Dear friends,
The Plum Village community is getting ready for another healing and transformative Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet (ZASP) course. From October 20th to December 8th, 2024, this experiential seven-week online learning journey will nurture insight, compassion, community, and mindful action in service of the Earth. You will learn and practice deep listening, begin to master difficult emotions and develop inner resilience, turn our climate concern and anxiety into sustainable action.
To help you prepare for and better understand the aims of the course, we have curated a selection of relevant Way Out Is In podcast episodes which are dedicated to climate action, mindful activism, active hope, regeneration, and more. Highlights include an episode about Thich Nhat Hanh’s book Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet, and the Zen Master himself interviewed about falling (back) in love with Mother Earth.
In reverse chronological order:
Mindful Activism: From Anxiety to Agency (Episode #57) – with special guest Clover Hogan
Climate activist and Force of Nature NGO founder Clover Hogan discusses activism in times of an emerging polycrisis; dealing with growing anxiety; empowering young activists; and turning despair into fuel for change in the climate movement (and beyond) – at both collective and individual levels.
🎧 Listen on the Plum Village App
Benefitting from a Spiritual Practice: In Conversation with Tom Rivett-Carnac (Episode #37)
In conversation with TWOII’s presenters, Tom Rivett-Carnac of Global Optimism talk through the power that deep spiritual grounding has to support change in the world; how to bring presence and insight into our daily lives and to the global challenges we face; how to cultivate inner peace; and steps to make mindfulness a tool for individual and collective awakening.
🎧 Listen on the Plum Village App
Falling Back in Love with Mother Earth: In Conversation with Thich Nhat Hahn (Episode #32)
From the 2011 Plum Village winter retreat, prior to Christmas, this bonus episode showcases an interview between Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and journalist Jo Confino.
Their conversation addresses our relationship with Mother Earth, the need to move beyond the idea of ‘environment’, and falling back in love with our life-giving planet. It also includes important advice to help activists maintain their motivation and peace amid chaos, and on how to suffer less in order to help more.
🎧 Listen on the Plum Village App
Guest episode: ‘Reconnecting with Gaia: A Deep Time Walk’ – with special guest Stephan Harding
This special bonus episode – a collaboration with our good friends at Global Optimism and their podcast series Outrage + Optimism – is a powerful immersive sound journey through the 4.6 billion-year history of Gaia. As told by Dr. Stephan Harding, you’ll learn to “walk well into the life of Gaia”.
By inspiring global leaders to shift their worldview to a Gaian view of life, Stephan Harding has had a massive influence on the climate movement. What you are about to listen to is an exercise of that shift.
🎧 Listen on the Plum Village App
Mindful Consumption (Episode #29)
Here, Jo and Brother Phap Huu discuss the Four Nutriments – edible foods, sense impressions, volition, and consciousness – and share their experiences and understanding of this core Buddhist teaching. By delving into each Nutriment, they uncover Buddhist insights and practical ways to explore and shift how we can consume mindfully.
🎧 Listen on the Plum Village App
Being the Change We Want to See in the World: A Conversation with Christiana Figueres (Episode #21)
Special guest Christiana Figueres is one of the architects of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, a student of Thich Nhat Hanh, valued member of the Plum Village Sangha, and a ZASP course teacher.
Her discussion with TWOII’s presenters touches upon collective leadership; spiritual awakening and nourishing our spiritual dimension; dependent co-arising; saving lives through teachings; and what it means to continue and represent Thich Nhat Hanh’s legacy.
🎧 Listen on the Plum Village App
From Extraction to Regeneration: Healing Ourselves, Healing Society (Episode #16)
Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Linh (Brother Spirit) joins this conversation on eco-anxiety; the challenges of and solutions for shifting to a new paradigm which can heal us and our planet; and whether it’s possible to change our minds, hearts, and future.
Plus, “the decisive decade”; individualism and competition; interdependence; handling fear; transformation; change in “the age of collective procrastination”; and opportunities in difficult times. And is it possible to ‘sit’ with collapse?
🎧 Listen on the Plum Village App
Grief and Joy on a Planet in Crisis: Joanna Macy on the Best Time to Be Alive (Episode #12)
A scholar of Buddhism, systems theory, and deep ecology, Joanna Macy, PhD, is one of the most respected voices in the movements for peace, justice, and ecology. She interweaves her scholarship with learnings from six decades of activism, has written twelve books, and teaches an empowerment approach known as the Work That Reconnects. And, in this episode, she and the two presenters discuss the relevance of Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings to the crises our species faces today; truth-telling and the power of facing the truth; the grounds for transformation; how to be present for life, even in the midst of struggle; and much more.
Joanna also recollects what Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings and activism have meant to her, and shares a special meeting with him in the early 1980s, during a UN peace conference, when Thay read one of his essential poems in public for the first time.
🎧 Listen on the Plum Village App
Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet (Episode #4)
Zen Buddhist nun Sister True Dedication (Sister Hien Nghiem), a special guest in this episode, addresses contemporary environmental crises, and Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s ethical framework of living to help us reach a better future – as presented in his book, Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet.
She and the presenters discuss Buddhist insights into the many existential crises faced by the global community; practical ways people can become empowered; how to avoid becoming overwhelmed by the suffering in the world, and how to work with our emotions to take positive action.
🎧 Listen on the Plum Village App
For more relevant insights into the practice of mindfulness and activism, those who want to join the Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet (ZASP) course can browse the entire Way Out Is In collection for further material. And we’d love to hear more about the episodes that inspired you most in your journey to mindful activism. Thank you!
🌍 Registration is open for the Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet online course.
Plum Village is committed to creating inclusive, diverse, and accessible online courses, and so has a large number of reserved places and scholarships available for young people (35 and under), BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Colour) and those from the Global South (Africa, Asia and Central / South America).
Find out more and register via plumvillage.org/zasp.