat Hanh was familiar with through a peace and justice organization that both men belonged to: the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR). The FOR, founded in 1915, continues its peace and justice work to this day.
Nhat Hanh was devastated when Dr. King was assassinated in 1968. He vowed to continue to work for the rest of his life to establish King's vision of the Beloved Community. What follows is a fascinating exploration of this vision, and its practical application, from early 20th century Christian theological ideas to Dr. King's refinement and Nhat Hanh's expansion. The author makes a good point that these two men's friendship was a concrete example of how a Beloved Community would work: people of different backgrounds and beliefs finding common cause in building a world where every human, and other species, would thrive living in harmony.
This book will interest anyone interested in social change; in active nonviolence; and especially in the peace and environmental movements. It is inspiring and practical at the same time, just like Dr. King and Thich Nhat Hanh. I only wish an index had been included, as there are many people, organizations and ideas in it that also deserved attention and investigation.
March 7, 2022
There’s a lot of good information in this book, but for the life of me I could not keep reading this. I don’t know what it was, but I had to constantly pick up and put down the book in repetition. I don’t know if it was the writing or the structure, but something was just off putting. I mean no disrespect, because the book provides a lot of great insight, but I feel that it could’ve been an academic article instead of a full length book. Props to the author for compiling such a short and useful book that I can use in my future work.
October 26, 2023
A thorough look at Thich Nhat Hahn and Martin Luther King Jr. while giving a thorough explanation of the Beloved Community, the latter element being its real intent. I learned a lot.
I almost give this 3-stars for it can get off topic and repetitive but the off-topic lifts up some facts I do not easily find elsewhere and the repetitiveness aids to remember the core later.
I almost give this 3-stars for it can get off topic and repetitive but the off-topic lifts up some facts I do not easily find elsewhere and the repetitiveness aids to remember the core later.
March 8, 2023
Interesting non-fiction research into the friendship between Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. Starting on opposite sides of the Vietnam War, they became allies, promoting nonviolent resistance and working together to build what King termed “the beloved community.”
June 19, 2022
“The Beloved Community grows and moves toward fulfillment.”
September 12, 2025
An extraordinary book that explores the friendship and the engaged (and engaging) work to which King and Nhat Hanh devoted their lives.
February 23, 2022
A well-researched and poignant story of two men who had so much to teach us. I really like the interplay of history, theology and personal observations.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews