40 Years of Life in Plum Village | Panel Sharing from Residents and Dharma Teachers | 08 06 2022

Hello everybody

Thank you so much for being here on what I
hope is a very lazy day or as lazy as possible

day for us.

We're very happy to be able to share with
you as a community a little bit chat - show style

for what we hope will be a relaxed and enjoyable
session really touching the spirit of community

and many of our collective memories with our
teacher.

We are aware that many of us have arrived
in plum village at all sorts of different

times and today we will be hearing from some
of us who arrived in the early 1980s, in the

1990s.
And we also want to look forward to some of

the life spirit of the sangha currently active
and looking forward maybe to the next decade

or two as a beloved community.
So we hope that by hearing voices from different

sangha members we will really see the river
that Sister Dinh Nghiem was talking about

in her Dharma talk yesterday and we will also
get a sense of the spirit of community.

I think Plum Village has always been made
of whoever is here and i think Thay's teachings

have also been made from whoever is here.
Thay didn't create his teachings in a vacuum

but in relationship with his community and
Thay's teachings have also evolved over time

and Plum Village has evolved the atmosphere
has evolved. So today we will try to hear

a little bit what some of those earlier chapters
of plum village might have been like and to

see that evolution.

And I brought with me a very very big bag
of Thay's books and this is not even a quarter

of them. But I hope from time to time to show
you a book so you can start to see a bit how

Thay's teachings evolved over time and how
his insights and experiences in community

and largely here in Plum Village shaped his
teachings and what he was writing about at

the time.

We have a wonderful truck. We have a chance
to contemplate the compost that becomes the flowers

In Sister Dinh Nghiem's talk she mentioned
the teachings of master Tang Hoi and she was

saying that when Thay was in Paris he had
a chance to do research in the library there

to discover the first zen teacher who came
from Vietnam and brought zen buddhism to China

so I just wanted to give one advertisement
for this book if you are interested in the

roots of our tradition, it's really wonderful
to understand how deep our roots go. Book

number one. I think I'm going to need a big
pile.

The title is Master Tang Hoi - first zen teacher
in Vietnam and China.

And for those of you who haven't read about
Thay's years of activism and engagement in

the 1960s when Sister Dinh was sharing about
how much Thay did in such a short period of

time a lot of that is recorded in Thay's journals
Fragrant Palm Leaves. For many of us I think

it's our favorite book by Thay, very personal
so you can discover more in this book, including

some very powerful experiences and moments
of awakening

when Thay was in the U.S. in the early 1960s.

Okay final one. Sister Dinh Nghiem also mentioned: "Zen Keys", "Zen Keys".

And in French, "Cles pour le Zen".

Which was actually the first book published
by Thay here in the west.

And it was published first in French and then
in English and it's very interesting because

Thay was trying to express how his kind of
zen, the zen from our tradition in Vietnam

was different from other flavors of Zen from
Japan or other countries. So this is a very

early attempt of Thay to describe the practices
he was seeking to develop and offer in here in the West.

So, that's it for the books for now.

I would like to invite our bell master Sister TrueSound, Sister Khuong Am, to invite three sounds of the bell

and then we will welcome our first guests to the sofa who arrived here in 1983.

[Bell]

[Bell]

[Bell]

We'd like to invite Jean-Pierre and Co Linh Tue
to come up and sit on the wonderful rustic sofa.

Before we start to hear some different stories

maybe Jean-Pierre and Co Linh Tue, would you
like to lead us in one of the first songs

that you remember singing here in the sangha
when you arrived?

Dear sister. During that era, there were only poems because for a while, it was a haven for refugees.

Thay taught in Vietnamese to the refugees. So there were only childhood poems.

So actually, at that time there weren't any Plum Village songs yet. He taught in Vietnamese to the children.

okay

So we will listen to a song.

We will sing together? But I don't know full songs ... just the start [singing in Vietnamese] ... I don't remember anymore

[Singing in Vietnamese]

[Singing in Vietnamese]

[Singing in Vietnamese] ... That's enough

Very nice very nice. So in Plum Village since
the very beginning there was music and at

first songs from Vietnam would be
sung around Plum Village because actually

at the beginning Plum Village was really a
community in exile not only Thay in exile

but also sister Chan Khong other monastics
who had fled Vietnam and also other refugees

so many people who found themselves exiled
and ended up here in France started visiting

Thay at the center outside Paris and then
when that as Sister Dinh Nghiem explained yesterday

when that center became too small then they
found the land here in the southwest of France

where the land was much more affordable.

And in the summers Thay was offering not just
a place of spiritual refuge but also a place

of cultural refuge where the children could
learn Vietnamese and how to write, speak and

sing in Vietnamese. Where everyone could enjoy Vietnamese food and really have a sense of home away from home.

So maybe we can enjoy one sound of the bell and we try to

settle so we can continue. We're sorry that
the announcement wasn't made. Our apologies

[Bell]

So, dear Jean-Pierre, perhaps we will start with you.

Can you say a little about how you landed in this part

in the Southwest of France into a community in exile?

It wasn't really that common.

And what did you find when you arrived?

That went very well.

I knew about Plum Village thanks to the Vietnamese community.

With young people my age, students in Lyon.

Perhaps 5, 6 years before I arrived here

I found myself taking part in cultural festivals

with only "boat people". There you go.

It wasn't a big deal. I was the only one with a car. So it was very practical for transporting things,

clothes, people ...

in the welcoming centers.

And one day a friend said to me:

"Jean-Pierre, would you like to meet a Vietnamese Zen master?"

I said, "Yes, great! I am very interested!"

And I had the idea that I would find a relatively old man,

with a white beard, and hair like what you find in Chinese films.

I came here from Cantal, which is about 180km from here.

And I found Loubes Bernac and Meyrac.

The roads were tiny, even smaller than now.

When I arrived, I first found a couple who lived in that first house there.

So I met the man.

He said to me, "But no. Plum Village is actually just there."

But it wasn't Plum Village yet. It wasn't called that yet.

He told me, "It's there. The Vietnamese people. They're somewhere at the back there."

I came upon the building which is now the small meditation hall.

I saw a Vietnamese lady who came out to meet me.

When I said, "I am Jean-Pierre". She said, "Oh, you are Jean-Pierre, who welcomes the boat people!"

I was very surprised, because I just arrived like that.

No phone call, just an address, not telling anyone.

I didn't know it, but the person who greeted me was Sister Chan Khong

She wasn't a nun yet, but it was already her name as a member of the Order of Inter-being

So that's how it all started.

