From our Friends

Czech Republic Retreatants Visit Plum Village

Wednesday, 09 September 2009 14:55 |

Written by webmaster |

It has become a tradition for Plum Village to hold a month long summer retreat for lay practitioners. People come to the retreat from more than 40 different countries from around the world – countries such as France, Italy, Germany, Holland, The United States, Canada, Vietnam, Thailand, and Brazil. In these countries, Plum Village has become something of a familiar address over the past 20 years. However, Plum Village is still unfamiliar to the Vietnamese communities in the Czech Republic and Eastern Europe. They think of it as just a place where the monks with shaved heads are sitting and chanting.

Buddha Walks where Buddha was Born

Wednesday, 15 October 2008 01:00 |

Written by Irpinder Bhatia |

Thay and the monastics spent five days in Nagpur, the nerve center of the Buddhist revival in India. Nagpur could one day be as important as Sarnath.

On 14 October 1956, Baba Sahep Ambedkar, the visionary socio-Political Leader of the Dalits* took a historic step. He converted to Buddhism with 4,00,000 Dalits and rolled the waves of Buddhism’s return to India. This happened at Diksha Bhoomi at Nagpur.

The day of Shakyamuni Buddha’s first ever teaching at Sarnath, is known as the Dhammachakra Pravartan Din, the day of Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion. On arrival in Nagpur on 7th October, the Sangha found hundreds and hundreds of banners welcoming the Buddhists from all over India to celebrate Baba Saheb’s conversion day. The Dalit Buddhists celebrate it as the second Dhammachakra Pravartan Din, the day of Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion.