Articles

Hong Kong University honors Thay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wmhVrgZD04 The University of Hong Kong has formally awarded Thay an Honorary Doctorate in recognition of his contributions to world peace and humanity. Past Hong Kong University (HKU) Honorary Degrees have been awarded to Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi, and Bill Clinton. Hong Kong comes to France...

The Campaign Is Still On!

Dear Friends, Thank you all so much for the donations and many words of support we have received. We have been deeply moved by the generosity of everyone who has contributed to this campaign. We are delighted to report that the response to the Happy Farm campaign was so...

I Don’t Run Away Anymore

Thay recently received this beautiful and moving letter from one of his students (a lay man) in Ireland. With permission from the author, Thay asked us to type it up and post it online for the whole community to read. We have transcribed it from the original handwritten letter,...

Happy Farmers Will Change the World

We would like to invite you to participate in growing and supporting Plum Village’s Happy Farm as it enters its second bountiful year. Your donation will help us introduce thousands of children and adults to the practice of mindfulness and organic farming. The Happy Farm is steadily transforming Plum...

In memory of Thay Phap Y

Dear Spiritual Family, With great regret we announce that our dear Italian brother Thay Phap Y passed away last Friday morning, February 7th, 2014. He was a teacher to all of us, our big brother, our “Venerable Thich Chan Phap Y”, and “Papi” to many. He was a colorful...

Interbeing, Service, and Our Little Wars

By: Ray Hemachandra In September I drove to Magnolia Grove Monastery in Batesville, Mississippi, to spend a day at a retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh and Zen Buddhist monks and nuns both from this monastery and mindfulness meditation practice center and from Plum Village in France. In many ways...

And a Mindful New Year

By Jessica Ardis If you had told the sixteen-year old version of myself that I would chose to spend New Year’s Eve sitting in silence with nuns, I would have asked what you were smoking. The nuns I had encountered in twelve years of Catholic school were mostly a...

New Contemplations Before Eating

Dear Spiritual Family, Thay has just announced a new version of the Five Contemplations before Eating, after receiving a letter from scientists recommending replacing “global warming” with the more appropriate term “climate change.” As a spiritual family and a human family, we can all help avert climate change with...

Love Letter to Vietnam

On behalf of the international fourfold sangha of Plum Village, and our friends on the path in Vietnam, we would like to ask for your help. As we start the New Year 2014, please offer to write to the leaders of Vietnam, asking them to allow Vietnam to have at least...

Plum Village Practice in Vietnam – some background

Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh’s return from exile Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh returned to Vietnam in 2005, after nearly 40 years of exile for having called for an end to the Vietnam War. His return attracted tens of thousands of people to his talks and retreats. His accessible teachings...

New Year’s Prayer 2014

This prayer was offered by the Plum Village fourfold sangha as part of the midnight ceremony to mark the dawn of the New Year 2014. Dear Beloved Father Sun – Bodhisattva Mahavairocana Tathagata, Dear Beloved Mother Earth – Bodhisattva Mahagaia, Dear Beloved Ancestors, both Spiritual and Genetic,   We...

Preventing the Sandy Hook Shooting

Neil Heslin, father of Sandy Hook victim, asks Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh: What could have prevented what happened that day? What changes could we all make to help try to prevent suffering like that in people in the future? From the Question & Answer Session at the Art...

Christmas in Plum Village

Yesterday was the arrival day for our Christmas week, as Plum Village welcomed people from around the world to join us for this deeply joyful and time of “coming home” together as a spiritual family. Every bed is full! The hamlets are already beautifully decked with greenery, berries and...

Learning to let go

Dear friends of the four fold Sangha, A deep bow to you all from Lower Hamlet, Plum Village. Here we have just started the first week of our Autumn retreat, the golden poplar leaves are floating down in the gusts of wind, rain is finally falling on our summer...

New Practice Phrases for 2014

We are very happy to announce the new practice phrases that Thay has just composed, as an offering to the worldwide Plum Village Community for the New Year 2014 and the Lunar New Year of Horse:   The practice phrases are a traditional parallel verse (also known as a “couplet“)...

27 New “Linden Trees”

At 6am on a frosty morning, this last Sunday 8th December, over 400 people gathered in the Still Water Meditation Hall of Upper Hamlet, Plum Village to witness Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh transmitting the Ten Novice Precepts to eight young ordinees here in France. Plum Village Thailand held a...

Earth Hug

Think about it. Who has supported you all your life without asking for anything in return? Fresh air, clear water, food, stability and unconditional love… The earth provides. the earth cares. the earth loves! It’s about time we love her back again… Every day – every moment… And with...

Novice Ordination this Sunday

This Sunday, 8 December at 6 am in the Still Water Meditation Hall of Upper Hamlet, there will be a Novice Ordination Ceremony for new monks and nuns. Eight ordainees here in Plum Village, and twenty in Thailand, will receive the 10 Novice Precepts from Ven. Zen Master Thich...

A Short Break Can Go a Long Way

By Deirdre Mullins Over the last few weeks, broadcaster John Murray and Cork hurler Conor Cusack have spoken openly about their struggles with depression. The musician Bressie, rugby analyst Brent Pope and author Marian Keyes have also discussed their own emotional struggles. Thanks to this openness, the stigma about...

The Unspeakable Reality

By: Jack Saunsea love to write. It is one of the most important tasks I believe I am here on this earth to do. Writing has been instrumental in connecting and building relationships with people all over the world. While at the same time there is a certain admission...

Meditating on a Hillside with Thich Nhat Hanh

By Dianna Bonny “Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the whole earth revolves – slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.” Thich Nhat Hanh I am excited to share how the simple act of saying yes landed me on a hillside,...

Nhat Hanh brings Dharma to Delta

by David Waters A 10-year-old boy held a Buddhist monk’s hand as they walked with hundreds of others slowly, quietly, peacefully through Overton Park in 2002, in part to honor the nonviolent ministry of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. As they passed through the sunlight and shadows of the...

Is the Buddha in the car ?

One day, while riding in a bus Thay asked his attendant: “Do you think the Tathagata is in this bus with us or not?” Brother Phap Nguyen replied: “Yes, I think he is.” Thay said: “Are you sure?” There were 3 buses, Thay was in one, and there were...

Conversations on Compassion

Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) was invited by the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) to speak at Stanford University on his life experiences and the role compassion has played throughout them. Stanford University has kindly uploaded the video of the entire exchange between Thay and Dr...

Voices of Compassion

Thich Nhat Hanh was a Vietnamese refugee who, instead of becoming bitter after being sent into exile, set up foundations to help other refugees that were too poor to buy food and clothes. He tried to teach people to be mindful of the natural world through poetry and lectures....

Tough Lessons From Thích Nhat Hanh

By Cameron Conaway The pain started just a few minutes into what I thought would be a calming five-day retreat. I’d been living in Bangkok for two years, and shortly after I arrived I began to hear of a man named Thích Nhất Hạnh. He was a Zen Master...

One Week in Plum Village

In November 2012, actress, singer, children’s book author Eliane Chappuis, travelled to Plum Village and with the permission of Sister Chan Khong; she filmed this documentary film ”One week in Plum Village”. Eliane shows in a straightforward way what a one week stay in Plum Village is like. She...

Hundreds of Smiles

Joy, happiness and healing experienced on retreat at Deer Park Meditation Center expressed with smiles by young and not-so-young. A smile shows the world we are a free person in our body, heart and mind. Guitar by Carl Struck. Images by D. Nelson.

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What is Mindfulness

Thich Nhat Hanh January 15, 2020

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