In the evening, I arrived in the afternoon, in the evening she said to me "Jean-Pierre, for the practice, you observe the others and imitate them."

It was very simple. And everything was in Vietnamese

There were no earphones, or microphone, or even someone to translate directly in my ear.

Yes, I got used to that being in the Vietnamese community for 5, 6 years. No one translates.

I tried to understand by observing the movements. But no one translated for me.

But that suited me well, because I could sit somewhere, stay quietly.

Someone would offer me a drink, something to eat. Everything went very well.

Thank you Jean-Pierre. Wonderful. And Co Linh Tue, how was it for you when you arrived here?

The same year, but perhaps a different approach?

I met Jean-Pierre the same year. I was a student in a preparatory course to become a nurse.

I boarded in a small room with a pastor.

Between school and my room,

there was a small pagoda,

or more of an apartment. The venerable Nhu Tuan was there with Sister Trung Chinh.

I went there every day to have dinner, because the pastor didn't want me to cook in the room.

And to recite a sutra with them.

One day Ven. Nhu Tuan said to me, "Do you want to come first in your class?"

I said, "Of course!" "Then come with me", and she brought me here.

I was amazed! I was born in Saigon, a cosmopolitan. I didn't know about the country side.

Then I left Saigon when I was 14 and went to Lausanne, which is also quite a large city.

So it was the first time I discover the country side. I loved it!

I discovered the fields, sunflowers, the crowing of roosters...

And rice soup with peas. I haven't eaten that before!

And especially Thay. When I passed him, it was as if an electric current passed through me.

He wasn't dressed as he did after receiving monastic students. He was just in jeans and a traditional short robe.

Just to check we have this in translation - what was Thay wearing?

When I passed him, he was coming from the Grange and I was near the bamboos.

There were just a few bamboos. Lots of mud. There weren't trees and flowers then like now.

Thay walked slowly, with jeans and his boots, and just a short robe - what monastics wear on the inside.

I saw and I thought - oh, it's him, it's him.

Then I came back 2, 3 times a year. It became my spiritual family. I came to see Thay, for the community, and for being in the country side.

Pretty soon you started to live here, from which year?

Afterwards, I came to live here with Thay for 3 years.

From 1986 to 1989.

Then one more time from 1996 to 1999.

Then the last time in 2013 Thay asked me to become a monastic.

He insisted, "Oh I am getting old. You have to taste the monastic life."

Well. I obeyed.

A good student. Thank you

During that era, there was a lot of simplicity and not much money.

The buildings were very simple and apparently there wasn't even heating. Is that true?

For me, I don't know. I only came in Summer. No, there was no heating. Just the wood oven in the kitchen, that was it.

Winter was freezing.

There weren't even rooms.

The rooms were just, well, down there there's a building.

It's an ancient building for drying tobacco.

Just a few separation walls, four bricks and a plank for a bed.

There were no windows or necessarily doors. That was all.

To imagine the Village at the start, you look at all that's here now, and you take out everything.

You take out everything.

And you keep only the places with stones.

You can still see the stones and you keep only those places.And whatever is inside, you also take them all out.

So my question is - what continued to draw you here if it was so simple and so humble here?

The food.

For me, it's more about "here".

It's very simple for me - what brought me back here was the Vietnamese community

Actually the meditation would not have brought me back here.

The morning after I arrived, Thay came to see me.

There were a few moments. Thay came to see me. We weren't not introduced to each other yet. He came up behind me,

He put his hand on my back and pushed me towards the children.

And he said to me, "Jean Pierre, learn to sing the songs in Vietnamese with the children."

Like Linh Tue said, "I obeyed".

The last day I was here, he asked me to sit down with him in front of the plum trees. The trees were already there by the road.

He asked me, "What do you think about my village?"

I said, "I think the people here need it.

And you will have many people."

So what made me come back was that.

As Linh Tue said, Thay did not look like a monk.

He wore trousers like everyone else, with boots, and a traditional Vietnamese (monastic) short robe.

That was it. I did not encounter a monk. I encountered a man with a great deal of humanity.

I don't know how to say it better.

I felt it a very deeply. And of course he is Vietnamese, and that meant a lot to me.

There you go. That was a motor for me - the Vietnamese community.

That was my motor. As for meditation, it was a lot more difficult.

The first week, my back ached.

Just five minutes and I felt it was already an hour.

So it wasn't great at all.

I observed, yes I observed. But I told myself - impossible, I cannot do that!

So it wasn't something that would have made me come back.

Thank you. The pull of the Vietnamese community, the richness, the friendship, the gentleness, the creativity...

Co Linh Tue, can you tell us a little what a typical day looked like back then? Was the schedule like how it is now?

Not at all.

Thay did not want to lose the Vietnamese culture.

There were just Thay, and Sister Chan Khong who was still a lay person.

We called her "Aunty Number 9".

Thay and Aunty #9 did everything.

The two of them did 200 turns an hour. Thay taught us how to meditate. He was there for the morning sitting.

He held the stick of a meditation observer and gave us a smack if we fell sleepy. Like in the Japanese tradition.

Let's wait and make sure the translator understood that bit.

The Zen stick, for sitting meditation.

Then we had breakfast. I'm afraid to say, it wasn't an abundant breakfast like we have now.

We had broken dried bread that Sister Chan Khong asked for at L'Eclerc (supermarket). Out of date.

It wasn't because Thay was poor. But they always, always thought of others.

They sent money to help the writers,

the elite of Vietnam, because for him the writers were the treasures of Vietnamese culture.

Every month we prepared small packets to send to Vietnam.

There was medicine inside so the families could sell them.

To raise the children.

Because in general the head of family was imprisoned by the Communist.

So Thay wanted to help, anonymously. They didn't know who was behind it all.

Actually I was still young and so hungry. One day I said, "Thay, I am too hungry."

Because there wasn't enough to eat, right?

We lived very very modestly.

There was just one toilet in 1983. Only one shower that went with it. To take a shower one had to get up at 4 in the morning.

But we were very happy to be by Thay's side.

We were filled with happiness, with serenity, with peace. His presence captivated us. His personality.

So that comes back to what you asked before - what was the motivation, the motor that brought us back here.

Thank you. As Linh Tue had shared, Thay and Sr. Chan Khong said it wasn't possible to save everyone in Vietnam.

They chose to focus their energy on the cultural personnels like the writers, philosophers, artists, the intellectuals...

