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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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“)...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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....
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...
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...
„Economics of Happiness” WakeUp Retreats im Europäischen Institut für Angewandten Buddhismus in Waldbröl
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.
Dear Thay, My name is Christopher Bono, I am a composer whom you have met before! Four years ago, I asked you a question about living the life of an artist when feeling that much of your secluded efforts are not shared with the world, and the perception that...
By Barbara Chai Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh led a “Day of Mindfulness” at the Blue Cliff Monastery in Pine Bush, New York, Sunday, drawing 1500 practitioners from the tri-state area. Thich Nhat Hanh, also known as “Thay” (“master” or “teacher”), is one of the most influential spiritual leaders...
Clip produced by Peace Is The Way Films, in support of their animated film for children, parents and teachers, ‘Planting Seeds: The Power of Mindfulness’ | Thich Nhat Hanh’s beautiful meditation for all ages, reminds us of our flower freshness, mountain solidity, water reflective clarity and spacious freedom. Charmingly...
August 22, 2013 Dear friends, After several years of living at plum village and a year since my ordination, I was recently allowed to go on my first home visit to be with my sister at her marriage in Toronto, Canada. Since both of our parents have died and...
A letter from Sister Chan Khong in 2013 Dear Sangha, Dear Friends, In the autumn of 1959, I had a conversation with a prominent Buddhist monk, and asked him many questions about the Dharma. But he didn’t answer any of them. Instead, he took out a book by Thich...
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Sister Dedication: dedication@plumvillage.org Sister Peace: pvbelovedcommunity@gmail.com Thich Nhat Hanh, internationally acclaimed Zen Buddhist monk, teacher, and peace activist has arrived in Batesville, Mississippi for a two-week teaching visit at his Magnolia Grove Monastery. This event is part of a 3-month teaching tour of North America,...
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