Learning True Love, the autobiography of Sister Chan Khong, stands alongside the great spiritual autobiographies of our century. It tells the story of her spiritual and personal odyssey, both in her homeland and in exile. Its anecdotal style presents an intensely personal portrait of a woman with astonishing courage, offering us a perspective on the suffering of the Vietnamese people. This unique autobiography tells the gripping story of a woman who not only lived but made history, and whose life of single-minded dedication to humanity can serve as an inspiration for us all.

Sister Chan Khong was born in a village on the Mekong River Delta in 1938. In her teens she devoted her life to the development and practice of nonviolence grounded in the Buddhist precepts of non-killing and compassionate action. Propelled by her passionate dedication to social change, she began working in the slums of Saigon, distributing food, working with the sick, and teaching children. When she was 21 years old she met the man who until to this day remains her teacher and spiritual companion: Thich Nhat Hanh. With him she co-founded the School of Youth for Social Service in 1964, which grew to an organization of over 10,000 young people organizing medical, educational, and agricultural facilities in rural Vietnam, and rebuilding villages destroyed in the fighting. Sister Chan Khong became well known in the anti-war and peace community for her work promoting human rights and protesting repression and violence, often at risk of her own life. She continues to do this work today.

After the war she became one of the co-founders of Plum Village, the spiritual center, that is home to Thich Nhat Hanh's community in France, where she continues to be deeply involved in the development and vision for this unique community.

In January of 2005, after nearly 40 years in exile, Sister Chan Khong was able to return on a 3-month visit to Vietnam. In this fully revised edition of Learning True Love she movingly describes the return to her homeland, the reunions with many old friends and fellow activists, and shares her impression of the "new Vietnam," where Buddhists still struggle for religious freedom and the re-establishment of their own organizations.

Learning True Love is a moving personal memoir, an introduction to the mindfulness teachings and life of Thich Nhat Hanh and his community in exile, an overview to the development of the European and American peace and human rights movement, and an introduction to the engaged and practical style of Vietnamese Buddhism. It documents the process that brought an end to the US Vietnam war, and gives a lively summary of Vietnamese history from 1945 to the current political, social and spiritual climate in Vietnam. Learning True Love also portraits some of the many remarkable people that shared Sister Chan Khong's path.

Foremost however it is the remarkable and impressive story of a very courageous woman, whose journey from an accredited biologist at the University of Paris to a Buddhist nun, gives her unique insight into life's central questions and the ability to address them in an unflinching and straightforward manner.

Forewords by Thich Nhat Hanh and Maxine Hong-Kingston

Learning True Love: Practicing Buddhism in a Time of War, Sister Chan Khong, Parallax Press, Paperback, 320 pp, $22.95

Sister Chan Khong (birth name Cao Ngoc Phuong) was born in a village on the Mekong River Delta in 1938. She has devoted her life to the development and practice of nonviolence grounded in the Buddhist precepts of non-killing and compassionate action. She is part of the community of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and lives in Plum Village, France.

CONTENTS: Learning True Love
FOREWORD	Thich Nhat Hanh	ix
INTRODUCTION	Maxine Hong Kingston	xi
Growing Up in the Land of Tet -- 1938-1961
ONE	When the Grass Becomes Green	2
TWO	Work for Social Change	10
THREE	Scientific Studies and Social Work	17
FOUR	Meeting Thich Nhat Hanh	24
Working for Social Change -- 1962-1965
FIVE	Nonviolent Resistance	32
SIX	Full Autumn Moon	48
SEVEN	Experience	59
EIGHT	Interbeing	69
The War Escalates -- 1966-1968
NINE	Man Is Not Our Enemy	82
TEN	Sister Mai	93
ELEVEN	In the War Zone	105
TWELVE	Leaving Vietnam	115
Working for Peace -- 1969-1975
THIRTEEN	Buddhist Peace Delegation	126
FOURTEEN	Pilgrimage for Peace	144
FIFTEEN	Children Suffer Equally	157
SIXTEEN	Beginning Anew	165
Exile -- 1976-2003
SEVENTEEN	The Boat People	180
EIGHTEEN	Rare Flowers of the Country	194
NINETEEN	Plum Village	213
TWENTY	River Water, Market Rice	220
TWENTY-ONE	True Emptiness	230
TWENTY-TWO	The Flowering of Plum Village	241
TWENTY-THREE	The Place the Ancestors Have Chose for Us	258
Vietnam -- 2004-2005
TWENTY-FOUR	We Have Arrived	268
TWENTY-FIVE	If I Die Tomorrow	293
AFTERWORD	Linda K. Williams	299
GLOSSARY		301
ACRONYMS		303