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As we come in touch with the newly blooming flowers and the rising bird-song of Spring, Sr. Từ Nghiêm guides us in inquiring: how may we offer Spring cleaning and renewal to our body, and to our mind? In this warm and image-rich talk, our elder sister shares practical and deep guidance about how to care for and refresh ourselves, and how to develop our compassion and our understanding as we walk t...

In this Dharma talk offered on 17th January 2021, Sister Boi Nghiem (Sister True Pearl) teases apart the light and shadow constructs of ‘normality’. By looking deeply at the Vietnamese words, bình thường (normal), we can see the light elements of bình as peace (bình an), calm (bình tĩnh) or recovery (bình phục) and the shadow elements of thường as abnormal (bất thường), strange (lạ thư...

“For me, hope is right now. We can realize the virtue of hope by dwelling in the present moment.” In this talk, offered on the eve of New Year’s Day 2021, Sister Chân Đức shares about the path of True Love, with the four elements of lovingkindness, compassion, joy, and inclusiveness. This is a great gift which we offer to ourselves, our relationships and community, and Mother Ear...

This talk was offered on 3rd December 2020. Where can we go to be truly safe in the most difficult moments? Do we know how to come back to that safe place and dwell there whenever we need? In the “Discourse on Taking Refuge in Oneself”, the Buddha encouraged his students to “return to yourself in order to take refuge in the Dharma, and not to take refuge in any other island or th...

How can we be sovereign in our own life? How can we be free, & free from discrimination? Community life can be uncomfortable, and impossible to control: so why do we choose it? How can we help a loved one navigate the process of dying? How can community help? In this panel sharing from December 6th 2020, three Plum Village Dharma teachers share from their heart about their practice during the...

Sister Tuệ Nghiêm offered a Live Dharma Talk on Sunday, 29 November, the second-to-last of our 3-month Autumn Rains Retreat, 2020.

This talk was given on the 12th of September, 2020 in Solidity Hamlet at Deer Park Monastery. You can support us by donating at https://plumvillage.org/support .

In this clear and memorable Dharma talk, our elder sister explores the nature of truth and asks, What can we rely on? She examines racism and misinformation, and identifies a vaccine: ‘deep looking’ into the reality of interbeing, which is present in our own bodies in a wonderful way. Sr. Thuận Nghiêm shares teachings on the ‘Two Levels of truth’, ‘The Four Criteria&#...

This talk was given at Deer Park Monastery at the start of the annual 90-Day Retreat.

Which actions in our daily life nourish lasting happiness? Which of them contain seeds of suffering for ourselves and others? How can we understand this more clearly, and what does this have to do with the deepest fruit of mindfulness practice, Right View? In this talk, our respected elder Sr. Chân Đức carefully explains the Four Noble Truths. She helps us understand the relationship between &#822...

Brother Pháp Hữu’s name means “Dharma friend”. In this live talk, the first of our 3-month Autumn Rains Retreat, Brother Pháp Hữu speaks to us about how to be a true friend, and how to live in harmony with those around us in our family and community. He shares that as monks and nuns in the monastic community, we learn how to live as a drop of water flowing with the river of the c...

What actions can we take to help bring about healing within ourselves and around us? How do we regain our sovereignty in moments of difficulty? (5:05 – ~10:00) Do we see a craving inside of ourselves for normalcy? How can we take this moment as an opportunity to realign our sense of ‘normal’? (12:50 – ~18:00) Sister Lang Nghiem shares her own experiences, challenges, and pr...

How do we engage with the present moment with both clear-eyed awareness and open-hearted kindness? What kind of mindfulness practice brings us understanding, and has the capacity to relieve suffering in ourselves and others? Brother Hue Truc playfully refers to his talk as a User Manual for mindfulness practice, with a long Troubleshooting section. At the same time, he says, all that practical gui...

Brother Ngo Khong shares about habit energies, strong emotions and how to transform them.

“Even if you don’t call yourself an environmentalist but you take good care of your body, then you are taking good care of Mother Earth. Some people say that they lose trust in their body when they become sick, but I gain trust in my body when I become sick. It is a chance for me to come back and look deeply into my body. Now we are going through a pandemic, which certainly has something to do wit...

These days, our attention is focused on the tightening restrictions to our daily lives, or on the people working the frontlines and putting their lives at risk. In doing so, we have forgotten another life-changing event that is about to happen for teenagers across the country, and around the world: high school graduation. In this talk, we explore how – even in the midst of great uncertainty...

This talk was given to a monastic audience on a day of mindfulness closed due to coronavirus. Guided meditation from Joanna Macy’s “World as Lover, World as Self”.