The Bell of Mindfulness on the Plum Village App is a way of reminding yourself to be mindful. Taking moments throughout the day to connect with your body, and to the present moment, can greatly increase happiness and ease.
This post will explore the Bell’s purpose more thoroughly, and explain how to use it.
If you experience any difficulty getting the bell to ring, see our blog post on ‘Troubleshooting the Bell of Mindfulness’.
Meditating all day long
In Plum Village monasteries, there may be only one hour of formal sitting meditation scheduled each day.
Since visiting a meditation centre could be expected to mean doing this for hours and hours, such a small period may seem lightweight. So why such a short time?
The reason is that formal sitting meditation is only the beginning. The goal is to be mindful in every moment that we can – so walking, eating, conversing, and resting can all be moments of mindfulness.
Mindfulness bells are a way to help achieve this.
Mindfulness bells in Plum Village
The first time you experience it can be a bit awkward: you carry on speaking, not realising that everyone has gone silent. But, at Plum Village, you soon get used to stopping when the bell rings.
The mindfulness bell can be the grand temple bell, the activity bell, or even the distant church bells. It can also be a chime set to go off every fifteen minutes, or even the sound of a telephone ringing.
Whenever a bell sounds, everyone pauses in what they are doing. It is a chance to stop and to take a few breaths in full awareness.
People might recite to themselves the gatha (practice poem) for listening to the bell:
Listen, listen
This wonderful sound brings me back to my true home
Returning to our true home means bringing our awareness back to our body. By connecting with the physical sensations of our breathing and our body, we can return to the present moment.
The bell helps us to stop and fully enjoy breathing and being for a few moments; a mini mindfulness refresher.
Although the first part of meals at Plum Village usually take place in silence, people do have conversations after lunch and dinner. At these times, it is amazing to see the dining hall briefly fall silent at the sound of a bell. People have often been saved from potentially heated debates by the bell offering a chance to stop, pause, and reflect!
The Plum Village App feature: the Bell of Mindfulness
The Plum Village App aims to be a monastery that you can put in your pocket – so it naturally includes a bell of mindfulness.
To find this feature, tap the bell icon at the bottom of the screen and choose ‘Bell of Mindfulness’. Then tap on the toggle next to ‘Enable bell’ to configure its settings.
You can choose a start and end time for the period during which the bell will sound, and how often it should do so. This can be set to occur just once, or to repeat each day. You can also decide on your preferred sound from three options which represent the different bells used at Plum Village.
Whenever it sounds, just as with the mindfulness bells in Plum Village, you can use it as a cue to pause whatever you are doing and take three mindful breaths, returning to the here and now and reconnecting with your body.
This is an effective way to stop and reset, even for only a few moments. It is a chance to check in with yourself at regular points throughout the day. After enjoying a few mindful breaths, you may notice that you have become tense, need a glass of water, or that you have moved away from your intended task.
One small word of warning. In the Plum Village community, the bell invites everyone to stop together, which helps getting used to doing so consistently. When using a mindfulness bell on your own, after a while you may lose the habit of stopping. The mind can be tricky, and could say, “Just this one time, I will carry on working…” – the start of a slippery slope!
But that’s okay; it’s always possible to restart your intention to stop and pause at the sound of the bell. After all, this is something you are choosing to do to increase your happiness and freedom!
We hope you are enjoying using the Bell of Mindfulness on the Plum Village App. It is inspiring to think of app users around the world stopping, breathing, and enjoying the present moment!
A free app as a gift to the world
The Plum Village App is offered free of charge as a gift to the world. As well as the Bell of Mindfulness, it is full of guided meditations, contemplations, and talks offered by Thich Nhat Hanh and the Plum Village monastics. Do please share it with anyone who might benefit. If you are using the app and find it beneficial, you can support its continuation with a donation.
Thank you so much for making this app a free gift to all. I have suffered greatly with depression and other disorders, and haven’t had money to be helped. Thank you for your kindness.
We are deeply touched by your sharing, dear Paula and feel incredibly grateful that the app can be a help in this.
Thank you for trust and love 🙏
A lotus for you,
The Plum Village App team
Hi Paula,
I am going through a mental crisis right now to include depression. This app is so helpful. I just wanted to say hello and my hope for you is that you are happier. Interesting how even one sentence from Thich Nhat Hanh helps me.
thank you for sharing~
Is there a way to set the bell every few hours? The maximum timeframe now is 60 minutes.
Gracias por su trabajo y compartirlo gratis con el mundo.
🙏✨
I really want to use this app but impossible. How can i do it for my phone
Dear friend, please go to the app store and search for Plum Village. Let us know if you need further assistance. Thank you!
