40 Years of Plum Village / Fond Memories

Monastic elders and long-time lay practitioners share memories of Plum Village and meeting our teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh in the 1980s, 90s, and beyond.

During the We have a Path retreat celebrating 40 years of Plum Village, Sister True Dedication hosted a series of interviews about people’s experiences with Thay and Plum Village over the years. Below, we offer some short videos of the sharings from our practitioners.

On Bread and Medicines

Long-time practitioner and lay dharma teacher, Franscoise shares about visiting Plum Village to repair the bread oven and packing medicines for Vietnam with Sister Chan Khong.

Francoise (far right) shares about her time in Plum Village in the 80s (click to watch)

On Pilgrimage

Shantum shares his experience of organizing a pilgrimage through India with Thay in the 1980s and meeting the Buddha as a human being for the first time.

Shantum (left) on pilgrimage with Thay

A Lifetime of Practice and Staying “Indefinitely”

Sr Dieu Nghiem (Sr Jina) shares about the first 21-day June retreat in Plum Village in June 1990 and the meeting with Thay and many monastics from other traditions. Subsequently, she is invited to stay in Plum Village “indefinitely”.

Sister Jina speaks of arriving in Plum Village
Sister Jina (center) stays ‘indefinitely’

Exams!

Long-time practitioner and lay dharma teacher, Steffi shares how they had to sit for an “exam” for our teacher Thay to get some feedback on their retreat experience.

Steffi recounts sitting for Thay’s ‘exam’

Activism and Spirituality

Uli shares how he combines activism with spirituality, after meeting Thay’s teachings.

Uli talks about how activism is part of his spiritual practice

This is only a small selection of the entire series of interviews. Watch the full video below with interviews with many other long-term practitioners and monastics (please note that interviews from 10:12-35:02 are in French).

Full length video recollecting Plum Village over the years

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What is Mindfulness

Thich Nhat Hanh January 15, 2020

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