The 71st day of the retreat at Upper Hamlet, Phap Van Temple, with 19 days left until the end. The term monastics is translated as those who have left home, the ordained community. The Ceremony of Invitation for Admonition (Tự Tứ) will be held on the 15th so that the uncles and teachers from Tu Hieu can attend. In the list of apprentice Dharma teachers, three names were missing and have now been added:

1. Brother Phap Nhuan
2. Brother Phap Tu
3. Sister Hanh Lien

The issue of the telephone line was raised urgently: the bicycle tire was flat so the teacher could not guide meditation, and there was no compassionate line to call for help. The teacher reminded everyone to practice the First Mantra—Darling, I’m here for you—by being present 24 hours a day for anyone who calls, even while cooking, gardening, or taking turns in each hamlet, using the telephone as a symbol of love and being ready to share with each other the plan of service.

Caring for retreatants and Sangha facilities still has many shortcomings: lack of restrooms in Lower Hamlet and New Hamlet, lack of a common room for visits, tea and snacks; classrooms and meditation rooms are often noisy. The teacher called on each hamlet to:

• establish their own residence rules, with the Dean of Students responsible for maintaining purity
• form a “retreatant care team” to make up for the lack of facilities with kindness and attentiveness
• improve the internal switchboard system, transferring calls after office hours to the “Activity Bell” team to be on duty for the phone

The Dien brothers lived together in harmony until the third brother began to feel afraid of being at a disadvantage, and immediately asked to divide the family property and live separately. The three brothers decided to cut down the ancient tree to split it into three parts, but the next night the tree had withered and died. The tree stopped living because it “hurt in its heart” at the intention of separation, just like the pain of brotherhood being divided. Realizing this, the third brother was moved, asked to live together as before, and from then on the three brothers lived in harmony for the rest of their lives.

The sound of the bell signals the lesson on brotherhood in the sangha: fear, jealousy, and the thought of “wanting to be number one” are like the third wife, destroying the spirit of unity. To build a strong sangha, we need to

• recognize and transform the “enemy within” (fear, jealousy)
• encourage many “nuclei” (small groups) to function naturally on the basis of brotherhood
• continuously learn, create, and adapt to new circumstances without clinging to old forms

Training and ordination must also apply this principle: elders (senior brothers, sisters, teachers…) place brotherhood and the responsibility of guidance above authority, caring for and regularly communicating with the novices so that they may progress day by day. When brotherhood is strong, the sangha will have faith, happiness, and enduring vitality.

Maitrī, that is, friendship, is the root of all love – not only romantic love between man and woman, but also the love between father and child, mother and child, siblings, friends, descendants, homeland, humanity, and the environment. In the Buddha’s teaching, there are three other words alongside maitrī:

• karuṇā (compassion)
• muditā (joy)
• upekṣā (equanimity)

The monastic life and the sangha require the cultivation of brotherhood through the practice of mindfulness. The four elements that nourish oneself and the sangha, as mentioned in the morning meditation, are:

• freshness
• solidity
• calmness
• freedom

Every day, we should ask ourselves, “Today, what have I generated to nourish myself and to nourish the sangha?” so that we do not starve ourselves or our companions.

The upcoming three-month trip to Vietnam is a historic adventure, requiring each person to be diligent in purifying body and mind, to practice repentance, and to offer wholeheartedly their clarity and sincerity. Those of you who remain at home also need to offer your support through daily mindfulness, ensuring that the atmosphere both inside and outside the country is solid, so that the mission may be accomplished.

Studying the history of the original Sangha is not for accumulating knowledge as in taking exams, but for contemplating the present, seeing clearly our own path of practice, determining what needs to be continued or abandoned, and making a firm commitment to practice what the future requires. While listening to the Dharma, we need to reflect on our own position, recognize suffering inside and outside, and from there apply the teachings to resolve those sufferings.