Thanks to these small medical packets; because it wasn't possible to directly send money;

but the medicine was "hidden money" because they could sell it for money and buy food for their family.

That sustained the people who were truly the treasure of Vietnamese culture.

It was a part of all the activities of the so called social engagement for Vietnam of that time, the small packets of medicine.

Yes the exile of boat people was very present at the time. There were many deaths on the South China Sea.

Thay and Sister Chan Khong rented boats to save those people.

They couldn't continue that work and had to come to France. They purchased Thenac in 1982.

They continued their work in the spirit of saving the Vietnamese culture.

The days unfolded a little like now. In joy, in gaity.

Thay wanted us to practice in joy, not in suffering.

Even if there was a great deal of suffering in our depth,

because with the arrival of the Communists, many families including mine were broken.

A lot of loss. Thay and Sister Chan Khong, "Aunty #9", did everything.

Thay guided the walking meditation, tea meditation, Dharma sharing...

Sister Chan Khong did everything

the transport, cooking, shopping

and even took care of the sick.

When I caught a cold, I said, "Aunty #9, I think I'm sick." She said, "Oh, I will do the spooning massage for you."

She took out the oil and a spoon and did spooning massage for me.

She did everything! Spoon massage.

Her and Thay did everything. It was only in 1988 that Sr. Chan Khong, then Sr. Chan Duc and Sr. Chan Vi. It was also a surprise for us.

Three of us stayed back. Thay brought them to India. Before leaving they were lay and on returning they were in robes!

Only from that moment on that Thay started to wear the long robe and receive monastic disciples.

We have Shantum here and we will hear from him about the 1988 trip, when Thay started to have monastic disciples.

It's such a shame because we don't have 5 hours to be together.

And we will see a few glimpses into several periods of Plum Village history.

To prepare the appetite ... I don't know how to say it in French ...

To have a sense of appetite, for how we can have more conversations.

Just to close this chapter

Jean-Pierre, what was it that brought the greatest happiness to Thay? What was his greatest dream at that time, at the start?

Hard to say.

If I look back...

If I look at Thay and I see him clearly,

I see that his dream was only for peace to exist.

Deeply

And that peace could exist in each of us.

That's very clear.

That's what he has transmitted to us.

Linh Tue had said that the days passed in joy.

In songs.

Even though the songs of bygone days are not the same as today, but that's nothing.

Me, I am French. The French went to Vietnam and for sure didn't do only great things. But Thay received me as a child.

He told me, "Sit down with the children."

Today, I understand that it wasn't to learn to sing, but to learn peace.

That's what I learned.

Thank you so much. Thank you Jean-Pierre and Co Linh Tue. Can we offer flowers for our elder brother and sister in the community.

Thank you so much.

And I would like to invite Françoise and Shantum to come up to our "hot seat" or our "cool seat"

for the next chapter, a little bit later in the 1980s.

And maybe we can enjoy a sound of the bell

[Bell]

Thank you for being here. Maybe I will start with Françoise.

In English if I may. So you came a few years on.

What brought you here to Plum Village

and what did you find when you got here?

Ok. I'd moved in 79 to the Netherlands

And I worked for the International Fellowship of Reconciliation

And the general secretary at that time was Jim Forrest.

From Jim I learnt about Thay because Jim was the one who had spent a lot of time with Thay

in the 60s when Thay did all those tours in the United States to talk about the war in Vietnam

the "American war" as it was known then,

and the need for peace, saying - Vietnamese people did not want the war to continue, they want peace.

It's not a question of Communism or Capitalism. They want peace.

Jim, he passed away 10 days before Thay, that's interesting,

he wrote a little book called "Eyes of Compassion", about all this period, which is very nice.

I remember he came here in 82 actually, Jim,

when he came back he said, or maybe in 83,

he said, "I've just been to Plum Village where Thay is living. I think you should go. You might enjoy it."

In 84 we had a council meeting, which is an international meeting.

It was in the community of the Arc, which is not very far from here.

We decided we needed a car to bring material. And I said, oh maybe we can make a little detour by Plum Village and... check what it is

and so we did for three days.

I was sold, basically.

Jim had already given me a version of the 14 Mindfulness Trainings, the "Precept" at that time.

Which began with "Do not" in all of them

But, you know, having been brought up Catholic, it was not special or specific or ...

spend time because the buddha used to go up
there to watch the sun yeah it's mentioned

that the buddha loved the sunset there also
mahakashapa the first zen master was transmitted

the awakening by the flower sermon but for
thai he just even the last time he came he

just spent the whole day in a hammock spending
the enjoying himself so i think vulture peak

has become a symbol of our our community in
fact after his illness i think when we had

our first gathering it is called the bulger
peak gathering so when the transmission took

place for me it was just i was just organizing
but i think that moment of seeing the uh the

hair being shaved of chiang kong of and you
know uh stan annabelle and than men and then

a few people taking the five of 14 trainings
on interest it was very moving because for

me it was like i could it was a very moving
ceremony for everyone it was tears and it

was but it was for me also it's just like
that memory is very very strong so each time

the monastics and others come and when thai
came again and again every time everyone got

reshaved and mrs gina being reordained in
a way on the belcher peak and it's become

a tradition of plum village and when we talk
about plum village you know 40 years of plum

village i don't see plum village only here
for me this is my spiritual home but i see

plum village on balcha peak and you know in
the bay area and you know it's it's another

dimension of plum village and so yeah i think

to start the the monastic tradition for thai
was very important but i think for us as lay

people he gave so much he really i think put
a lot of energy into us as lay people hoping

that we would come up to whatever whatever
that was and in the beginning you know there

was very strong uh sort of energy of lay people
but as the monastics started after this first

monastic ordination and then more then slowly
slowly that tradition became stronger and

that was what thai word thai was a monastic
he knew that the best and he was experimenting

in the west with a lay thing which is culturally
very different for him anyway so we we used

to come and go you know so i think i think
that moment of the monastic order starting

on plum on vulture peak is very important
for our history because when i see this 300

years from now i see that's i i for me it's
clear it's a fourfold sangha that's the charter

of the tipian that's the revolution of thai
is the fourfold sangha i mean the buddha said

it too but it's not just high but it's very
much so i think he's always encouraged us

in that way

yeah i'm sorry i don't know whether that's
one answer but it's not the yeah it's just

when you watch the sunset you know you're
watching the sunset like the buddha watched

and thai watched and you sit there for me
it's always in the footsteps of thai it's

i call it for such a buddha but i can see
thai everywhere when i go on pilgrimage you