I love you all.Truly, deeply and sincerely grateful.
A lotus for you, dear Madhu 🙏 🙂
What a great gift! Many thanks for that, I am pretty sure everybody can participate from it. great- Thank you!
Thank you, dear friend 🙂 ✨
Thank you for bringing such beautiful purpose to a cold technical device. The bell sound is exquisite even on the phone speakers, and the reminder to stop and meditate is what many in the world need. Grateful for this generous gift.
Dear Heike, thank you for the kind words. With gratitude 🙏
Thank you !
🙏
Dear friends, Thank you for this wonderful app and for all the extremely helpful and inspiring gifts of Plum Village tradition. With much love and gratitude. 🙏❤️😊
Thank you, Jacqui 🙏✨
Thank you very much! 🙏🙂
🙏 🙂
I have tried but i dont know what I am doing wrong but it doesn’t sound.
Dear Robert, we hope the issue has been already fixed by now. It it has not, please send an email to our technical team at hello@plumvillage.app . Thank you 🙏
The Plum Village App team
Mine too!
Same problem. It doesn’t sound for me as well. It says turn off silent mode but I have it off and it still doesn’t sound. I think the app needs to be updated. Maybe IOS Updated and broke something.
Dear Shankar, thank you for sharing this with us. If this hasn’t been fixed by now, please feel free to inform our technical team at hello@plumvillage.app . We apologize for our late reply and hope that it has been solved already 🙏
With much care,
The Plum Village App team
Heel veel dank voor deze gift!
🙏✨
I am so grateful for this app. It is a great gift and everytime one session ends with the usual ‘thank you for taking the time to..’ I think to myself ‘ no thank YOU Sister for sharing this with me.
This brings a smile to us, dear Jack 😌 We are happy that you enjoy the app.
Thank you for sharing this with us 🙏
A lotus for you,
The Plum Village App team
Merci beaucoup pour cette application
À la maison, j’avais le clocher de l’église
Je viens de déménager et pas de clocher à proximité, j’ai été heureuse de la trouver
Merciiii
Merci, chère Marie-Jeanne ! Nous sommes heureux que l’application Plum Village vous donne l’occasion de profiter du beau son de la cloche :)🙏
Un lotus pour vous,
The Plum Village App team
It’s helpful if I can turn vibration off on the Bell Configuration. The sound of bell and vibration makes me a bit surprise. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing this with us, dear friend 🙏.
If you have any questions or further suggestions, please feel to contact us at hello@plumvillage.app .
A lotus for you,
The Plum Village App team
Amituofo 🙏🏻
🙏
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
🙏🧡
Since the Pandemic began I have been searching deep within myself for something… I came across your Plum Village app while looking for a bell sound to continue developing my Meditation 🧘♀️ practice. After listening first to Sister Dang Nghiem ‘Practicing with the Bell’ 🔔 I kept reading and found what I was looking for it has a name ‘Mindfulness’ Thank you so much for bringing your teachings to the World 🌎.
Deb 🤗
Dear Debra,
We are so happy that you have found the Plum Village app and to know that you enjoy the teachings 🙏. It’s great to read that you are experienced with meditation already. I hope you also enjoy the wonderful bell sounds:)
Thanks for being with us 🙏,
The Plum Village App team
🙏🏻
wow
super
kul
lepo
love
Slovenija
Havala
😀😊😃
🧘🏻♀️
👍🏻
🌺
♥️
Is there a reason why, if attempting to set the bell to ring for 24 hours, the bell can only ring 23 minutes at the shortest? And if so, why?
Thank you and this bell has been a wonderful gift. A lotus for you, a Buddha to be.
Dear Lucas,
Thank you for bringing our awareness to that 🙏. I have reached out to our programming team and they will look into it :). Happy you enjoy using the Bell of Mindfulness.
A lotus for you,
The Plum Village App team
Dear sangha
I am truly grateful for this wonderful tool of mindfulness, that invites me back into the present moment every 30 minutes everyday!
Even as I teach online or offline, I stop, and many people in the audience join me, some who also download the app.
It’s really life changing!
Unfortunately, after updating to iOS15.1 I can no longer hear the bell. Other functions, like meditation still works. I miss the Plum Village bell darkly and would love to hear it again.
Any thoughts on how to do that?
Warmly
Kai from Japan
Dear Kai,
Thank you for reaching out to us and sharing with us so lovingly about how you use the Bell of Mindfulness in your daily life. We have recently submitted an update to fix the Bell of Mindfulness and it should be in the app stores in the coming days 🙏.
Thank you for using the PV app and practicing with us so patiently 🌿.
A lotus for you,
The Plum Village App team
Thank you, it works now!
