Why would you spend a full 90 days in a mindfulness practice centre during winter, living with many monastic and lay sisters? How did you make it possible to have that time from your “real” life? What were the challenges? How have you changed? Our long-term friends at the...
When I heard about the retreat I knew I wanted to join. Not wanting to seem overly attached (a no-no in Dharma circles), I tried to bring it up as casually and offhandedly as possible with the monk who was organising the retreat. Internally though I was experiencing some...
On December 14 at 9:30 in the morning, nine young men and women entered the community of monks and nuns at Plum Village France, receiving the Ten Novice Precepts. At the same time in Thailand, 22 novices were also “born” at the Thai International Practice Centre.
The Plum Village fourfold Sangha offered this New Year Prayer at the midnight ceremony to enter 2018.
Christmas is always an opportunity for us to meditate on the topic of home, our true home. Have I got a true home? A true home is a place where you feel comfortable and at ease. You don't want to go anywhere else anymore. You feel so at home,...
Sister Chan Khong, the eldest monastic disciple of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, and Thay’s long-time collaborator, has written an open letter to Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar, to give the latest comments on the situation in Myanmar. [wonderplugin_pdf src=”https://plumvillage.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Sister-Chan-Khong’s-Statement-on-Burma-December-2017-1.pdf” width=”100%” height=”848px” style=”border:0;”] Download the letter in PDF format
On the 14th of December, 2017, nine young men and women will be ordained into the Plum Village Monastic family. For the very first time they will discover the reality of monastic life. As soon as the ordination date was confirmed, the web team gathered with the aspirants at...
To aspire means to aspire to something. There should be a kind of deep desire that pushes you to go in that direction. That desire makes up the vitality of the person. Each of us needs to have enough vitality, joy, an aspiration, a deep desire. So it is...
The Plum Village monastic community grew by three on October 20th. The Dogwood Tree ordination family consists of Sr. Trang Quang Son (27), Sr. Trang Kim Son (24) and Br. Troi Minh Dung (23). They were ordained during the North America Tour Monastic Retreat in Magnolia Grove Monastery in...
On the warm morning of November 15, 2017, the four-fold Sangha of Plum Village France gathered at the Dharma Cloud Temple to open the 2017-18 Winter Retreat with the “Request for Taking Refuge Ceremony”. At this ceremony, we make the commitment to practice together continuously for 90 days. The...
Madam President, faculty, students, and friends, I feel very humbled to be a representative of Plum Village and our teacher Thay. Thay had a stroke in 2014, which means it is not possible for Thay to be here today with us, in one form. But Thay is here with...
On Wednesday October 11th monastic and lay disciples of Thay around the world celebrated their teachers continuation day, turning 91. Plum Village held a special Day of Mindfulness to be together and practice as a four-fold sangha. During an informal lunch Brother Phap Huu read the following text from...
Today please sit back to enjoy a conversation on suffering, desire, the current political climate, how we can peacefully make change, the positive and negative aspects of the current university/college scene, how we can get young people to meditate, practicing compassion, commitment, and of course Brother Phap Luu’s story....
We are very happy to confirm that earlier today, 29th August 2017, at 12h35 local time, our dear Teacher landed safely at Đà Nẵng airport in Vietnam. This is his first visit to Vietnam since 2008.
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York (Union) has announced that it will award Buddhist teacher, author, and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh with the Union Medal, “which was instituted in 1981 as a means of honoring individuals whose lives reflect the mission of the Seminary in...
We write to share a happiness that next year 2018, Plum Village will be hosting our bi-annual 21 Day Retreat once again from June 1st to June 22nd. It is a retreat focused for experienced Buddhist practitioners, especially from our Order of Interbeing community, but is also open to...
Sister Annabel (Sister Chan Duc) It is a lovely day in May in EIAB, Waldbroel. How lucky we are to have eyes that can enjoy the wonderful colours and forms of spring and two good legs to take us out into the woods and pastures and the time to...
Sister Chân Mai Nghiêm Mother, hear our call, Here we stand. No matter where we stand, We are your children. And we stand for the Truth of our Oneness. Drawing by Sister Chân Hài Nghiêm May we stand in the steadiness of your Love To protect you, Mother, On...
Br. Chân Trời Phạm Hạnh I still remember vividly my community as a young boy. We had to go up the stairs and into a big hall with stained glass windows. It was full of older and younger brothers and sisters, or uncles and aunts, as we called them...
Br. Chân Trời Nguyện Lực “The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace. With each step, a gentle breeze blows. With each step, a flower blooms.” Alms round is a beautiful practice that I like very much. Of all Plum...
Br. Chân Trời Đức An Dear respected Thay, dear sisters & brothers, dear friends, My name is Chan Troi Duc An. I am a baby novice monk in the Plum Tree family. We ordained on December 14th in France, and some on the 15th in Thailand. I was born...
“Every morning in winter when I wake up, I put on some warm clothes and go out to take a walk around the Upper Hamlet. It is usually still dark outside, and I walk gently, in touch with the nature all around me, the sky, the moon, and the...
Thầy has arrived in Thailand. That in itself brought quite a shock for countless people. What needed to be done was realized quickly. I could feel each brother and sister’s heart in anticipation of seeing Thầy. Hearing that Thầy would come, Venerable Giác Viên, currently receiving treatment in Vietnam,...
We have many funny stories during the time of attending Thầy. Once, while aiding Thầy to walk, after a few steps he pointed to his feet. My brother and I were dumbfounded to see that we had put the right shoe on Thầy’s left foot and vice versa.
“What event in this year was the most meaningful for me?” If you had asked me this question, without hesitation I would have replied that it was the opportunity to attend Thầy. In this process I have found myself and I have also found you.
Plum Village community celebrated Vesak on 7th May in the New Hamlet, with over 400 monks, nuns, and lay friends, including the French sangha, and the members of the Order of Interbeing in France. Vesak commemorates the birth, enlightenment, and passing away (parinirvana) of Shakyamuni Buddha. In the morning,...
Ordained in 2002 aged 14, brother Phap Huu became vice abbot of Plum Village’s Upper Hamlet in 2008 and abbot in 2011. Throughout much of his monastic life he has served as Thay’s attendant whenever Thay travels. I spoke with Br. Phap Huu after he returned from SXSW film...
Sr. Chân Hội Nghiêm A few years ago, our former Abbess of the Dharma Nectar Temple, Lower Hamlet wished to rest and to find someone to continue her work. She asked me, but I did not accept. Anything but to shoulder this responsibility. I did not want...
Sr. Chân Diệu Nghiêm (Sr. Jina) I would like to share an experience I’ve had in a Winter Retreat that has inspired me until today. This was in the early times of Plum Village, maybe in Winter 1991. Thay used to teach in the dining hall in the Lower...
After our annual 3-month Winter Retreat, Plum Village monks and nuns have an opportunity to share the teachings and the fruits of our practice. Every week in Plum Village we are welcoming over 150 lay practitioners, and the monastics are also heading out to lead retreats and mindfulness events...
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