know where he sat and i work out where buddha
would have sat but i know where thai's at

and where thai's you know had his which rock
he sat under and how you know it's so he's

imprinted in india and he's a child in india
you should see some photographs actually i

brought a photograph of him in india it's
in your dining room that one which is with

the mic with a broken mic i think he's like
he was like a little child like meeting his

teacher and his eyes would light up in each
place he was like so i think here he was a

bit of a sage you know after a while everyone
saw him but there was even when he came last

time he was like a young boy meeting his own
teacher yeah thank you shantim and i would

always say he was so proud of the book old
pathway clouds because he felt he was able

to give give back the buddha his humanity
and so um through thai studies through his

time researching in the libraries and through
tai's own practice and being in community

it became so important for him that the buddha
is not a god but is really a human being and

i think what all our speakers have shared
so far is thai's own humanity and tai's own

humility and joy that really came through
thank you dear francoise and shantum we have

i have to be a little bit vigilant with the
time so these are just taster uh words uh

thank you for sharing your hearts and your
experience with us so we would like to offer

you our flowers of gratitude and the conversations
can continue as the retreat continues thank

you so much

thank you thank you [Music] so from this period
of tai we have books like the sun my heart

which is a very deep book and also the favorite
of many of the monastics if you haven't read

this one this is a wonderful book

and then we have uh being peace and really
the theme of peace in thai's writings so we

would like to invite our next uh ones to come
up first of all we will start with sister

gina and steffy and then we would like to
invite sister benim and bettina to join you

so dears a ghost in muay

so around the time that uh uh sister gina
was coming and steffy was coming in the very

early 1990s as we as we were here tai was
really beginning to teach about the sutra

on the full awareness of breathing so his
first commentary on this is called breathe

you are alive and it went on towards the end
of the 1990s tai then offered a 21-day retreat

on the 16 exercises of mindful breathing in
vermont in the us and that book is called

the path of emancipation so you get a sense
of the sorry oh sorry this was in florida

so uh you get it in key west so you get a
sense of the uh the ripening of ty's teachings

about breathing but maybe we would like to
hear a little bit how sister gina appeared

in plum village how did this happen and sister
gina was already a monastic at this time in

the japanese soto tradition so dearsoco how
how did you get here

part of the way on foot not by choice though

um so i want yeah and which year was it yeah
thank you 19 the first 21 day retreat in june

uh

1990 1990 yeah so yes um so i was already
ordained in the japanese tradition and after

three years in a japanese temple sotto school
in japan and i had a great need to study the

dharma more because my japanese was not enough
not good enough to follow all the teachings

that were given of course in japanese so i
came to the west and somewhere in one of i

visited certain centers and in one of the
centers i found a magazine called the mindfulness

bell number one

yes and i opened it read it and i thought
that's where i want to go and in it it was

the announcements in a three-week retreat
what was it what is psychology i think buddhist

psychology in this place called plum village
merak france so i registered and um i knew

emme so i looked up and somehow i figured
out i can't remember how that it was near

eme which is not very far from here so that
okay i'll just go to email and then i'll go

to this place called mirak so i fly in bordeaux
take a train you know end up in mma and then

um realized there was no way there was no
transportation direction mirak so i looked

in the telephone book and i looked for plumbers
from finnish property in oakland village so

and then i looked at every entry and i then
i found um buddhist initiation something something

something so the unified buddhist church or
something in french and i thought well i'll

try that one there can't be many buddhist
centers it it may just be that one so i called

and um a friendly lady lady's voice let's
put it that way answer the phone answered

and i said well you know i'm on my way to
plum village and i am in emme and how do i

get to where you are and she said well you're
not supposed to be there we only go to century

i don't know where central is so she said
sorry we have no car available so i said don't

worry i'll walk and then she said well as
soon as a car comes back we sent you away

i said oh compassion [Laughter] and it was
a very hot day i had a backpack not too big

and i was started to walk and sometimes i
get migraine when i haven't had enough to

drink and it's very hot and i developed a
migraine as i walked and every time i put

my foot down it went in my head so i walked
very carefully i mean you know the way i put

my foot on the earth and i walked in and then
a certain point i came to a tree and i thought

i have to sit down it was very hot and i sat
down and then a little beaten up uh cream

renoka french car arrived and uh somebody
opened windows and said you must be centered

sister gina i thought oh saved [Laughter]
so they turned around and then drove me to

the lower hamlet here i was welcomed by an
western sister and then we walked to um two

roomers going to stay or something and she
said i have to follow my breathing when i'm

walking and i thought does she have a migraine
too [Laughter] it was just the annabelle who

welcomed me so

a very very diligent um [Music] and very kind
sister as i got to know her i mean i i am

how did i say this i perceived her as a very
kind and and diligent sister and i thought

oh she's going to be a role model for me um
yes so that was my arrival here and then towards

the end of the 21-day retreat could you share
a little bit about that retreat was it can

you rem what was thai teaching was and how
did tai seem when you met him because this

would have been the first time you met him
in person yes um so i was very impressed i

wondered whether this teacher was touching
the earth at all it seemed to be floating

just above the earth and and

what really struck me was that tyra's speaking
[Music]

using a very simple language for a very deep
teaching

and i realized i understand the words and
i need to be careful not to think because

i understand the words i have realized it
and that there is a life of practice and looking

deeply and things behind those words so that
was my my my um first impression and a lot

of gratefulness you know for a teacher like
thai able to to teach in that way and this

would have been one of thai's first retreats
in english as well yes of course that i wasn't

aware of [Laughter] here in plum village yes
uh it was the first uh retreat in english

and the first 21 day retreat um and many many
people who've been here before many from different

traditions also the japanese sotho tradition
rinzai many many different traditions came

together here to study with thai that also
made me look ah because i only knew the subtle

tradition and only the japanese from japanese
so i thought well this teacher offers something

obviously that many people are looking for
and i don't mean to say all than to step over

to to to the privileged tradition but to deepen
or understand their own tradition they were

in better yeah and so what struck you about
the atmosphere that you found here then in