A Happy bow to you
Kai
Happy to read that, dear Kai 🙏.
With much care,
The Plum Village App team
Dear sangha
I am truly grateful for this wonderful tool of mindfulness, that invites me back into the present moment every 30 minutes everyday!
Even as I teach online or offline, I stop, and many people in the audience join me, some who also download the app.
It’s really life changing!
Unfortunately, after updating to iOS15.1 I can no longer hear the bell. Other functions, like meditation still works. I miss the Plum Village bell darkly and would love to hear it again.
Any thoughts on how to do that?
Warmly
Kai from Japan
Bell
Thank you for this app and bell. It has helped so much. I wonder if you might consider adding a few different tones of bells? This way, I can change it when I start to feel myself becoming too used to it and it will renew my awareness. Thank you again for bringing help right to my phone into my every day life. You’re making such a difference by boldly marrying ancient truths to modern tech.
Dear Keely, thank you for your kind and loving message. Happy you enjoy using the bell:) I have added your suggestion to our feedback board, where you might like to consider voting for it also 🙏.
https://feedback.plumvillage.app/posts/259/add-different-tones-sounds-for-mindfulness-bell
With much care,
The Plum Village App team
https://plumvillage.app
Dear app team,
This app is such a wonderful treasure trove. Thank you so much for all that you do. I have downloaded the app to my android phone (Huawei p30) and have followed all the instructions to activate the bell. Despite this it still Is not sounding even when I don’t have anything muted. Have you seen this problem before? Any suggestions? I would really like to use this tool.
Thanks in advance,
Gerri
Dear Gerri, thank you for reaching out to us 🙏. We’re very happy that you have found the Plum Village App and that you enjoy it so much! We would love to help you with the Bell of Mindfulness and therefore invite you to please send a message to our technical team at hello@plumvillage.app, describing the situation as you have here.
With much appreciation and care,
The Plum Village App team
Thank you for creating such a wonderful app so that we can have the teachings of such an inspirational leader with us at all times. I appreciate that it is a free app and am grateful for that.
I was saddened to hear of the passing of Thich Nhat Hanh. This app helps carry on his legacy and reminds us every day to be mindful. Thank you for carrying on the teachings of such a wonderful individual.
Thank you, dear Geri, for your wonderful message. We are very happy you enjoy the app and the legacy of Thay 🙏.
A lotus for you,
The Plum Village App team
Thank you for this app. There are so many great resources in it.
It would be great if the bell of mindfulness could be configured to only be used on certain days as there are times when it wont be appropriate for it to go off.
Thanks
Deep Appreciation for Thich Nhat Hanh, for the whole community of Sangha at Plum Village and beyond. Thank you from my heart. Metta,
Gary
Dear community. This app shows so clearly the work and love for the world of this beautiful master. I am so grateful I have just found it. And as all the creations of Thay, it contains all the items one needs to grow in mindfulness. This is a treasure. Thank you so much.
Grazie
Hello Plum Village App Team,
Gentle greetings for you.
I don’t know if I should write a suggestion here but since I’ve seen you are still answering people I’d like to give it a try.
Is it possible the Team considers adding multiple mindfulness bells at the same time, this is just a setting with a ‘+’ sign to add bells, and so customise the schedule of the bell ringing.
Thank you very much.
🙏🏻👋🏻😊
Thank you for the wonderful app, thank you for you sharing, thank you for remember me to say thank you
Thank you for the kind words, Alessandro! With gratitude 🙏
Is it possible to set the bell to rang randomly? And not for a specific time period. Ex: instead of every 15min, the bell could ring in 5 min and the next one after 3h, and so on… inside the hour range we have settled.
If not, this would be a perfect feature.
Thank you
Dicen que todo llega a ti en el momento preciso, a raíz de unos problemas familiares, la soledad, la angustia, el miedo y la ansiedad an invadido mi vida,, ahora es cuando empiezo a despertar, a entender todas estas señales, a darme cuenta de que todo pasa por alguna razón, empiezo a conocer la meditación, el significado del ego, y a darme cuenta de que lo que estoy viviendo es una noche oscura con su despertar, y que mi yo interior solo busca la paz y la calma, por eso me aparto de raíz de una vida que yo tenía normalizada que era mala para mi salud física y mental, gracias, gracias, gracias 🙏 ✨ por esta oportunidad en su justo momento
I have just begun using the bell and it is a great reminder to take 3 mindful breaths. I love all the teachings on this app, on Youtube and in books written by Thai. Thank you for everything. Were I economically able i would have loved to spend time at a retreat.
Dear friend, thank you for sharing this. And we hope you will soon join a retreat too 🙂 With gratitude 🙏