Plum Village

Plum Village (Vietnamese Làng Mai) was founded in 1982 by [[thich-nhat-hanh|Thich Nhat Hanh]] and Sister Chân Không on a small plot of land in the Dordogne region of southwestern France. [[thich-nhat-hanh|Thich Nhat Hanh]] had been in exile from Vietnam since 1966, when his anti-war advocacy made return impossible; he had spent the intervening years at a small community at Sweet Potato (a hamlet near Paris) before the Plum Village land became available. The land was originally planted with plum trees (hence the name) — the trees themselves were a source of livelihood for the early community.

The hamlets

Plum Village proper now comprises four hamlets in the Dordogne:

• Upper Hamlet (Xóm Thượng) — the principal monks’ residence; the main meditation hall where [[thich-nhat-hanh|Thich Nhat Hanh]] gave most of his teachings.
• Lower Hamlet (Xóm Hạ) — the principal nuns’ residence; the second main hall.
• New Hamlet (Xóm Mới) — nuns’ residence; substantial gardens and forest.
• Son Ha — a smaller hermitage hamlet, [[thich-nhat-hanh|Thich Nhat Hanh]]‘s primary residence in his later years.

The hamlets together house several hundred monastic residents and host substantial annual retreats, including the principal Summer Opening (a five-week family-friendly retreat in July–August), the Rains Retreat (the traditional three-month monastic intensive), and the annual Days of Mindfulness for visiting laity.

The satellite monasteries

The Plum Village tradition has established a substantial international monastic network:

• Deer Park Monastery (Escondido, [[berkeley|California]]) — founded 2000; the principal Plum Village center on the U.S. West Coast.
• [[magnolia-grove-monastery|Magnolia Grove Monastery]] ([[batesville-ms|Batesville]], Mississippi) — founded 2005; the principal U.S. Southern center.
• Blue Cliff Monastery (Pine Bush, [[beacon-ny|New York]]) — founded 2007; the principal U.S. East Coast center.
• European Institute of Applied Buddhism (Waldbröl, Germany) — founded 2008; the principal European center outside France.
• Plum Village Thailand (Pak Chong) — founded 2013.
• Asian Institute of Applied Buddhism (Ngong Ping, Hong Kong) — founded 2009.
• Nhập Lưu Monastery ([[beaufort-sc|Beaufort]], Australia) — founded 2009.
• Bát Nhã Monastery (Vietnam) — established by the Plum Village tradition; substantially restricted by the Vietnamese government in 2009 after a mass eviction of the resident monastic community.

After 2018, when the Vietnamese government finally permitted [[thich-nhat-hanh|Thich Nhat Hanh]] to return to his original ordination monastery, Tu Hieu Pagoda in Hue, that monastery has become a substantial pilgrimage site for the Plum Village tradition. [[thich-nhat-hanh|Thich Nhat Hanh]] died there in January 2022 at age ninety-five.

The Order of Interbeing

The Tiep Hien — Order of Interbeing — is the lay practice community of the Plum Village tradition. Founded by [[thich-nhat-hanh|Thich Nhat Hanh]] in 1966 during the Vietnam War, the Order trains practitioners who take simplified monastic vows (the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings) while remaining in ordinary householder life. The Order now has thousands of members across the world organized into local sanghas (practice communities), each meeting regularly for sitting meditation, dharma sharing, and study.

The Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings — Thich Nhat Hanh’s substantial reformulation of the traditional Buddhist precepts in language adequate to modern conditions — articulate ethical commitments across:

• Openness (not being attached to one’s views)
• Non-attachment to views
• Freedom of thought
• Awareness of suffering
• Compassionate, [[healthy-living|healthy living]]
• Taking care of anger
• Dwelling happily in the present moment
• True community and communication
• Truthful and loving speech
• Protecting and nourishing the sangha
• Right livelihood
• Reverence for life
• Generosity
• True love

The trainings have been one of Thich Nhat Hanh’s most consequential teaching tools — they extend the traditional Buddhist precept framework to contemporary ethical conditions (climate, technology, consumption, communication) in a way that has resonated substantially with non-Buddhist practitioners as well.

After Thich Nhat Hanh

Since the founder’s death in January 2022, the Plum Village tradition has continued under the leadership of the senior monastic community he ordained. Particularly notable continuing figures:

• Sister Chân Không (b. 1938) — Thich Nhat Hanh’s longest-serving student, co-founder of Plum Village, and the principal continuing carrier of the tradition’s institutional memory.
• Brother Pháp Dung, Brother Pháp Hữu, Sister Lăng Nghiêm, Sister Định Nghiêm, and substantial others — the Dharma teacher sangha trained and ordained by Thich Nhat Hanh over four decades.

The tradition has continued to publish, teach, and host retreats at substantial scale; Thich Nhat Hanh’s writing (more than 130 books) continues to reach new readers; and the Order of Interbeing has continued to grow internationally.

What Plum Village gives

A continuing functioning Zen monastic community on Western soil at substantial scale — one of the most successful trans-cultural transmissions of a Buddhist contemplative tradition in modern history. A specific style of practice — the bell, the walking meditation, the smile, the deep relaxation — that integrates traditional Zen austerity with substantial accessibility for non-monastic practitioners. A model of engaged monastic practice that refuses the separation of contemplation from concern for the world’s suffering. And, for hundreds of thousands of practitioners worldwide, a continuing home for a particular Buddhist way of life that has substantially shaped the modern reception of the tradition.

See also

Auto-generated from this entry’s typed relations: frontmatter, grouped by relation type so the editorial signal isn’t flattened.

• Subset of: [[zen]]
• Parallels: [[thich-nhat-hanh]]
• Member of: [[organization]]
• Part of: [[engaged-buddhism]]