1990 what what was i mean obviously we've
heard the buildings were very very simple

does not look like a japanese zen temple and
what else struck you about that atmosphere

here and what was different but also still
zen yes

it was the most diverse group i'd encounter
on retweets

and the atmosphere was one of i would not
have called it at that time but sister and

brotherhood a family you know yeah although
from very different uh traditions uh different

nationalities that never been to a retreat
with so many different nationalities although

the americans were i think very well represented
shantam was there i thought oh india is here

too is that oh india is here too yes i was
very very impressed by um the diversity because

i had not seen that before anywhere else yeah
and so you left after the 21 day retreat no

in fact i never left [Laughter] um i i had
lived my life um moving from country to country

i lived in 11 countries out of my own choice
not because of jobs and things like that so

towards the end of the 30 the three-week retreat
uh one of the um sisters who lived there approached

me and said it i said we should invite you
to stay indefinitely i thought that's that

word is not in my dictionary

but we'll see so that was in 1990 i'm getting
me close to indefinitely

i'm still here quite close i'm still here
and that is because um

it is always new in some way or another or
maybe i have learned through thai's teaching

to look at all that is always new is never
the same it's the impermanence maybe and the

non-self i think those that teaching really
um yeah spoke to me and speaks to me and is

really expressed in the sangha that continues
to evolve depending who is here and how the

atmosphere is changed by the people that are
here and so i think at the beginning of your

era there were then the summer retreats that
were more international with international

guests coming to the upper hamlet yes right
and the vietnamese guests were in the lower

hamlet here really and so i think that was
one of the few times when nuns were living

in the upper hammond and then so hosting a
very international diverse community uh up

in the upper hamlet so then the two rivers
we start to get the sense of different rivers

coming into the community and that international
river may be growing every summer

yes

and it has grown a lot that river and also

when when you all arrived i think i said and
i saw all of you i thought ty is so happy

because um i don't think there's one person
who can continue thai but as a sangha we can

continue thai and and i also see the sangha
is the most precious gift that thai has offered

us yeah i'm very grateful so thai is very
happy as always very happy to see all of you

here

thank you dears ago so we have steffi here
sitting next to you and steffy you arrived

at a similar time and would you like to share
what kind of community you found in which

year you came

yes it's i just can relate to the to the sangha
because margaret and i we arrived in the first

time in september 93 and we just came here
for one week and it was in september and tai

was on a long tour in america so thai was
not even here and what we encountered was

a beautiful sangha and even sister gina was
not here because he was in america um and

i remember the the moment we arrived um helga
from germany she was sitting in front of the

person building where she was living together
with her husband carl and she was very friendly

and she received us very openly and and it
was a small sangha and i remember as well

when we we did uh we got an introduction for
walking meditation by sister ellini she now

lives in new hamlet and we were with the three
of us just sister ellie margaret and i and

she was teaching us how to do walking meditation
and we walked through the forest and then

in the middle of the forest we stopped there
and we sang the song being an island unto

myself and then i fall in love um completely
with plum village after the first dharma sharing

i think what really really touched my heart
was that we bow to each other that was really

a completely new experience to sit in a group
and that someone really was deeply listening

to me and margaret and i by the time we lived
in a community in holland and we had a quite

a challenging community life there and not
so well listening to each other and we came

to plum village be because we read an article
in a dutch newspaper and the title was the

village of peace in france and we thought
oh that sounds good we really need peace so

and then after this one week we decided this
is a good place we want to stay here longer

we want to be a permanent resident of plum
village and so we organized our lives and

we came back in the following year march 94
and we stayed on then for two years being

part of the of the resident community of plum
village and so at this time thai the community

was very small just maybe a couple of dozen
guests and a couple of dozen monastics and

i think you were sharing earlier that everyone
could fit in the small red candle hall for

dharma talks or for meditations and so on
and would you like to share a little bit how

tai was teaching you at that time and something
i would love to hear about what happened one

day when you went to the upper hamlet for
a day of mindfulness and something unexpected

unfolded oh yes something very unexpected
unfolded it was at the end of the winter retreat

and i think it was a winter retreat 90 at
the end of 1994-95

and entirette asked us during the winter retreat
very often please write letters i would like

to know how the practice is going i need your
feedback i need your feedback from my talks

and he asked us several times and then quite
at the end of the winter retreat we came up

to the upper hamlet and the torque would take
in the small transformation hole so not in

the big hole so you can imagine that big was
the winter retreat so we all fit it in in

the transformation hall and then we entered
the hall and it was a completely different

setup all no cushions only tables with shares
like in a school and i no it was it was an

upper hand at margaret

you would like to come sit next to me

okay it was an upper hamlet and he was already
in the room and on each table there was a

stack of paper with a plum village mark on
it very official you know and i was looking

very seriously and he said so examination
today

and and then we all sat at the table it's
a little bit um said okay there's a final

examination after the winter retreat you have
to sit down and then you write this examination

take out your pencil it was really like a
very very serious teacher and then we sat

down and he wrote 10 questions on the white
board the first was how is your sitting meditation

how is your walking meditation how is your
eating meditation how do you practice with

strong emotions have you practiced uh beginning
a new are you in harmony with the sangha so

ten questions and we said oh you really could
feel a very dense uh energy and then all in

a sudden he turned around and with this really
big smile he smiled at us and he said so uh

you haven't wrote me a letter i have not received
enough letters so this is now my way i need

some feedback because my teachings depend
very much on what you are sharing with me

and so let's enjoy writing this letter to
me and then he smiled and all in a sudden

this energy of of being very serious with
just one smile and one sentence he dissolved

it and yeah you just could see that ty had
a lot of fun uh by himself to have uh put

us first in this place and then giving us
this relaxation and and you did all have to

do then sit there and actually do it yes we
did it all and then and it took two hours

or even three hours to answer all these questions
and then and then in the next dumber talks

he kind of gave us a feedback on what we had
written and i know one friend she had written

on the question how was your eating meditation
she wrote my eating meditation is good and

then i said in the summer talk okay listen
this is not enough you can write that that

the food is good and delicious but only writing
my eating meditation is good that's not enough

reflection [Laughter] so this is so wonderful
because we really get the sense of a teacher

really wanting to develop the practices and
the way to train his students and so you're

part of the kind of laboratory of teachings
and practices as tai was developing all of

the dharma doors that he was in the 1990s
the particular way of walking meditation here

in plum village the particular way of offering
guided meditation which is one of the things

that tai has really offered the west and didn't
exist in the west before thai started to create

these ways to combine key phrases with the
breathing and of course a relaxed way of eating

meditation that's not as rigid as in many
buddhist traditions and so on so and i think

tai was at this point also very excited in
all the communication practices around deep

listening loving speech beginning anew and
also the peace treaty so i would like to invite

bettina and sister binyum also if sister binyum
you're still here wonderful to come up we

can have maybe could someone help bring one
more chair would be wonderful can we squeeze

three in the sofa can we be cozy in the sofa
bettina do you think you can fit in very intimate

sisterhood you can manage okay wonderful

you get the sense of the sisterhood spirit
from the 1990s in lower hamlet

so uh sister binyam would you like to share
a bit about your arrival here to lower hamlet

and what community did you find in which year

well i first arrived in 1993 as a lee person
in upper hamlet in summer retreat and was

very very beautiful experience i fell in love
with i fell in love with blood village right

away i had met tai already in germany on a
retreat that spring and i fell in love with

it there already but then with the community
here again yeah i just already when i met

tai just from i don't know five day retreat
i think it was i felt i want to be a nun and

i can't be what isn't done you don't even
know what a nun is you don't you can't say

that but it was in me and i came here now
wow the free the freedom the peace peace as

freedom not freedom doing crazy things but
the peace here and also sought away from civilization

in a good way sort of not the stress and you
have to like this and you have to do this

but to live from the inside was very very
very important to me

i didn't become a nun right away because i
didn't trust myself with this inner voice

for a while but i came back regularly to plum
village and to thai at that time came to germany

every year so i came to retreat with thai
and this deepened my practice my life for

thai for plum village i had my own little
sangha at home and at some point i knew yes

i really want and i can trust that i want
to be a nun and was in mulhat too with my

mother who was old and sick i decided to stay
with her and let go of that dream for the

moment but it really developed or became stronger
that i really trusted it well while i was

with my mother four was a wish between but
then it was yes that's what i want to after

my mother died i came to plum village in december
96 and there we had just bought or blameless

had just bought the new hamlet i've been used
to the upper hamlet and the west hamlet and

i almost stayed in the west hamill but everything
was in the upper hamlet under linden tree

and then i was in the new helmet that year
was the first year of the new hamlet and no

lay friends were allowed that time because
the nuns should first nuns before when the

lower hamlet should sort of find their their
uh fight together again in this new place

and well there were lots of things to do also
i have one one not just the winter between

sort of one year nearly a few months they're
in the new hamlet just being on their own

to to

to become the new hamlet sangha and that was
very good for me i could really be with the

nuns right away otherwise i would have been
with the lay friends and some where the nuns

but so i could be there from the beginning

so the the dawn of having of some plum village
expansion um because i think there was um

plum village was a little bit illegal at the
beginning i think the paperwork in france

was quite complicated and i think in the summer
retreat of 2005-6 suddenly um i think lower

hamlet was shut down and that is the origin
to why new hamlet was bought because they

had hundreds of people we heard those numbers
from sister dinium hundreds of people coming

for the summer retreat and it was illegal
to have it here and there was an old i think

it was some kind of children's home that was
up for sale and they managed to find a donor

to buy new hamlet so they could still have
a summer retreat so it was a last minute purchase

and that's the origin and then they took that
opportunity of having different environments

to then create a monastic environment there
in the new hamlet and sistibenium as a aspirant

to be was able to join that atmosphere and
then here in the lower hamlet it became a

lay community for a couple of years and so
bettina i wonder if you would like to share

a little bit about the effect of that here
in the lower hamlet um so when the new hamlet

was bought and all the sisters of laura hamlet
has been invited to move to new hamlet the

lower hamlet was a place where we could live
together as a lay community for up to i think

nearly two years 98 and there have been a
german dharma teacher couple karl enter garidel

who now was the indesign sangha in germany
in design center and the vietnamese dharma

teacher couple an huang tintri now fabloo
and sister queen yem and also juan and and

duke have been there and we yes the daughter
and some other friends and so we've we were

suddenly yeah in this situation to run the
hamlet and it was a wonderful time because

we felt a lot of trust from the community
from thai to really make that possible and

it was really wonderful to do and yeah on
all levels worked together as a sangha and

we had guests it was a normal life like in
all the other hamlets with the two days of

mindfulness and in the beginning very exciting
the first mindfulness day the first christmas

festival and all that and it was a day of
a lot of a time of lot of learning and coming

together and yeah giving a lot of empowerment
and also beautifully in this time being together

with a monastic community on these days and
chai was often coming on lazy days around

resting a little bit in his room and walking
around and asking us when he met us are you

lazy enough

and we felt really good taken care by him
by this question and showing up and yeah also

like you said the community was so small in
this time and we had not access to thai as

not monastics but he was somehow he was very
present and available and walking around and

a little here there and a little how it's
going there and

yeah he even visited us on the chat visiting
room thing it was climbing up persimmon up

there and so it was a wonderful wonderful
time this period and what would you feel with

the kind of em the place the teaching that
tai was highlighting most at this time what

was he speaking about in the talks what was
he guiding you all on i guess it's very very

very personal of course what i choose to say
now i think in this year there have been a

lot of this basic practices like the sutra
anapanasati and a lot of living in harmony

together and we were not asked to have a test
but we got sometimes homeworks i remember

in this years like writing about what did
you do when you had a crisis did you really

take refuge into the buddha in you and the
sangha or did you start to judge and do all

these things so this kind and um for me it's
it's the most i think through all these years

of this big treasure of ty's teachings to
embody always inviting us to embody what he

was talking about like to really then practice
beginning you or to really breathe when you

are excited and so um yeah i feel very basic
living in the moment living the teachings

and also i've had a lot of

relaxation you know this are you lazy enough
it's for me also a sentence of this time of

uh really we had a lot to do of course with
the hamlet but the main thing was how is the

energy you are doing things always coming
back to what is your energy and how is your

being and then to move out and do your activities
i thought somehow it was very fundamental

very basic very grounding

a good a good memory to have the art of being
peace and also while in action and sister

binyum do you have similar memories of this
time what struck you most about this special

period in the 1990s

well after one year i came to the lower hamlet
sister gina had been come the abbas and

it was no longer hamlet then was it two years
from all i know it was 98 probably and then

they were only 12 there i think they started
with eight and then four of us came down came

from new hamlet here and we were 12 and summer
retreat people came it was full here and 12

of us had to do several things not just pot
washing but this and then that but i loved

it very much it was very beautiful for me
when you asked bettina what was the teaching

there all of a sudden it popped up to me i
mean thai i can't say i remember that when

i came as a aspirant the first two winters
tai was teaching the sutras that i know he

just took the chanting book and and taught
sutra after sutra and i remember that sometimes

some in the middle of the suit were teaching
he's talked about sister so-and-so doing this

and that he always his teaching was very personal
he never just taught a sutra but he explained

then with the problem of a system it was very
very applied sutra that unknown ties uh never

we should never just study the sutras uh any
texts if they don't apply to our life if we

don't practice it there's no sense in knowing
them and when you asked patina came up in

me that at that time tai was sort of for a
while

advancing the idea that every not just every
country but every big city should have a mindfulness

practice center without monastics just lay
people and that's when

karl schmidt brought asked karen helga to
leave plum village to come and he bought intersign

center in germany and they are to this day
the the dharma teachers of intersign that

was they left here i think two thousand i'm
not totally sure 90 i ordained in february

