Listen

“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. In this talk by Sr. Hội Nghiêm (English translation by Sr. Lăng Nghiêm) on the master’s Memorial Day, we learn how mindful breathing helps us to take care of our body and mind, to gradually let go of all afflictions and views that bind us. Practicing mindfulness in our daily life enables us to keep balance on our path of service. As our hearts become more free, our activism also gains a new, deeper dimension. Sources: Discourse on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness: https://plumvillage.org/library/sutras/discourse-on-the-four-establishments-of-mindfulness/ Discourse on the Full Awareness of Breathing: https://plumvillage.org/library/sutras/discourse-on-the-full-awareness-of-breathing/ Master Tăng Hội, book written by Thầy: https://plumvillage.org/books/master-tang-hoi/ To watch the talk in Vietnamese (xem pháp thoại tiếng việt): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh2Bvs9KcBs

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 acting. In this panel, Br. Pháp Hữu, Br. Pháp Linh, and Sr. Hiến Nghiêm share their insights on Applied and Engaged Buddhism, drawing on our teacher’s life as a peace activist and a community builder. Our teacher believed that deep understanding can only come about when we practice together as a Sangha, generating a powerful energy of mindfulness and concentration, giving rise to great insight. The power to help with compassion and resilience can be found within each one of us. Sources for further reading: In the following books, Thay shows us how we can bring about the radical change that our world needs: – The World We Have – Love letters to the Earth – Zen and the art of saving the Planet

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 from drowning in collective suffering. It gives us faith to move on and take action from a place of love. Coming back to the present moment is already engaged Buddhsim. It is a daily training. Coming back to our breathing, listening to the bell, walking mindfully… are all practices that help us to generate the energy of mindfulness. ******* Suggested Practice from Brother Pháp Ứng Each day for one week, whenever you stop to breathe, put a hand on the heart and smiling, quietly say to yourself: “I am loved I am complete I am nourishing and healing myself Healing begins with myself right here, right now”

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, we have a deep tendency to believe in a separate self and to strive in order to protect ourselves. Our non-stop thinking comes from this instinct of self-preservation. It stops us from being in touch with the wonders of life and the nature of interconnectedness of all that is. Sr. Chan Duc shares ways that allow us to calm down our thinking and come back to the present moment. We need a calm and clear mind in order to help relieve the suffering of the world without being carried away. *Majjhima Nikāya 20 The Removal of Distracting Thoughts (Sutra quoted by Sr. Chan Duc during the talk) ************ Practices for daily mindfully living mindfully from Sr. Từ Nghiêm based on Sr. Chan Duc’s talk 1. In the morning while waking up, silently recite the gatha: Waking up this morning I smile 24 brand new hours are before me I vow to live deeply in each moment And to look at all beings with the eyes of compassion. This gatha when recited as your first thoughts of the day sets your mind in the direction of positive and Right Thinking – to live mindfully and look at people and situations with understanding and compassion. 2. During the day: Walking mindfully – to refresh the mind and renew mindfulness energy, and to ground you during challenging moments. Each step in peace is a nourishment. Walk just to walk. If we walk without thinking, it calms the mind and body. 3. In the evening: Think of one person or situation to whom you feel gratitude and appreciation. “I feel grateful for…” Write it down in a gratitude notebook and come back to these gems when the mind meanders to negative realms. Find creative ways to infuse your day with mindfulness. Return to the present moment again and again.

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 “forever teens at heart”), Sister Đẳng Nghiêm (“Sister D”) shows young people how to take care of their body and mind amidst the rapid changes of adolescence. “Remember – Actions become habits. Habits become personalities. Personalities become destiny.” 2022 Summer Opening – “Foot of the Mountain Temple”, Plum Village France More about Sister D: https://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/sister-dang-nghiem/

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 are able to befriend our feelings and thoughts as well, and offer friendship and compassion to others. Sister Dang Nghiem shares that as true love ripens in us, we learn to be careful about what we consume, with all our senses. We learn to see with the eyes of interbeing, including the interdependence of input and output. We see that nothing is lost, but that with skill, compassion, and persistence, everything can be transformed. “In true love”, Sr Dang Nghiem tells us, “there must be healing”. With the help of our mindful breathing, we can learn to recognize habit energies and transform them: to learn and to train a new way of seeing and acting. We “walk out into the sunshine” as we learn to see that in this moment, we are already enough, and that we have enough. Then we are free to choose a simple life in order to practice stopping, dwelling happily in the present moment and looking deeply into the true nature of our experience. This practice opens the door to the insight of interbeing, and it is this insight which will bring deep and lasting healing to oursevles and those around us.

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 his challenges, discoveries, and breakthroughs. We witness Thay returning again and again to the heart of the practice, as well as adapting and innovating its form, and we see how this brought him through many difficulties and allowed him to continue on the path of service. Brother Phap Huu asks, as we are now living in a crucial moment for humanity, how can the practice of mindfulness help us to develop a new relationship with Mother Earth based on the insight of Interbeing? Do we actually have a sustainable relationship with ourselves? Can we smile to ourselves when we make mistakes? Do we have an inner island to come back to? Brother Phap Huu shares with us how our mindful breath and steps can become our foundation for such an authentic relationship with ourselves, others, and the Earth. We learn to come back to the present moment and to touch peace. Slowly and with the support of the Sangha, we also learn to recognize and embrace the experiences that have been transmitted to us by our ancestors. In our daily life, we learn to create moments just to be.

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 from our ancestors. Indeed, store consciousness has the capacity to store all our actions of body, speech and mind as seeds. These seeds manifest in our life when conditions are sufficient, even if it takes many years. Nothing is lost. How can the practice of mindfulness help us to regain sovereignty over the seeds that manifest in our lives? How can we bring peace, happiness and harmony through our actions? How can we embrace and transform the unwholesome seeds that were transmitted to us? The Fourth Seal of Plum Village, Ripening at every moment, has four aspects that sister Lang Nghiem explores during this Dharma Talk: 1. Ripening at different times 2. Ripening of different conditions 3. Ripening in different forms 4. Ripening in different places

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 PV: the “times” (past, present, and future) and the “truths” (conventional and ultimate; and the Four Noble Truths) inter-are. He shares that it is possible to realize this truth through the practice of the first two Plum Village Dharma Seals, “I have arrived, I am home”, and “Go as a river”. Seeing that our ancestors and descendants are all present in us right now, we feel full and complete, and this also helps us to dwell happily in the present moment. With our mindful breathing and walking, we are able to take good care of both, and practice in such a way that we are nourished immediately: “there is no way to happiness; happiness is the way”. Brother Pháp Ứng shares that by touching the Right View of inter-dependent co-arising (“this is, because that is”) is very practical, and helps us care for the suffering that is arising in the present moment. It protects us from drowning in that suffering and transforms it at the same time. Brother Pháp Ứng shares that touching deeply the suffering of the relative dimension gives rise very naturally to the love and understanding that allow us to be in touch with the ultimate dimension of no birth and no death. In fact, he says, when we have the practice it is even good that the suffering of birth and death is so painful. Letting ourselves really feel that pain, we make a deep vow to get to the bottom of it, to learn to truly dwell happily in the present moment and see that everything is already a wonder: “the fresh air is already there, we just have to open the door and let it in.”