The diversification of schools in Buddhism is healthy because it brings a diversity of insight. From the split into the Sthavira and Mahāsāṃghika schools 140 years after the Buddha’s Parinirvana, to about twenty schools after several hundred years, there was a “hundred flowers blooming” without conflict. For twenty-two years, Plum Village has been both conservative in preserving the essence and progressive in renewing, offering practical fruits:

• The Earth Touching Practice responds to the aspiration for repentance of both monastics and laypeople
• The Five Mindfulness Trainings and the Ten Novice Precepts are presented clearly, practically, in non-religious language
• Prostration meditation and the second body renew the methods of practice
• The novice monastic code textbook has been compiled to replace the 400-year-old version
• The Vietnamese Chanting Book continues the tradition, carrying the essence of the Dharma

The Dharmaguptaka School and the Tamraṣāṭīya School (Theravāda/Sthavira) are two sibling branches of the Vibhajyavāda school, which arose about 140 years after the Buddha’s Parinirvana. The Dharmaguptaka School was transmitted to China and then to Vietnam, bringing with it the Four-Part Vinaya, which most Vietnamese monastics study and practice. The Tamraṣāṭīya School was transmitted southward; Tamraṣāṭīya means “copper” (tamra) + “leaf” (ṣāṭīya), because their robes were reddish-yellow, resembling the color of copper. Later, it was renamed the Theravāda School. Comparing the two Vinaya collections, we see that the twenty sections (khandhakas) are almost identical:

• 1. Ordination Section – Great Section (Mahākhandhaka)
• 2. Recitation Section – Uposatha Section
• 3. Rains Retreat Section – Entering the Rains (vassa)
• 4. Invitation Section
• 5. Suspension Section
• 6. Robes Section – Medicine Section
• 7. Medicine Section – Kaṭhina Robe Section
• 8. Kaṭhina Section
• 9. Kuddāmiya Section
• 10. Campa Section
• 11. Kha-trach Section – Saṅghakamma Section
• 12. Human Section – Separate Residence Section
• 13. Depository Section – Miscellaneous Section
• 14. Value Section – Value Recitation Section
• 15. Schism Section
• 16. Dispute Resolution Section
• 17. Bhikkhunī Section
• 18. Dharma Section – Ritual Dharma Section
• 19. Lodging Section – Sleeping and Sitting Equipment Section
• 20. Miscellaneous Section – Miscellaneous Matters Section

Regarding cognition (pramāṇa), there are four main types:

1. Direct perception (pratyakṣa): correct intuition is true direct perception, incorrect is pseudo-direct perception.
2. Inference (anumāna): inductive/deductive reasoning, correct or incorrect.
3. Scriptural authority (āgama): revelation of the sages.
4. Non-valid cognition: mistaken pseudo-direct or inferential perception.

Along with these is “practical cognition,” that is, the practice itself. “Sanghakaya cognition” synthesizes direct perception, inference, scriptural authority, and practical cognition of the practicing community, and is the only “lamp” on which we can rely. Taking refuge in the Sangha means taking refuge in the collective insight, which does not oppose individual insight, because the insight of each practitioner is an integral part of the collective insight of the Sangha.

The Pali Vinaya of the Dharmaguptaka School consists of five parts called the five books. The first two parts discuss the precepts and the details of their meanings, while the fifth part is a practical summary. The third part is called the Mahāvagga (Great Section), which contains 10 Skandhakas (Pali: Khandhaka), and the fourth part is the Cullavagga (Lesser Section), which contains 12 Skandhakas. The term Matrika (Ma-dak-la-ya) means “mother,” and is used to refer to the entire Vinaya collection, such as Vinaya Matrika, from which the sub-chapters, the Skandhakas, arise.

The Mahāvagga (Great Section) has 10 Skandhakas:

1. Mahākhandhaka (Great Skandhaka): Ten verses recounting the Buddha’s story, relating to teacher and disciple, and the transmission of the major precepts
2. Uposatha Khandhaka: Preparation for reciting the precepts every half month, maintaining purity and harmony
3. Vassapāṇāyaka Khandhaka: Organizing the rains retreat during the rainy season
4. Pavarana Khandhaka: The ceremony of atonement and seeking guidance after the rains retreat
5. Bihāra-Thammā Khandhaka: Principles for the use of footwear and protective items
6. Bhesajja Khandhaka: Instructions for the use of medicines, dietary regulations during the Buddha’s travels
7. Kathina Khandhaka: Procedures for receiving new robes after the rains retreat
8. Civara Khandhaka: Regulations for offering, types, colors, and distribution of robes
9. Campeyya Khandhaka: Rectification of Sanghakamma in the village of Champa, lawful procedures for Sanghakamma
10. Kosambi Khandhaka: Recording the schism of the Kosambi Sangha, encouraging reconciliation

