Deer Park Dharmacast

In this Dharma talk, Sister Đặng Nghiêm shares heartfelt insights on suffering, healing, and learning to be our own soulmate. Speaking at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY, on July 20, 2025, she reflects on childhood memories, the Four Noble Truths, and the art of "riding the waves of life" with mindfulness and compassion.

Sister Chua Xua was a social worker and left a long-term relationship to become ordained as a nun at Bát Nhã, a Plum Village monastery that closed due to harassment from the Vietnamese government. "I also have a dream. I have a wish that I can support the young Western people to take the monastic life. The life that when you open your eyes, you see the moon and the star over your window. You feel...

Brother Phap Hoi is a Vietnamese refugee and the most senior Brother at Deer Park Monastery. "Because the Sangha embrace all of the people, even you are high level or low level of good background or not. You all have the chance in the Sangha if you go in the right direction of practice." 3:16 Meeting Thay 8:20 Arriving at Plum Village 11:30 Visa Trouble, First Stint at Deer Park 17:12 Bat Nha Mona...

Sister Phu Nghiem is one of three nuns in her immediate blood family and is passionate about bringing mindfulness to children. "So I focus a lot more on my steps. On how I choose the food when I come to a meal. I learn to enjoy the meal and enjoy my siblings. And that has supported me a whole lot now that I'm here at Deer Park. I'm learning how to do that. And I notice my relationship with my sibl...

Brother Phap Luu , the eldest non-Vietnamese American monk in the Plum Village tradition, graduated from Dartmouth College and started meditating after going through a depression.  "What is more satisfying in life than helping people to transform their suffering? I mean, who cares about money and all this other stuff? The biggest happiness I get is if I can help myself, first of all, but others to...

Sister Le Nghiem came to the practice after the death of her brother, and typically does solo retreat at the monastery for a few weeks a year. " So the practice gives me the greatest happiness. And this practice gives me being with others. Being with friends on retreat. Being with my siblings. Spending time each other. So when I practice it gives me happiness. And when my practice is deep, my happ...

Sister Sr. Trung Chinh left Vietnam as a refugee and has been a nun for over fifty years. "The aspiration of a monk or a nun is that we have to arrive to the most peaceful place, the happiest place in ourselves. And there's only the daily practice. The daily practice only helps us to arrive to that place, that aspiration. It's the daily practice of each person. If each one of us do our best and le...

Brother Minh Nhan , one of the only monastics in the Plum Village tradition of Mexican descent, is a monk of many interests: music, mushrooms, math, and more.  "To join a community that maybe looks different, maybe don't see others like myself in it, let's say. Yeah, I mean, that's one way to look at it, but look at it as also, you're the one entering that. And you needn't be the last one either."...

Sister Boi Nghiem studied nursing before being ordained, and works regularly as a nun with the BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and teen communities. "I think I have a very healthy relationship with myself. Very healthy mental dialogue with myself. There were times I comforted myself. There were times I'm very firm with myself, tell myself to stop thinking that way. And they help. This is why I kept on sharing th...

It's Meet the Monastics ! Brother Phap Dung is a Vietnamese refugee who worked as an architect in Los Angeles before finding the practice, healing his relationship with his father, and changing the course of his life. "Now you get to choose, and it's deliberate. That is a monk. I choose to be in this intimate way with the community, with this path. I choose not to be in a romantic relationship. I...

Brother Minh Luong was raised in Laguna Beach, California, and went to NYU, where he read a book that changed his life. "I realized recently that there really is no separation between the practice and everything we do in our daily life. Either we're creating conditions for a practice space, like an internal practice space, or we're taking conditions away. And so if I can live in a calm and peacefu...

Sister Kinh Nghiem , one of the funniest and most stylish nuns in the world, was ordained when she was only 14. "Get rid of all of your ideas of what monastic practice is. You know, you come here, I mean, the practice is wonderful. And it's for you to come and see for yourself. But if you start getting ideas of what you expect monastic life to be like, you'll have a hard time. Because there's two...

Weekly Episodes Starting October 15   From Deer Park Monastery, it's  Meet the Monastics , a new podcast featuring interviews with fully ordained monks and nuns, hosted by Brother Minh An and produced by Kenley Neufeld. As monastics, the most common question asked of us is, you guessed it, why did you become a monastic? This podcast is for anyone who's ever wanted to ask that question. Each week,...

A Dharma talk with Br. Man Tue from the Ocean of Peace Meditation Hall at Deer Park Monastery during our Day of Mindfulness, Sunday, July 23, 2023. Our theme is how to stop, rest, and heal. 

Sister Áo Nghiêm offered this beautiful and personal Dharma talk for our Day of Mindfulness on Sunday, July 16, 2023. 

From our series of questions and responses on March 26, 2023 in the Ocean of Peace Meditation, we heard this question. When moments of personal suffering take over and have a combustable quality, what advice do you have for a person experiencing this? Or someone who is helping that person?  Our response is offered by Sister Phu Nghiem. 

From our series of questions and responses on March 26, 2023 in the Ocean of Peace Meditation, we heard this question. Thich Nhat Hanh says that anxiety means not being able to dwell in the present moment. But there are times when it is very difficult. In this kind of situation, what other suggestions do you have for coming back to the present moment? Our response is offered by Brother Phap Luu. 

From our series of questions and responses on March 26, 2023 in the Ocean of Peace Meditation, we heard this question. How can I let go of attachment to worldly love? Our response is offered by Sister Huong Nghiem. 

From our series of questions and responses on March 26, 2023 in the Ocean of Peace Meditation, we heard this question. Regarding the goals of the practice. What are the goals of the practice? Do I need to change my needs in life to be happier? Then there is the other end of the spectrum. How to practice? What exactly to relate to ones own needs for the purpose of alleviating suffering? Our respons...

On March 26, 2023 we held a session of Questions and Answers during our weekly Day of Mindfulness. Rather than release the entire session as one recording, we are offering question and response one at a time. This is the first question.  How can we work with, in our practice, racial bias and cultural insensitivity? The response was offered by Brother Phap Dung. 

From our Day of Mindfulness on Sunday, March 12, 2023 we hear a Dharma talk by Brother Ngo Khong, also known as Brother Freedom. 

This is the English translation of the Dharma talk originally offered in Vietnamese by Thích Phước Tịnh. Translation provided by Sr. Dang Nghiem.

A Dharma talk offered during our Day of Mindfulness on Sunday, February 26 from the Ocean of Peace Meditation Hall. The talk was offered in Vietnamese and this is the English translation provided by Br. Earth.

The Dharma talk is in English from Sister Kinh Nghiem during our Day of Mindfulness on February 19, 2023 from the Ocean of Peace Meditation Hall. 

Here we have a Dharma talk offered by Thay Pháp Xứ from the Ocean of Peace Meditation Hall at Deer Park Monastery on Sunday, February 12, 2023. The teaching is on a Day of Mindfulness with the theme The Power of True Love. Thay offers us one of his poems as the foundation for the teaching. This is a translation from the Vietnamese by Sister Mai Trang.