Learning True Love

Sister Chan Khong grew up in a village in the Mekong River Delta, where she was born in 1938. As a teenager she moved to Saigon, where she worked in the city's slums, handing out food, caring for the sick, and teaching children. In 1964 she co-founded the School of Youth for Social Service with the Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. The organization grew to more than 10,000 young volunteers, who built medical clinics, schools, and farming projects in rural Vietnam and helped rebuild villages damaged by the war.

This autobiography follows her spiritual development against the suffering of a country at war. Her account stresses humility and steadfast integrity, and it offers practical examples of how to work through hardship and find joy in a life devoted to others.

For over thirty years she has worked closely with Thich Nhat Hanh, both in Vietnam and at Plum Village, his community in exile in France.