How large is the Plum Village community? This is asked by some dear app users and followers. Below is the short answer, inviting you to visit the other family members’ respective websites for further information.
There is a global community of mindfulness practitioners who follow the teachings of Vietnamese Zen Master and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village tradition. The Plum Village App is one of the newest additions to this global community, which turns 40 this year.
Here are some of the main (and oldest) communities and organizations within the family of practitioners in the Plum Village tradition.
Plum Village, France
Situated near Bordeaux in southwest France, this is the largest international practice center in the Plum Village tradition, and the first monastic community founded by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) in the West.
Plum Village began in 1982 as a small, rustic farmstead, and has today grown into Europe’s largest Buddhist monastery, with over 200 resident monks and nuns living and practicing in four different hamlets spread out across the French countryside. It is a continuation of the ‘Sweet Potato Community’ that Thay originally founded near Paris in the 1970s, soon after he was exiled from Vietnam.
Read the whole story.
There is a French version of the Plum Village website, as well as a Vietnamese one: Làng Mai.
Monastic practice centers in the Plum Village tradition
Today there are a further ten monastic practice centers in the Plum Village tradition across Europe, the USA, and Asia, all founded by Thich Nhat Hanh himself.
North America:
Blue Cliff Monastery, New York
Deer Park Monastery, California
Magnolia Grove Monastery, Mississippi
Europe:
European Institute of Applied Buddhism, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Maison de l’inspir, Paris, France
Healing Springs Monastery or Monastère de la source guérissante, Île-de-France, France
Australia:
Plum Village Australia or Nhập Lưu (‘Stream Entering’), Victoria
Mountain Spring, New South Wales
Asia:
Plum Village Hong Kong & the Asian Institute of Applied Buddhism
Plum Village Thailand, Nakhon Ratchasima province
Read about them here.
The Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation
The Foundation works to continue the mindful teachings and practice of Thich Nhat Hanh and support Plum Village mindfulness practice centers around the world through fundraising and coordination.
There are many ways you can continue Thich Nhat Hanh’s legacy: practicing mindfulness, engaging in sangha building, reconciling conflict in your relationships, and working for peace and justice in your own community. If you feel moved to do so, you can also offer financial support in honor of Thich Nhat Hanh, through a gift.
Read more about the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation.
Parallax Press
Parallax Press is a nonprofit publisher founded by Thich Nhat Hanh. It publishes books and media on the art of mindful living and Engaged Buddhism, and is committed to offering teachings that help transform suffering and injustice. Its aspiration is to contribute to collective insight and awakening, bringing about a more joyful, healthy, and compassionate society.
Read more about the Parallax Press’s mission and browse through the many books it’s published.
The Mindfulness Bell
The Mindfulness Bell is a journal of the art of mindful living, an inspiration and teaching resource for those practicing mindfulness in the Plum Village tradition. Each issue features a teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh.
Also included are stories and teachings by teachers and students in this lineage, based on the authors’ direct experience of transformation through the practice of mindfulness. Instead of giving academic or intellectual views, the teachings emphasize simple and successful ways to transform the difficulties and limitations in our lives, so that each day becomes an experience of peace, happiness, and freedom.
It is published twice yearly, on the spring and autumn equinoxes.
Read more about The Mindfulness Bell and subscribe.
Wake Up
Wake Up is an active global community of young mindfulness practitioners, aged 18 to 35, inspired by Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings. They come together to practice mindfulness in order to take care of themselves, nourish happiness, and contribute to building a healthier and more compassionate society.
To find a group near you, check our groups page.
Read more about the Wake Up movement.
Wake Up Schools
Wake Up Schools supports educators to bring the practices of mindfulness and applied ethics into their own lives so they can be happy and free, and may in turn share these practices with colleagues and students in their school communities.
Earth Holder Community
This community is a branch of the Plum Village tree that applies Thay’s core teachings on Engaged Buddhism, mindful living, social and racial justice, and inter-being with Mother Earth at this time of ecological crisis.
Read more about the Earth Holder Community.
ARISE Sangha
ARISE (Awakening through Race, Intersectionality, and Social Equity) is a community of mindfulness practitioners and monastics who come together to heal the wounds of racial injustice and social inequity, beginning with looking deeply within ourselves and using the energy of compassion, understanding, and love in action.
Read more about their mission, vision, and practice.
Happy Farms
This is an agroecology project which incorporates regenerative and organic practices. The farms are located within the mindfulness practice centers and communities. Volunteers and retreatants in the Plum Village Meditation Practice Centers experience first-hand the interconnection between earth, rain, sun, and seed with the hand and food of the farmer.
Read more about the farms, their vision, and methods.
Sanghas (Communities)
Order of Interbeing
The Order of Interbeing (Tiep Hien in Vietnamese) is a community of monastics and lay people who have committed to living their lives in accord with the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings, a distillation of the Bodhisattva (Enlightened Being) teachings of Mahayana Buddhism. Established by Thich Nhat Hanh in Saigon in 1966, the Order of Interbeing was founded in the Linji tradition of Buddhist meditative practice and emphasizes the Four Spirits: non-attachment from views, direct experimentation on the nature of interdependent origination through meditation, appropriateness, and skilful means.
Sangha Directory
There is also a worldwide network of local lay sanghas you can explore through the Plum Village International Sangha Directory – a great way to get in touch with the Plum Village practice in person.
Plumline
A website for anyone wishing to find, establish, build, or maintain an online sangha in the Plum Village tradition.
National Organisations
Many countries have a national organisation to support Plum Village practice in their country, for example, Thich Nhat Hanh Spain, Stichting Leven in Aandach (The Netherlands), and Plum Village UK.
Please check these offshoots’ websites to find out more about their projects, sanghas, and how you can get involved.
☁️ As has been the case with Buddhist teachings for millennia, there is no charge for the Plum Village App and its digital content. However, if your means allow, please consider offering a donation to support our small team’s continued work on the app.