The Plum Village community is delighted to launch Living Gems. After nearly three years of careful collecting, restoring, and organising Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings, the archive is ready to be shared with the world.
In a time when our attention is pulled in many directions, it offers a place of clarity, depth, and trust through simple and profound teachings that can be lived in daily life. Today, through Living Gems, these teachings are becoming more accessible than ever before.
Living Gems is a living, searchable archive of Thay’s Dharma talks: a space where nearly 3,000 teachings are carefully preserved, restored, and shared. It brings together decades of teachings, including Dharma talks, Q&A sessions, guided meditations, and interviews, many of which have never been published before.
Alongside the vastness of the collection, the intention is clear. There is care and continuity. A quiet wish to keep Thay’s insight and compassion available to all, wherever we are in the world.
It gives us a sense that we didn’t miss out… we could have been on that tour, in that hall… it gives everyone unfiltered, direct access for that wisdom to come into our hearts, so we never feel we missed meeting him in person.
– Sister True Dedication
A Living Archive for Our Time
At Plum Village, the teachings have always been transmitted not only through words, but through presence, community, and practice. Yet not everyone has the opportunity to attend our retreats or sit in our meditation halls.
Living Gems responds to this reality with openness and inclusivity. It allows practitioners, sanghas, and newcomers alike to access the Dharma from home, in their own rhythm and according to their own needs.
This platform is designed with mindfulness in mind: it is free from advertising and distractions, offering a simple and peaceful environment to study and practice. With transcripts available in English, French, and Vietnamese, it supports a deep and accessible engagement with the teachings.
One of the most distinctive features of Living Gems is its intuitive, contemplative search. You can bring a question from your life — something alive in your heart or your practice. The platform then guides you to relevant moments across Thay’s talks. For example, try searching “How to live a happy life while I am so busy”. Even long talks can speak directly to your present moment.
You can search for it and discover how Thich Nhat Hanh responded to that very question, perhaps many years ago, yet still speaks to your present moment. In this way, the teachings can meet you right where you are.
Some of the richest and deepest teachings by TNH were when he spoke in Vietnamese. With the search of Living Gems, you can now find those Vietnamese Dharma talks more easily.
– Sister True Dedication
A Different Way of Engaging with the Dharma
What makes Living Gems unique is not only the quantity of teachings, but the quality of the experience.
Rather than scrolling endlessly or being guided by algorithms, you are invited into a more intentional relationship with the Dharma. You can follow curated themes, explore Q&A collections, or create your own playlists to support your practice or your sangha.
There is also a quiet joy in unexpected discovery–coming across a teaching you didn’t know you needed, yet somehow speaks directly to your life.
I find it easy to search for what I need, but I also enjoy discovering unexpected talks. The curated Q&A’s encourage me to explore and engage more deeply.
– Anonymous Focus Group Member
I really like the search bar in the banner. Seeing transcripts and highlights next to the video helps me engage deeply without getting lost.
– Yvette
Supporting Understanding and Transformation
In our practice, we often hear that understanding and love are not separate. To understand deeply is already to begin to transform.
Living Gems supports this process by making it easier to return to the teachings again and again, as a source of guidance. Whether you are a long-time practitioner, a Dharma teacher supporting a sangha, a monastic, or someone just beginning to explore mindfulness, this platform offers a grounded and authentic resource.
It can accompany your daily practice, support study groups, or simply offer a moment of refuge in the middle of a busy day.
I can feel the joy and smile of our late teacher, knowing that we are working together to make his teachings accessible.
– Brother Phap Huu
Continuing the Stream
Living Gems is also a collective effort. Behind the platform are monastics, translators, editors, and a dedicated technical team–all contributing their time and energy to preserve and share these teachings with care.
This offering is the fruit of nearly three years of mindful and continuous work: a patient process of collecting, digitizing, restoring, translating, and curating thousands of Dharma talks. Each step has been carried out with attention and respect, so that the integrity and depth of Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings can be faithfully transmitted.
Digitizing more material, improving the audio and video, and adding new features and translations … there is so much we can do, more than we can currently imagine.
– Maarten
Supporting Living Gems means participating in the continuation of the stream of Thay’s teachings, helping ensure that they remain accessible, relevant, and alive for generations to come. The archive itself is a living one, continually growing as Plum Village acquires, digitizes, and restores new recordings.
In this way, Living Gems is not only an archive, but a living expression of the practice, inviting each of us to listen deeply, to look deeply, and to embody the teachings in our own lives.
Step into the stream of Living Gems and let Thay’s teachings meet you: plumvillage.org/gems
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