Is Peace in Ourselves Healing the Planet?

To honor Earth Day, we are delighted to share an article by Brother Troi Duc Niem, in which he reflects on his monastic journey and on the important role of Plum Village in supporting the climate movement.

This post features an excerpt taken from Brother Duc Niem’s article originally published in the Mindfulness Bell, Issue No. 95.

My Journey to Ordaining in Plum Village

In 2013, my job at a solar energy company in Germany ended, and I began to seriously consider ordaining as a monk in Plum Village. I attended a conference in Berlin on renewable energies in developing countries, and on my way back, I read one of Thầy’s books on the train. Thầy wrote that in order to be more effective as activists, we must be able to write a love letter to our politicians. I had a deep aspiration to help protect the planet and support the people of the Global South, but I realized that something was missing in my work and life: a spiritual dimension and peace within my heart and body. That summer I was staying in Plum Village, France for six weeks. I was going through the pains of burnout and a breakup, and the time in Plum Village helped me tremendously to heal. Thầy’s talks, the deep peace during the collective walking meditations, and witnessing the transformations and healing of the friends in my Dharma sharing circles nurtured my monastic aspiration.

One moment stood out for me. Thầy shared in a question and answer session: “Maybe in one hundred years there will be no more humans on this planet if we continue to live as we do now.” I was deeply impressed—not only by the clarity with which he described this reality, but especially by the way he said it. Thầy radiated such peace, lightness, and calmness when he spoke this heavy truth, and it had a deep and lasting impact on me. One big question and kōan for me is: How can we have deep peace inside while not closing our eyes to the unprecedented suffering caused by the unfolding climate crisis? And, on the grand scale, does my cultivation of peace actually make a difference?

I found that living in a practice community—cultivating and offering peace and healing—could align my aspirations to protect the planet and reduce the suffering in myself and in the world. After one year of training as an aspirant, I was ordained in 2016 with the Plum Tree ordination family. In Plum Village, France, seventeen new novices from ten different countries and four continents were ordained together, reflecting beautifully the international diverse nature of Thầy’s Beloved Community.

Embracing Stopping and Simplicity

During the years of my novice training, the practices of stopping, coming back to myself and the present moment, and enjoying the beauty around me have helped me immensely. The energy of thinking and planning for the future—even when it is only thinking about the next few hours ahead—used to be quite strong in me and prevented me from being deeply in touch with Mother Earth. But the simple lifestyle as a monastic, with a regular schedule of sitting and walking meditations and with limited use of electronic devices and other distractions, supported me to transform much of the pain, stress, and restlessness in my heart. This allowed me to dwell more deeply in the present moment. Drinking tea with my elder brothers in the early morning, sitting on Thầy’s deck savoring the magical spectacle of colors during a sunrise, and touching the beauty of the trees, moss, and nature during walking meditations—these moments helped me feel more deeply connected with Mother Earth and grateful for the gift of being alive on this beautiful planet.

In recent years, the wish in my heart to help protect Mother Earth has manifested in very concrete and meaningful ways: we have co-organized Earth Holder retreats, like the 2021 Action from the Heart online retreat for over nine hundred activists, and the Love is Freedom Global Earth retreat in 2023. Since 2022, Plum Village has offered the Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet (ZASP) online course and climate retreats on a regular basis.

Global Earth Retreat “Love is Freedom”

For me, the Global Earth Retreat in June 2023 was a wonderful expression of the spirit of unity, togetherness, and solidarity across traditions and continents. It was the first hybrid retreat we offered in Plum Village—seven hundred retreatants joined in person in Plum Village, and eight hundred friends participated online from around the world. It emerged as a real co-creation of the global multifold Sangha of the international Earth Holder communities and Plum Village. A number of local Sanghas also met to follow the retreat together in Berlin; at Morning Sun Retreat Center in Vermont, US; in Singapore; and Santiago, Chile. It was very touching to see so many people from different corners of the planet practicing together and sharing the same aspiration to protect Mother Earth.

One highlight of the retreat for me was the inter-spirituality solstice celebration, where indigenous leaders from the Amazon, Mexico, and Africa led the community in a very deep, serene, and also joyful ceremony around a big bonfire under the bright shining stars in Upper Hamlet in Plum Village. In this moment, I could really feel the deep connection we share with all humans, our Mother Earth, and the cosmos. Another great joy was the wonderful and joyful team spirit and siblinghood in the organizing team (consisting of monastics and lay Earth Holders); we all supported each other wholeheartedly and cheered each other up during long days and nights while responding to many emails and requests. A few of us have been practicing together with the Wake Up Earth Holder online Sangha since 2021. But even though some of us on the organizing team have never met in person, working together like this with joy, determination, and solidarity made us feel very close to each other. I am grateful that we can experience this kind of siblinghood in our multifold Sangha across different countries and cultures.

True Siblinghood Can Heal the World

Whenever Thầy shares about siblinghood, it resonates strongly with me. He says that nothing, no ideology or religion, is more important than brotherhood and sisterhood. From my own experience in the Sangha, I feel the same. The care, love, and spiritual friendships with my monastic brothers and sisters, and some long-term friends, have helped me through many ups and downs in my monastic life. Whether I have some happy or sad news, I know there are always siblings I can go to and share with. I have developed a strong bond of trust, love, and siblinghood with many brothers and sisters.

I believe that one of the secrets of the success and strength of the monastic community is that we all share the aspiration to transform our suffering and find peace, and help others to do the same. We try to care for each other and support each other with our difficulties and our dreams. I believe that true siblinghood can heal the world and is what our societies and planet so urgently need. In Plum Village, we are doing our best to cultivate true siblinghood and share this with the world. We are offering a place of spiritual refuge to many people around the world. I feel very aligned with this vision of Thầy, and that is why I feel very nourished and grateful to be a monastic in this beautiful community. It also makes me very happy and nourishes my bodhicitta and monastic path that we have found ways to help the climate movement to build a Plum Village-inspired Sangha within the wider climate community. I believe that this will have far-reaching positive impacts and will help to change the world.

Touching Peace and Acceptance

I still keep the question and kōan in my heart about how we can have deep peace inside while not closing our eyes to and being overwhelmed by the suffering of the planet and its many crises. By engaging with this topic through Thầy’s teachings and the climate retreats, I have learned that I can touch peace and acceptance by taking care of my body, feelings, and mind in this present moment, being aware of the impermanent nature of myself and our civilization, and embracing the suffering in myself and in the world with love and compassion in my heart. Being in touch with the beauty of Mother Earth and hearing the birds still singing nourishes my heart. However, if I do not act, I will experience what scientists call “cognitive dissonance,” a feeling of unease because there is a big gap between what we know and what we do—or, as Thầy says, insight needs to be followed by action. So only when I am able to contribute something concretely to protecting Mother Earth—for example, by supporting the climate movement by offering the ZASP course and climate retreats—can I be fully at peace, because I know in my heart that we have done our part. I am convinced that the peace we cultivate individually and collectively is one of the greatest contributions we can make to bring more balance back to our societies and the planet and to the healing of our dear Mother Earth.

We invite you to read Brother Duc Niem’s full article in the Mindfulness Bell, Issue No. 95.

If you would like to spend time outdoors on the land at our Plum Village Happy Farms to be in touch with and support Mother Earth, registration is now open for these two different retreat offerings this spring: