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Plum Village Tradition
The Plum Village Tradition is a school of Buddhism named after the Plum Village Monastery in France, the first monastic practice center founded by Thích Nhất Hạnh, Chân Không, and other members of the Order of Interbeing. It is an approach to Engaged Buddhism mainly from a Mahayana perspective, that draws elements from Thiền, Zen, and Pure Land traditions. Its governing body is the Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism.
It is characterized by elements of Engaged Buddhism, focused on improving lives and reducing suffering, as well as being a form of applied Buddhism, practices that are a way of acting, working, and being. The tradition includes a focus on the application of mindfulness to everyday activities (sitting, walking, eating, speaking, listening, working, etc.). These practices are integrated with lifestyle guidelines called the "five mindfulness trainings", (a version of the Five Precepts), which bring an ethical and spiritual dimension to decision-making and are an integral part of community life.
The Plum Village tradition grew out of the teachings and community building of Thích Nhất Hạnh (born Nguyễn Xuân Bảo) and Chân Không (born Cao Ngoc Phuong), and other members of the Order of Interbeing. The tradition is rooted in traditional Vietnamese monasticism but was also influenced by the reform movements happening in Vietnam during the 20th century.
During the Vietnam War Nhất Hạnh and Không developed and headed the School of Youth for Social Service (SYSS), a neutral corps of 10,000 Buddhist peace workers who went into rural areas to establish schools, build healthcare clinics, and help rebuild villages.
Members of the SYSS would later form the Order of Interbeing, named after the concept of interbeing and the Brahmavihara, to bring Buddhist principles into modern practice. This version of the Brahmavihara is grounded in what Plum Village calls the Four Spirits including "the spirit of non-attachment from views, the spirit of direct experience of the nature of interdependent origination through meditation, the spirit of appropriateness, and the spirit of skillful means. All four are to be found in all Buddhist traditions". Nhất Hạnh ordained six social workers into this new order, including Nhất Chi Mai, and provided them with fourteen precepts of Engaged Buddhism, now known as "mindfulness trainings". The precepts represented an adaptation of the traditional bodhisattva vows.
Nhất Hạnh traveled to the United States to teach and rally opposition to the war while Không managed the SYSS. Nhất Hạnh and Không then represented the Unified Buddhist Church (Église Bouddhique Unifiée) with Nhất Hạnh acting as the leader of the Vietnamese Buddhist Peace Delegation which became involved in the Paris Peace Accords. The Unified Buddhist Church would go on to assist refugees, assist children through Pour les Enfants du Vietnam and Partage avec les Enfants du Monde, and address disaster relief, technical training, schools, meals, and salaries for teachers and childcare workers. Exiled from Vietnam for refusing to take a side in the war, Nhất Hạnh and Không worked to help boat people in the Gulf of Siam then established the Sweet Potatoes Meditation Centre at Fontvannes near Troyes.
Outgrowing the Sweet Potatoes Meditation Centre, Nhất Hạnh, Chân Không, and other community members established Plum Village as a practice center in the Dordogne region of France and opened up the Order of Interbeing to the growing Vietnamese diaspora in France and Westerners. The tradition is named after this monastery which was named for the one thousand plum trees of Agen (prune d’Agen) planted there. The group formalized as a tradition while emphasizing the equality of laypeople and monastics and a nondenominational approach to Buddhism. The tradition grew to several monasteries across three continents, many lay-person sanghas across the world, and the eventual return of Nhất Hạnh to Vietnam where he established a presence at his root temple near Huế while the tradition remained headquartered in France.
The tradition includes an emphasis on adaptation, typical of Buddhism, as it is said that the Buddha taught 84,000 versions of the Dharma, each one adapted to the needs of a different audience. The traditional includes a "post-merit model" approach for sustaining the organization that focuses on monastics working without financial gain, in an effort to improve the world, thus not relying solely on dana from lay people.
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Plum Village Tradition
The Plum Village Tradition is a school of Buddhism named after the Plum Village Monastery in France, the first monastic practice center founded by Thích Nhất Hạnh, Chân Không, and other members of the Order of Interbeing. It is an approach to Engaged Buddhism mainly from a Mahayana perspective, that draws elements from Thiền, Zen, and Pure Land traditions. Its governing body is the Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism.
It is characterized by elements of Engaged Buddhism, focused on improving lives and reducing suffering, as well as being a form of applied Buddhism, practices that are a way of acting, working, and being. The tradition includes a focus on the application of mindfulness to everyday activities (sitting, walking, eating, speaking, listening, working, etc.). These practices are integrated with lifestyle guidelines called the "five mindfulness trainings", (a version of the Five Precepts), which bring an ethical and spiritual dimension to decision-making and are an integral part of community life.
The Plum Village tradition grew out of the teachings and community building of Thích Nhất Hạnh (born Nguyễn Xuân Bảo) and Chân Không (born Cao Ngoc Phuong), and other members of the Order of Interbeing. The tradition is rooted in traditional Vietnamese monasticism but was also influenced by the reform movements happening in Vietnam during the 20th century.
During the Vietnam War Nhất Hạnh and Không developed and headed the School of Youth for Social Service (SYSS), a neutral corps of 10,000 Buddhist peace workers who went into rural areas to establish schools, build healthcare clinics, and help rebuild villages.
Members of the SYSS would later form the Order of Interbeing, named after the concept of interbeing and the Brahmavihara, to bring Buddhist principles into modern practice. This version of the Brahmavihara is grounded in what Plum Village calls the Four Spirits including "the spirit of non-attachment from views, the spirit of direct experience of the nature of interdependent origination through meditation, the spirit of appropriateness, and the spirit of skillful means. All four are to be found in all Buddhist traditions". Nhất Hạnh ordained six social workers into this new order, including Nhất Chi Mai, and provided them with fourteen precepts of Engaged Buddhism, now known as "mindfulness trainings". The precepts represented an adaptation of the traditional bodhisattva vows.
Nhất Hạnh traveled to the United States to teach and rally opposition to the war while Không managed the SYSS. Nhất Hạnh and Không then represented the Unified Buddhist Church (Église Bouddhique Unifiée) with Nhất Hạnh acting as the leader of the Vietnamese Buddhist Peace Delegation which became involved in the Paris Peace Accords. The Unified Buddhist Church would go on to assist refugees, assist children through Pour les Enfants du Vietnam and Partage avec les Enfants du Monde, and address disaster relief, technical training, schools, meals, and salaries for teachers and childcare workers. Exiled from Vietnam for refusing to take a side in the war, Nhất Hạnh and Không worked to help boat people in the Gulf of Siam then established the Sweet Potatoes Meditation Centre at Fontvannes near Troyes.
Outgrowing the Sweet Potatoes Meditation Centre, Nhất Hạnh, Chân Không, and other community members established Plum Village as a practice center in the Dordogne region of France and opened up the Order of Interbeing to the growing Vietnamese diaspora in France and Westerners. The tradition is named after this monastery which was named for the one thousand plum trees of Agen (prune d’Agen) planted there. The group formalized as a tradition while emphasizing the equality of laypeople and monastics and a nondenominational approach to Buddhism. The tradition grew to several monasteries across three continents, many lay-person sanghas across the world, and the eventual return of Nhất Hạnh to Vietnam where he established a presence at his root temple near Huế while the tradition remained headquartered in France.
The tradition includes an emphasis on adaptation, typical of Buddhism, as it is said that the Buddha taught 84,000 versions of the Dharma, each one adapted to the needs of a different audience. The traditional includes a "post-merit model" approach for sustaining the organization that focuses on monastics working without financial gain, in an effort to improve the world, thus not relying solely on dana from lay people.