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 your lap, we stand To protect…
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 as children. As a little boy,…
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 Village centers around the world, only…
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 in France in 1988 and grew…
“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 stars. One time, after walking, I…
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, has arranged to come and visit Thầy.
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, Brother Phap Linh shared in his…
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 festival where he helped launch the world premiere of a new documentary about the Plum Village community, Walk With Me.
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 everyone to have expectations of me.…
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 Hamlet. The old dining hall. Some…
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 in Europe and Asia. We have…
In late March 2017, two senior Dharma teachers, Sr. Bi Nghiem from the EIAB, and Sr. Dao Nghiem from Plum Village, travelled to Israel to support two retreats: one three days retreat in Ramallah near Jerusalem, in the North of Palestine, in the Occupied Territory, and another five days retreat at Biet Oren Kibbutz in…
Over 700 retreatants from all over France, as well as Switzerland, Belgium, Quebec, joined the Plum Village community for our annual Francophone Retreat from April 10-17. During this Easter week we enjoyed a full week of mindfulness practice, deep sharings, meditations, teachings and relaxation, all in French. See the full photo album below. The whole community…
“It is much easier to practice to generate joy and happiness in the spring time”, shared Sister Thuan Khanh in her Spring Retreat Dharma Talk a few weeks ago. It is true: the beauty of the flowers and the warmth of the sunshine touch our hearts and gladden our minds. On the morning of Sunday…
Last month, seven Plum Village monastics supported the launch of the world premiere of “Walk With Me“, the new documentary on Thich Nhat Hanh’s community, at SXSW film festival in Austin, Texas. From 11-15th March, they held a series of mindfulness and meditation sessions for festival-goers, including mindful walking, sunset meditation, and a sitting flashmob. Embed from Getty Images…
Sister Chan Khong, the eldest monastic in the Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhists, and Thay’s long-time collaborator, has written an open letter to Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar, to ask for compassionate action to prevent the violent oppression of Rohingya muslims in her country.
Click on a photo to enter the high-resolution album.
Thai Plum Village International Practice Center 17th December, 2016 Official announcement The Thai Plum Village Sangha is delighted that our beloved teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh was strong enough to travel to Thailand a week ago, arriving in the early morning on Saturday, December 10. During his stay in Thailand, Thay will be residing in his thatched hut…
As Plum Village enters the fourth week of our three month Winter Retreat, the days are getting shorter, the air fresher, and the energy of peace, stability, harmony, and togetherness deepening day by day. Elder Dharma Teachers have been offering inspiring talks, exploring the Noble Eightfold Path on the theme “In the Footsteps of Thay.”…
On the morning of Tuesday 15th November, Thich Nhat Hanh joined the fourfold community of Plum Village for a very special opening of our annual 90-day Winter Retreat. After missing two years of Winter Retreat in a row, the sangha is delighted that Thay’s health is now strong enough for him to offer his all-embracing compassionate,…
Interview with Larry Kasanoff, producer and filmmaker about the documentary-making process with Thich Nhat Hanh How did you get into mindfulness? I read one of Thay’s books, loved it, and contacted him to meet because I thought he would be great inspiration for one of the characters in a series of very successful action…
A Dharma Talk by Brother Phap De December 11, 2011 Today is, in the Christian Churches of the West, the third Sunday of advent, the season in which our Western ancestors made a pretty big deal about getting ready for Christmas, getting ready for the Prince of Peace, looking for the arrival of the Messiah. This…
Dear Beloved Community, On 25th September, our Deer Park Monastery in California held a memorial service to remember and celebrate the life of our dearly beloved Brother Phap De (“Young Brother”), who passed away peacefully on August 4, 2016, at the age of 81. Brother Phap De had been in ill health for a few…
What is The Happy Farm – Lower Hamlet? The Happy Farm Lower Hamlet is a small organic vegetable farm located on the sister’s ground in Plum village. It brings together farming and the mindfulness practice of Plum Village. In 2012 the first Happy Farm was founded in Upper Hamlet. Now 4 years later, based on…
What is The Happy Farm? The Happy Farm is a small organic vegetable farm located within the Upper Hamlet of Plum Village. We have around 1 acre of land in cultivation, comprising 50 beds which are 35m long and 1.2m wide. In addition we have a large polytunnel with a further 6 beds which are…
A special message from Sister Chan Khong Plum Village, July 2016 A DESPERATE CALL FOR HELP FROM MOTHER EARTH Dear Citizens of the Earth, Forty-six years ago, in 1970, I was a young biologist present at a ground-breaking meeting between Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and six leading scientists in Menton in the south of…
