Fond Memories

Monastic elders and long-time lay practitioners share memories of Plum Village and meeting our teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh in the 1980s, 90s, and beyond.

During the We have a Path retreat celebrating 40 years of Plum Village, Sister True Dedication hosted a series of interviews about people’s experiences with Thay and Plum Village over the years. Below, we offer some short videos of the sharings from our practitioners.

On Bread and Medicines

Long-time practitioner and lay dharma teacher, Franscoise shares about visiting Plum Village to repair the bread oven and packing medicines for Vietnam with Sister Chan Khong.

On Pilgrimage

Shantum shares his experience of organizing a pilgrimage through India with Thay in the 1980s and meeting the Buddha as a human being for the first time.

A Lifetime of Practice and Staying “Indefinitely”

Sr Dieu Nghiem (Sr Jina) shares about the first 21-day June retreat in Plum Village in June 1990 and the meeting with Thay and many monastics from other traditions. Subsequently, she is invited to stay in Plum Village “indefinitely”.

Exams!

Long-time practitioner and lay dharma teacher, Steffi shares how they had to sit for an “exam” for our teacher Thay to get some feedback on their retreat experience.

Activism and Spirituality

Uli shares how he combines activism with spirituality, after meeting Thay’s teachings.

This is only a small selection of the entire series of interviews. Watch the full video below with interviews with many other long-term practitioners and monastics (please note that interviews from 10:12-35:02 are in French).