Br. Phap Bieu reflects on three poems by Master Ham Son (Zh. Hanshan)and shares his own experiences of being in the mountains and of the practice.
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The Old Pear Tree
What's in a pear tree? On a foggy, dark night in the Upper Hamlet, a brother discovers the nature of mind with the help of a beloved old pear tree.
Armfuls of Poetry, Drops of Sunshine – a poem of Thich Nhat Hanh
Sunshine rides on space and poetry on sunshine. Poetry gives birth to sunshine, and sunshine to poetry.
Turning Darkness into Light on a Grand Scale – 10 years of the EIAB
Sr. Chân Đức expresses gratitude for our practice center the European Institute of Applied Buddhism, Germany to celebrate it's 10 year anniversary. She tell us how Thay and the sangha have turned a place with a dark history into a place of peace and joy.
Cultivating Compassion and Understanding
When you produce a thought of compassion, of understanding, of forgiveness, you are on the same frequency as the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. You can tune into the energy. When you are capable of pronouncing something in terms of forgiveness, in terms of compassion and understanding, you are in tune...
A Love Letter from Young Novices
We are novice brothers and sisters from France, Germany, Italy, the U.S., Vietnam, the Netherlands and other countries who live in Plum Village, France. We have grown up in Buddhist, Jewish, Catholic, Protestant and other traditions, and now we have found our new spiritual home in the beautiful international...
Froglessness – poem by Thich Nhat Hanh
The first fruition of the practice is the attainment of froglessness.
Walking Meditation – poem by Thich Nhat Hanh
Take my hand. We will walk. We will only walk. We will enjoy our walk without thinking of arriving anywhere.
Expressing our Gratitude to Thầy on the Lunar New Year Day
Today we your students, monastic and lay, have gathered on the first day of the Lunar New Year to celebrate our togetherness and to express our gratitude to you and all our ancestral teachers. We are happy that you are being embraced by the fourfold community there in Plum...
90 Days at Plum Village – reflections from lay practitioners
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...
Shedding my hair completely, I vow to transform all my afflictions
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.
New Year Prayer to Mother Earth and All Our Ancestors
The Plum Village fourfold Sangha offered this New Year Prayer at the midnight ceremony to enter 2018.
Our True Home
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,...
Our Environment
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...
Mother, Hear Our Call
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...
Two Families, One Heart: A Western Bhikshu Comes Home
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...
Alms Round – The Practice of Love, Humility, and Gratitude
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...
Healing the Past, Transforming the Future
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...
I Am in Love with Mother Earth
“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...
As if We Had Met Before – Remember to Look for Thay
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,...
As if We Had Met Before – Singing with Thay
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.
As if We Had Met Before – Thay’s Childhood Rain
“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.
Please be Abbess for Thay
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...
Kitchen as a Meditation Hall
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...
我已到了，已到家了
六棵傘形松 我們在法國北部的芳雲庵舉辦了第一次夏季禪營，但這是一個很小的中心，我們無法接受很多人來參加，所以我們來到南方尋找土地，建立一個可以容納更多人的修習中心。 我們第一次看到上村時，我立刻喜歡上了它，因為它很美。我看到了我們能用來行禪的路徑，我第一眼就愛上了它。然而，地主德松先生（Mr. Dezon）不想出售這塊土地。他非常喜愛那裏，因為他在這土地當了很長一段時間的農民。 我們繼續尋找土地，幾天後的1982年9月28日，我們找到了下村並買下了它。但我們仍想購置上村，希望它能成為現實。那一年下了一場冰雹，摧毀了德松先生名下的所有葡萄園。他很生氣，把這塊地以高價放到市場上出售，並未真的打算賣它。儘管價格上漲了，我們還是買下了它，因為我們非常喜歡這塊地。 調兄及其妻與兩個孩子從越南乘船到來。他們是首批幫助我們創建梅村的人。從1982年冬天到1983年夏天，我們做了許多工作。1983年初，我們開始在上村種植一些樹。第一批樹是六棵傘形松樹。上村的地面滿是石頭，所以我們需要一位當地農民的幫助和他的機器來挖樹洞。我們在每個洞的底部放了一點牛糞。那天下著雨，每個人都濕透了。後來，我生病了，臥床三週。每個人都在擔心。幸運的是，一段時間以後，我可以起床吃一些粥。 在那些日子裏，我們稱我們的新家為柿子村，這是青年社會服務學校和相即共修團計劃在越南建立的一個修習中心的名字。 1950年代，我們在越南高地有芳貝靜修處。然而，青年社會服務學院希望有一個離城區更近的中心。當我寫作《正念的奇蹟》時，我曾談及創建一個名為柿子村的修習中心的想法。8年後，我們的願景實現了。我們想過種柿子，但意識到不實用，於是種了梅樹。我們天真地認為，如果我們種下許多梅樹，就能有足夠的收入養活自己。我們不是園藝家，所以做得不太好。較之梅子，我們更喜歡梅花。梅村這個名字很美，所以我們把柿子村改為了梅村。 第一批梅樹中的許多是由來到梅村的孩子們的零花錢購買的。我們告訴孩子們，七年後梅樹會結出果實，然後我們會曬乾梅子出售。這筆錢將用於幫助越南和其他貧困國家的饑餓兒童。許多孩子存下零花錢買梅樹。有的時候，孩子們將零用錢合起來購買。種一棵梅樹幼苗要花35法郎。我們種了1250棵，因為這是佛陀時代原始僧團的數字。