98 i think they might have left 99 and i think
worldwide it's the only one that at least

that stayed longer but that was a big thing
for thai at that time so tai is sort of developing

the practices here in the community context
and setting of plan village and then really

inviting everyone to experiment back in their
home towns and cities and i think the 1990s

was also a period when a lot of sanghas started
all over europe and all over the u.s so it

was around this time that tai was teaching
the heart of the buddha's teachings so from

his research the elements that he felt were
the most important for all his students to

understand and this remains on amazon one
of the best-selling buddhist books in in the

english language

and it was around this time we have the book
uh touching peace the art of mindful living

in community the book of the poems the gatters
that you see posted around in the bathrooms

and the bedrooms these are translated from
the tradition and then really applied here

in plum village this book is called present
moment wonderful moment and there's a new

edition of that out now and thai's kind of
number one uh book next to the miracle of

mindfulness peace is every step also came
out at this time so there was really with

the presence of the community around tai he's
really exploring what would a community of

peace look like and what would practices of
peace look like

so i think we're halfway through the books
we wish we would have more time i have two

more sofas of people i would love just to
to bring up here and i hope we can get through

everyone by dinner so thank you so much to
our sisters lay and monastic from the 1990s

thank you so much and i would like thank you
yes flowers and gratitude for you all being

here thank you so i would like to invite lisa
renika and jesse to come up so we will fast

forward a little bit uh through the 2000s
[Music] and we will look at some of the ways

that thai's engagement and socially engaged
buddhism applied buddhism has expressed itself

we will be cozy on the sofa this is an intimate
sisterhood sofa

maybe we can listen to a sound of the bell
to refresh our hearts and our breathing and

arrive into this precious moment

[Music]

so before this panel started i said it will
be a challenge with the time you'll have at

least three minutes maybe four or five but
i think we're down to three so

um lisa you are from jerusalem and you first
encountered tai i'd i'm not sure whether it

was when he came to israel um but if you would
like to share a bit about his um powerful

trip to israel in i believe 1997 and the impact
that had

thank you dear tai dear sangha it was remarkable
1997 he must have touched thousands of people

in throughout israel we had a five-day retreat
silent retreat that was really incredible

to have a thousand silent jews for five days

and as a result of his visit oh my goodness
dozens of sanghas sprang out sprung up all

over all over israel and practice very dedicated
practices started all over the country that

was 1997 and at the time i was a war correspondent
for the boston globe working in jerusalem

and i had covered many suicide bombings and
months before they arrived one of the suicide

bombings ended up with me feeling incredible
love for this suicide bomber and i didn't

understand why and when i met tai and sister
chen kong sister chen kang explained to me

that my heart had discovered its buddha nature
so that was a revolution in my life and from

then on i [Music] i left journalism and i
became a peace activist and i helped to found

a peace academy in a palestinian school in
in east jerusalem which was a really remarkable

experience and and time [Music] and then sister
luke neem and brother fab lai and a few other

monastics came to do a day of mindfulness
with us in the school and then i saw what

teaching really was and i saw how the kids
who normally turned the classroom upside down

or turned upside down themselves in a really
good way and i realized that's what i want

to do i want to i want to work with mindfulness
with with they worked with all ages it was

it was a drastic change from the way the school
normally was and so i brought a team of palestinian

of my students here to a wake up retreat a
couple of years ago before before the pandemic

hit and that was that was it that was so remarkable
the first thing is palestinians are very much

i think like the vietnamese they only want
their own cooking so they took over the kitchen

and they cooked for 500 young people from
around the globe and they were received with

such warmth um the monastics were so lovely
they they set up our dinner underneath the

trees the thai planted on upper hamlet and
they had the musicians playing classical music

and we ate maklouba it's called upside down
we ate it in silence listening to this music

and it was it was this massive prayer for
palestine and for everybody and then at the

end of the wake up retreat our palestinian
youngsters uh were gonna dance their their

debka their their national dance but none
of them could dance you know so they stood

there and they heard the music and they had
the rhythm in them but they couldn't they

couldn't quite get the steps out and so 500
young people from around the globe rushed

the stage and jumped up and down shouting
free free palestine free we you know we we

can't change the world but we can change the
world but we can dance for you thank you lisa

for this beautiful testimony and tai um as
some of you may know in 2003 hosted an incredible

encounter with people from both palestine
and from israel practicing deeply together

for two weeks first separately and then after
about a week or ten days of practice creating

moments for the groups um to be able to speak
to one another of their own suffering and

i think a lot of the sort of interventions
that tai has made at the international level

around how dialogue is possible between warring
parties comes from tai's work of compassion

with the israelis and palestinians and lisa's
continuing to work to bring more palestinians

here every year and also coming this summer
so this is one way in which thai's peace work

uh is continuing and we're very happy to support
you in that lisa thank you so much thank you

so dear renika you would like to start about
your share your journey um which i guess both

your personal journey and then how your own
practice has expressed itself in engaged uh

action within the sangha and beyond thank
you um the thai de beloved community um [Music]

so this is a journey really that um started
with both of us so it's really a journey of

um both of our beginning of what i'm going
to say and it started at plum village 2004

and actually i remember the conflict resolution
that happened and 2004 was like an exploration

to oh meditation yes i've heard of meditation
it's it's part of my culture but i'm not quite

sure what that means because it was kind of
lost because i was i grew up in england and

there was not a lot of meditation going on
there and the things that i did understand

was um was kind of a bit mystic so i didn't
really understand any of it so then i went

in search for what meditation was and it's
what brought me to plum village and um on

that year i also um recognized that there
wasn't many teachers that were not like from

the east in the west and so that was kind
of my personal journey really to kind of explore

that side of practice and take that home really
did speak to me in many ways um and so did

a lot of the monastics and one of the monastics
i'd like to mention is sister jewell kyra

jewel she's now deroged and she's doing a
lot of the practice and teachings out in the

uh us and she was kind of like a mentor to
me in a way that she really uh

she kind of she had an eye on on on people
like me let's put it this way and she asked