The Cullavagga (Lesser Section) has 12 Skandhakas:

1. Kamma Khandhaka: Types of Sanghakamma, dealing with grave offenses, unrepentant, and those who do not abandon wrong views
2. Parivāsa Khandhaka: Special residence, Manatta, Marāja, and rehabilitation
3. Samuccaya Khandhaka: Methods for handling complex offenses and concealing recidivism
4. Samatha Khandhaka: Putting an end to disputes and quarrels within the Sangha
5. Kuddhaka-vatthu Khandhaka: 110 cases of offenses and their specific resolutions
6. Senāsana Khandhaka: Dwellings, beds, pillows, and management of the Sangha’s property
7. Saṅghabhedaka Khandhaka: The story of Devadatta’s schism and three attempts to harm the Buddha
8. Vatta Khandhaka: 55 daily practices such as dining hall etiquette, almsround, and toilets
9. Pātimokkha-ṭṭhapanā Khandhaka: Temporarily suspending the recitation of the precepts when there are impure members
10. Bhikkhunī Khandhaka: Establishment of the Bhikkhuni Sangha, Gotamī’s request for ordination, and the Eight Revered Rules
11. Pañcāsatikā Khandhaka: The first council (500 monks), proposal to reduce the precepts
12. Sattasatikā Khandhaka: The second council (700 monks), raising ten unlawful matters of the Eastern region

The idea of a multicultural Sangha began with the image of a circle symbolizing a community of both Asian and Euro-American roots, sharing the aspiration to live happily, peacefully, and harmoniously. Each member, whether of Jewish, Vietnamese, European, or American descent, is “seeking their true home,” going beyond the comforts of culture (food, language, customs). That true home is a place of deep dwelling, leading to the second fruit of the four fruits—the fruit of having arrived, having come home—that is, happiness in the present moment.

The Dharma doors of practice emphasize three gradual steps:

1. Peaceful abiding: sitting still, without the desire to run away.
2. True home: with each breath, each step, returning to our roots.
3. Communication and relationship: embracing and accepting ourselves before establishing genuine connection with our brothers and sisters.

When each individual in the Sangha has “arrived and come home,” the Sangha becomes a Dharma instrument: accompanying all cultural elements, helping each person both accept their roots and transform the world—whether in Asia or Europe, in Buddhism or in daily life—by the wisdom of “dwelling happily in the present moment” rather than longing for a future paradise.

After the Buddha entered Nirvana, 100 years later, Buddhism split into over 20 sects, each with its own expanded Vinaya serving as the foundation for its Vinaya literature. To this day, only six collections of Vinaya texts in Pāli, Chinese, Sanskrit, and Tibetan remain available for study, collectively called the canonical Vinaya literature. The second part is the Pratimokṣa sūtra (precepts sutra), a recitative text consisting of an introduction, procedures for sanghakarma, recitation of the precepts, questions, and encouragement. At Plum Village, the precepts sutra of the Dharmaguptaka school (Four-Part Vinaya) has been renewed, with 250 precepts for bhikshus and 348 precepts for bhikshunis. The third part is the non-canonical Vinaya literature (Vinaya commentaries), including commentaries and expositions such as the Samantapāsādikā, the Sutra on the Causes and Conditions of the Vinaya, and so on.

1. The six complete expanded Vinaya collections of the schools

   • Tāmraśāṭīya/Theravāda school in Pāli
   • Dharmaguptaka school – including the Four-Part Vinaya
   • Mahāsāṃghika school
   • Mahīśāsaka school
   • Sarvāstivāda school
   • Mūlasarvāstivāda school

2. Eleven Vinaya commentarial works and expositions in the Chinese Tripitaka

   1. Samantapāsādikā (Buddhaghosa)
   2. Śikṣāsamuccaya Vinaya-vibhaṣā (18 volumes)
   3. Sutra on the Causes and Conditions of the Vinaya (10 volumes)
   4. Sarvāstivāda Vinaya-vibhaṣā (9 volumes)
   5. Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya Compendium (14 volumes)
   6. Upāli’s Questions to the Buddha Sutra
   7. Buddha’s Abhidharma Sutra (2 volumes)
   8. Vinaya Mother Sutra (8 volumes)
   9. Vinaya Twenty-Two Clarifications Treatise
   10. Śāriputra’s Questions Sutra
   11. Buddha’s Teaching on the Five Dharmas for Bhikṣus Sutra

Vinaya literature, called the Vinaya Pitaka, consists of three main parts:

1. The Broad Vinaya (Quảng luật)—the fundamental part of the Vinaya Pitaka, divided into three sections:

• Sūtra Vibhanga—explains the nature and origin of each precept;
• Skandhaka—comprises 22 chapters regulating the daily life of the Sangha (such as the rains retreat, robes, medicines, etc.);
• Parivāra—19 chapters discussing various detailed matters.

2. Prātimokṣa Sūtra and Karma Vacana—para-canonical recitation texts, including the preface, procedures for communal acts (karma), questions, conclusions, and selections of the Buddha’s teachings.
3. Treatises and Commentaries—works that explain and discuss the precepts and the Vinaya, composed by scholars and venerable disciples.

The Broad Vinaya has been transmitted and recorded in the following major schools:

• Theravāda—Pāli version, with Romanized edition (Oldenberg), Thai, and Burmese versions;
• Sarvāstivāda—The Ten Recitations Vinaya, 61 fascicles in Chinese (translated in 404);
• Dharmaguptaka—The Four-Part Vinaya, 60 fascicles in Chinese (translated 410–413), including six sections: Bhikṣu Vinaya, Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya, 20 Skandhaka, Miscellaneous Vinaya Rules, Section of Regulations, and Ekottara Vinaya;
• Mahāsaṅghika—The Broad Vinaya in two parts: Bhikṣu Vinaya and Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya (translated 416–418);
• Mahīśāsaka—The Five-Part Vinaya, 30 fascicles (translated 423), divided into five: Bhikṣu Vinaya, Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya, nine procedures for receiving precepts, seven procedures for resolving disputes and communal acts, eight methods for resolving disruptions and Vinaya assemblies.

February 6th, 2004, at the Pacific Meditation Hall, Deer Park Monastery, the Northern California Gathering takes place over three or four days each year, with the participation of six Vietnamese monks and nuns from Deer Park and Maple Forest Monastery. Most of the attendees are practitioners who have been ordained for 30–40 years, living alone, without a sangha, yet have not fallen away, creating confidence that the monastic life can be sustained even while working and having to struggle alone with the difficulties of body and mind. Sister Chau Nghiem wishes for the Plum Village and Deer Park practitioners to meet these venerable ones to strengthen their faith.

In the Rule of Saint Benedict, there are four types of monastics:

1. Cenobite: living in a monastery, practicing according to a rule and under the authority of an abbot.
2. Anchorite or hermit: having been trained for a long time in the monastery, now living alone and struggling with the weaknesses of the flesh and wandering thoughts, relying on the grace of God.
3. Sarabaite: self-practicing monastics, without rules, whose nature is soft like lead, indulging in desires, calling what they like holy and what they dislike unwholesome.
4. Gyrovague: wandering monks, roaming from province to province, staying three or four days in each place, slaves to their own will and desires, worse than the Sarabaite.

The Christian and Buddhist experience both affirm the essential importance of the sangha: the support, illumination, and great joy that comes from participating in the Prajnaparamita career of the World-Honored One. The Vietnamese elder monks and nuns who have practiced for many years and now live together with Plum Village are a precious support for the Western sangha, especially for young people who are still uncertain about their ability to remain steadfast throughout a lifetime of monastic practice. Sharing experiences, Dharma discussions, and lessons from the Rule of Saint Benedict help everyone recognize their place in the sangha and find the faith and strength not to abandon the path of the Dharma.

Just stopping, refrain, don’t do it; when we stop, it is “trì” – preserving intact (as in holding the alms bowl, upholding the precepts); if we do not stop but “tác” – act – then we violate the precepts, causing them to be damaged. For things that should not be done, we follow “chỉ trì, tác phạm”: not killing, not stealing, not engaging in sexual misconduct… if we stop (chỉ), we are able to uphold the precepts; if we act (tác), we violate them. Conversely, for things that must be done, “chỉ phạm, tác trì”: for example, reciting the precepts, going into the rains retreat, helping those in distress… if we stop (chỉ), we violate; only by acting (tác) can we uphold the precepts.

