Sister Thuận Nghiêm (Sister Harmony) takes us along her life-long journey of transforming her way of thinking and speaking with the practice. She shares many true stories about the importance of checking our perceptions and speaking more humbly and lovingly. The impact of our speech is immediate and wide....

“Do not abandon your aspiration too early!” Through her own experience of fearlessness, hope, compassion, anger, and despair during the war in Vietnam, Sr. Chan Khong shares how she transformed unwholesome seeds through mindfulness practices in our Plum Village tradition. Touching on difficult topics such as suicide, alcoholism and...

“Mindfulness of breathing is the great vehicle used by buddhas to save beings who are drifting.” – Master Khương Tăng Hội Meditation Master Khương Tăng Hội, the first patriarch of Zen in Vietnam, was a great source of inspiration for our teacher Thầy to practice and develop Engaged Buddhism....

Is Plum Village “engaged” enough today? Is our daily practice of mindfulness an appropriate answer to the problems our world is facing? If we look deeply at current issues such as war, injustice, or the climate crisis, we can understand their connection with our ways of thinking, speaking and...

Nourishing ourselves with positive elements gives us the strength to heal from suffering. Without nourishment, we cannot heal. The more we are aware of suffering, the more important it is to dwell peacefully, happily, and with compassion in the present moment. The present moment becomes a refuge preventing us...

Every moment can be a moment of applied mindfulness that helps us to understand ourselves better. In this first talk of the 2022 Rains Retreat, Sr. Chan Duc (“Sister True Virtue”) reminds us of the preciousness of having the opportunity to practice together for three months. As human beings,...

To be a soulmate, we must truly understand ourselves. Who am I? Why do I do the things I do and feel the ways I feel? How do I calm my mind and body and be at ease in different situations? In this rare talk for teenagers (and the...

In this kind and gentle talk, Sister Dang Nghiem relates her own journey of healing, and describes the path of true love as the process of becoming “our own soulmate”. She shares that we can begin by befriending our own breath and our own body. From this foundation, we...

In this orientation from the Wake Up Humanity retreat, Brother Phap Huu, long-term attendant of zen master Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay), takes us on a journey as he relates stories of our teacher’s life and practice, and the genesis of the Plum Village Dharma Doors. We accompany Thay in...

A rich sharing from long-time Plum Village practitioners who lived in Plum Village during each era from the 1980s to the present day. For photographs of each era, see the slideshow of Plum Village across the years.

In this final talk of our June retreat “40 Years of Plum Village: Now We Have a Path, We Have Nothing More to Fear”, Sister Lang Nghiem invites us to train ourselves to recognize the present moment as a maturation of all our actions, including the experiences we received...

In this fifth talk of our June retreat “40 Years of Plum Village: Now We Have a Path, We Have Nothing More to Fear”, elder brother Pháp Ứng offers a heartfelt talk rich with poetry, music, and a video to share with us about the third Dharma Seal of...

In this fourth Dharma talk of our 40 Years Retreat, “Now We Have a Path: We Have Nothing More to Fear”, Brother Phap Linh shares how we can recognize trauma in ourselves and those around us, as well as how we can care for it and help it to...

Have you ever felt a sense of deep belonging to a group with a shared aspiration and way of living? Did you feel safe enough to entrust yourself in that group and flow together in the same direction? How can we “go as a river” in a way that...

Br. Phap Huu offers his experiences and insights on practicing “I have arrived, I am home”, the First Seal of Plum Village practice. He shares poignant moments by Thay’s side for us to have a taste of Thay’s great wisdom and love. Arriving in our body and mind in...

Do you feel you have found a path that helps you to live with freedom, and without fear? How can we learn to see such a path clearly in every moment, and develop a confidence in it that is unshakeable? In this retreat we celebrate 40 Years of Plum...