At 7:30 a.m. Saturday, the coffin of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh was moved from the Full Moon Meditation Hall of Tu Hieu Pagoda in Hue Town to Eternal Park of Hue Garden of Eden in Thuy Bang Ward for the cremation ceremony.
From early in the morning, thousands of monks and nuns, and Buddhist followers wearing the traditional gray color of Buddhist lay persons, gathered outside the pagoda to bid their final farewell to the Zen Master. Many people prayed with a white lotus in folded hands.
On the way from the Full Moon Meditation Hall where his coffin was placed for a silent meditation course over the past seven days to the main gate of the pagoda, many Buddhists knelt down in prayer.
More than a thousand monks and nuns in yellow and brown robes prayed in silence and walked behind the coffin of Thich Nhat Hanh.
The coffin of Thich Nhat Hanh was brought to Le Ngo Cat Street and placed on a funeral car to the cremation site.
The distance from the pagoda to the cremation site is about 8 km, and the ride takes around 20 minutes.
At 9 a.m., the coffin of Thich Nhat Hanh was moved to the crematorium located in the center of the Eternal Park of the Garden of Eden in Hue.
Most Venerable Thich Duc Thanh, head of the Executive Board of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha in Thua Thien-Hue Province, performed the cremation ceremony with other senior monks and nuns.
After his cremation, his remains will rest at the Tu Hieu Pagoda and other Plum Villages around the world.
Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, one of the world's most influential Buddhist figures, passed away at the Tu Hieu Temple in his birthplace of Hue on January 22, aged 95.