The practice of the precepts is expanded into three groups called the Threefold Pure Precepts (Tam Tụ Tịnh Giới):

1. The Precept of Restraining Evil Conduct (Nhiếp Luật Nghi giới) – don’t do (refrain from all evil) and maintain the precepts, deportment
2. The Precept of Cultivating Goodness (Nhiếp Thiện Pháp giới) – do what is wholesome (kusala), intervene when seeing suffering
3. The Precept of Benefiting All Beings (Nhiêu Ích Hữu Tình giới) – great compassion, reaching out to rescue and reduce the suffering of all beings

The traditional set of precepts for bhikshus is 250 (Dharmaguptaka tradition), for bhikshunis 348, Theravāda tradition 227; the number increases as the community recognizes new problems that need to be addressed to protect the Sangha. The Buddha was always flexible, adapting the precepts according to circumstances – for example, allowing the carrying of dry food when crossing the desert, permitting cooking when hungry, and using a steward to hold money.

A novice records… a feeling of loneliness, wishing to be oneself in the stream of practice. He shares that he studies the Dharma to understand more deeply, not because he is “forced,” and strives to confidently develop his own unique talents.

The bell inviting us to the morning sitting meditation resounds a great bell half an hour before the official meditation time, marking the path to the meditation hall as the meditation hall itself, and strictly prohibiting cars, including golf carts, from entering during the time from 2:15 to 2:30, both in the morning and afternoon, totaling nearly 5 hours of car-free time each day. The caretaking teams and Dharma teachers have the responsibility to block the road, placing Bodhisattvas guarding the path so that lay practitioners are also aware to observe the regulations, in order to protect the pure space for walking meditation and to increase the joy for both the Sangha and lay practitioners.

Life in the Sangha always upholds the spirit of “a drop of water in the river”: sitting meditation, listening to Dharma talks, eating, chanting—all must be done with the community, not separately. The Sangha is not an ordinary Vietnamese temple but a place to sow the seeds of the Dharma into Western civilization, needing to transform the forms of solemnity, rituals, chanting, eating, and walking to suit the capacities of Westerners, in order to engage in dialogue and dispel the layers of “garbage” of suffering, despair, and discouragement created by modern culture.

Some principles for revising the precepts to serve the two purposes of protecting the Sangha and bringing ease to practitioners:

1. The precepts must be a means of mindfulness, not becoming attachment to rules or mere ritual.
2. The precepts need to be adapted to circumstances (gradually individually liberating, not fixed everywhere).
3. Precepts are established to counteract wrongdoings, and can be revised, supplemented, or abolished when no longer appropriate.
4. The revised code of precepts is called Universal Ease (Prātimokṣa), meaning that step by step, in every place, it leads to freedom and happiness.

This morning, walking meditation on the fragrant path among the mountains and forests, between the moon and the mountains, with just two feet, two lungs, and mindfulness, one can enter the Pure Land right in the present moment. Meditation and the Pure Land become one; there is no need to wait for the future, for each step of walking meditation is already walking in the present Pure Land. The song “Taking Refuge in Amitabha” with its six words and pauses is used for walking meditation, with the rhythm of three steps per breath—expressing the joy and the capacity to nourish happiness right within body and mind.

1. Taking refuge in A 2. Mi-ta pause 3. In the wondrous ultimate dimension pause 4. The slope returns, the heart’s slope turns back pause

Building the sangha begins with our own joy and connecting brothers and sisters in the weekly “happy gathering.” This is not a meeting to solve work, but a milestone to nourish brotherhood and sisterhood, to enhance the quality of happiness, and to avoid the trap of formality. Novices, novice nuns, bhikshus, bhikshunis, and lay friends—all have the right to organize and participate—including on the day of “Upavasatha” (Uposatha) to purify the precepts body, maintain the order of practice, and keep the fourfold sangha strong. Walking in groups of five, seven, or ten in the Pure Land is not a dream, but the reality we are living.