Claude Thomas was seventeen when he volunteered for active duty in Vietnam, where he became a crew chief on assault helicopters. By his eighteenth birthday he had been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people. When he returned home, like so many Vietnam veterans, he was haunted by his wartime experiences and also felt abandoned and rejected by civilian society. For many years he struggled with post-traumatic stress, drug and alcohol addiction, isolation, homelessness, and debilitating despair. At Hell's Gate is Thomas's dramatic coming-of-age story and also a spiritual travelogue from the horrors of combat to discovering the Buddhist path to healing. "Everyone has their Vietnam," writes Thomas. "Everyone has their war. May we embark together on a pilgrimage of ending these wars and truly living peace." The turning point for Thomas was attending a meditation retreat for Vietnam veterans led by Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh (best-selling author of Peace Is Every Step and The Miracle of Mindfulness). Here he encountered the Buddhist teachings on meditation and mindfulness, which helped him to stop running from his past and instead offered him a way of facing the pain of his war experiences directly and compassionately. Thomas soon became a serious student of Zen, studying closely with Thich Nhat Hanh and later with Bernie Glassman (author of Instructions to the Cook and other books). Thomas went on to become ordained as a Zen Buddhist monk and teacher. In simple and direct language, Thomas tells the story of his life and offers what he has learned from the Buddhist tradition about healing trauma and ending war from the inside out. Today Thomas travels the world teaching meditation andspeaking about his experiences in war. He also leads peace pilgrimages through wartorn and war-scarred places around the world. In At Hell's Gate, Thomas writes of these pilgrimages, including one he undertook in 1995, largely on foot, from the site of the concentration camps at Auschwitz to Vietnam. He also describes his 1998 pilgrimage across the United States, from New York to California.

"In 1965, after a difficult childhood and an unruly adolescence, Thomas, aged 17, joined the army at his father's suggestion. He put in a combat-heavy tour of duty as a door gunner and crew chief with the 116th Assault Helicopter Assault Company in Vietnam, an experience that left deep emotional scars. After coming home, he endured drug-fueled suicidal, antisocial and violent episodes before turning his life around in the early 1980s as a result of studying with the Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. He now devotes his life to doing the work of 'a wandering mendicant monk,' and he wrote this short volume, he says, as a form of therapy, 'something to help me keep a grip on my sanity.' The result is a combination memoir, Zen primer and how-to book of meditative techniques. Thomas evokes his experiences in Vietnam and the emotional trauma he has gone through since the war with clarity and insight; the Zen lessons emphasize mindfulness and meditation. Thomas, unfortunately, repeats an egregious, unsubstantiated allegation about Vietnam veterans: that 'more than 100,000' have committed suicide since the war. That is a myth, even though it is true that Vietnam veterans have had disproportionately high readjustment problems since returning from the war. (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Thomas offers a raw and poignant memoir of his nightmarish Vietnam experience, postwar depression and ultimate discovery of peace through Buddhism. He spares no anguish in describing his tour of duty in Vietnam in 1967-68, where he had to dehumanize the enemy and himself in order to be a good soldier. Upon his return, he hoped for a hero's welcome but was instead greeted by a young woman in the Newark Airport who spat in his face. Tormented by the memories of killing and of seeing his fellow soldiers killed, Thomas suffered from addiction, suicidal tendencies and post-traumatic stress syndrome. In 1990, after more than 20 years of misery, he attended a meditation retreat for Vietnam vets led by the Vietnamese Zen Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh, and it changed his life. Through Buddhism, he learned that healing could never come through the avoidance of more suffering. After spending years trying to sleepwalk through life, he experienced joy in becoming what the Buddha called 'awake'-mindful of the gift of the present moment. Now a monk himself, Thomas leads retreats and talks with other victims of violence all over the world." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

In this raw and moving memoir, Claude Thomas tells the dramatic story of his service in Vietnam, his subsequent emotional collapse, and how he was ultimately able to find healing and peace. Thomas went to Vietnam at the age of eighteen, where he served as a crew chief on assault helicopters. By the end of his tour, he had been awarded numerous medals, including the Purple Heart. He had also killed many people, witnessed horrifying cruelty, and narrowly escaped death on a number of occasions. When Thomas returned home he found that he continued to live in a state of war. He was overwhelmed by feelings of guilt, fear, anger, and despair, all of which were intensified by the rejection he experienced as a Vietnam veteran. For years, Thomas struggled with post-traumatic stress, drug and alcohol addiction, isolation, and even homelessness. A turning point came when he attended a meditation retreat for Vietnam veterans led by the renowned Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh. Here he encountered the Buddhist teachings on meditation and mindfulness, which helped him to stop running from his past and instead confront the pain of his war experiences directly and compassionately. Thomas was eventually ordained as a Zen monk and teacher, and he began making pilgrimages to promote peace and nonviolence in war-scarred places around the world including Bosnia, Auschwitz, Afghanistan, Vietnam, and the Middle East. At Hell's Gate is Thomas's dramatic coming-of-age story and a spiritual travelogue from the horrors of combat to discovering a spiritual approach to healing violence and ending war from the inside out. In simple and direct language, Thomas shares timeless teachings on healing emotional suffering and offers us practical guidance in using mindfulness and compassion to transform our lives.

"At Hell's Gate" is Thomas's dramatic coming-of-age story and also a spiritual travelogue from the horrors of combat in Vietnam to discovering the Buddhist path to healing.