she invited me to kind of speak about my practice
and my trainings one of the five mindfulness

trainings in the uk and it's not something
i do it's this is really not me i do not do

big presentations i'm pretty shy but it was
it was an opportunity to recognize that this

wasn't just me speaking it was for my ancestors
and for the future generations like me who

don't have access to this practice

so that was my vision back in 2004 three and
four and um there was many barriers really

i mean i'm going to go and talk about the
heart of london sanger is that okay okay well

i'll just quickly say that um natasha was
part of asanga at in london heart of london

at heart of london sanger known as natasha
then and we're very excited that she was going

to become a monastic and we've we bid her
farewell and here she is and um part of that

entering the sangha in london was not diverse
believe it or not even though london is a

very diverse city it wasn't very diverse at
all and it didn't feel like um a home it wasn't

a home for me and one of the dharma seals
as we've heard is i am home i have arrived

and so i really wanted to create that in the
sangha so it took um quite a lot of efforts

and a lot of stops and starts and i i found
a friend that was able to do that with me

so i'm going to pass it on to jesse if we've
run it out of time

thank you yeah um we met at that retreat in
2004 here and actually at that retreat was

one of the retreats where palestinians and
israelis are invited to come and practice

together and i remember i knew nothing about
plum village and i saw that happening and

i thought ah okay this is what i want i want
something that's engaged with the world that

can give me a path and yes we met here and
um i think that um something that happened

for me is that i had enough for various causes
and conditions i had just enough awareness

to realize what it what a challenge it would
be um to be in the sangha um as such a minority

in that environment and um and me and renika
just clicked and we became very good friends

and um she has built the colours of compassion
sanger in in the uk and in the in the heart

of london to really make a home and it's been
a long journey where we we had many times

of coming together not just us but us and
others slowly slowly slowing in organically

to build friendships and and to um build both
awareness um with the with the white people

in the sangha and just to slowly build that
and i know we haven't got time to tell the

whole story so i'm not going to go into detail
but i think that um i really want to honor

you because you've done something that i haven't
seen anywhere else i don't know if it's happening

anywhere else but so far i haven't seen in
this tradition in europe which is to build

that home where people can um just come and
find their solidity to be part of this sangha

in europe yeah

veronica would you like to share a little
bit about the joy of creating the colours

of compassion sangha

joy and colours of compassion are synonymous
because um we practice in the um spirit of

honoring our ancestors and if you have together
we are one you'll book you'll see that um

in that book there's many stories of people
um who are not white sharing their stories

of um healing from the hurts of of the oppression
of the racial oppressions and um you know

this is 52 of the population we're talking
about so it's it's it was really honorable

to know that things that we could have voices
we could have that voice and also practice

in the spirit of honoring and respecting our
own root tradition alongside this tradition

and it had many meanings and it's very eclectic
it's not just one homogenous group so we have

very many cultures and richness and times
of celebrating our own practices alongside

thai's practices so it's been very joyful
to have the retreats that we did have in the

uk led by um kyra jewell and we had three
of those it was filled out and i do believe

that when the first um bipod poc retreat happened
um there was that was filled out to about

500 people um in the u.s and it was all um
approved i guess by tai he he really supported

this practice he supported these um retreats
he saw the um the amount of um healing that

was taking place yeah thank you so much renika
jesse and lisa so we hope that uh this very

brief testimony um can also inspire many of
us in our local sanghas to really see how

we can support and empower the non-white members
in our sangers to have safe spaces uh to really

ask how we can be of support how we can trust
and interest so that those spaces can take

place and we hope here in plum village to
be able to create more such spaces for people

of color so that we really have the representation
the diversity that is reflective of the world

and so all of us can also and especially those
of us who have been socialized as white or

present as white that we have a chance also
to look deeply and to really practice non-discrimination

compassion and generosity from a real place
of deep understanding [Music] of racial inequity

in the world and that's part of our path as
thai students and for me when we speak about

this as a community i feel we're really honoring
the legacy of thai's friendship with dr martin

luther king so if we see ourselves as thai
student this is also part of our work to do

and to support so thank you so much to our
wonderful sofa here present and uh we heard

the we heard the dinner bell but if uh if
you would like to return to your seats i would

just like to introduce to you uli annika and
dorote if you're still here dojote

yes please just come up briefly and i would
just like to to introduce you we wanted to

show also the future of plum village and many
of the directions where thai's work is going

so we have anika representing the international
wake up community dojote representing our

happy farms which are organic vegetable farms
that thai insisted we should start developing

here in plum village and uli from germany
representing our earth holder community uh

and tai's teachings to bring uh love and peace
and healing to the earth so i wonder if i

can give you each one minute with the microphone
and then we promise we'll go and serve our

dinner so annika a few lines

um dear tadia sanger one minute well maybe
what i can say is that

i'm probably not representing wake up i can
only i'm happy to coordinate for wake up and

to see that it's growing and flourishing that
the pandemic has given rise to even more

the river growing or becoming even stronger
and wake up sanghas all over the world opening

their doors to just everyone instead of just
functioning locally

i've seen lian in many online meetings who
is now he's sitting here as an aspirant and

is so engaged also with extinction rebellion
and i think showing very beautifully the the

spirit of wake up of young people who are
happy to find belonging in a uh and empowerment

through mindfulness through the practice um
yeah who find a home in the practice as well

as like-minded people who want to work and
engage for a better world and i'm deeply grateful

to tai and the sangha for having given rise
to that and it's an honor to support this

movement and i'm sad to grow out of it soon
[Laughter] [Music] yes thank you thank you

annika so ty started the wake up movement
in 2008 in a summer retreat i wonder was anyone

here in that summer retreat in that moment
so you may remember this funny moment when

tai insisted that some of us stand up and
announce the creation of young buddhists and

non-buddhists for a healthy and compassionate
society and i had to say this so many times

and then i had to read out this announcement
and say the ybhcs which doesn't have the same

ring to it as the ymca so so then we came
up with the phrase the wake up movement and

tai was inspired to do this as we heard from
sister dinimum yesterday because tai had been

working with young people since the beginning
of his career as a monk and he knew that young

people can practice meditation young people
can practice mindfulness and that the aspiration

of young people to be of service in the world
when supported by a mindfulness practice can

really help young people serve as a community
as a collective and he did that in vietnam

with the school of youth for social service
and was experimenting with the wake up movement

here in the west to see how young people can
practice together to be seeds of change in

the world so thank you anikaf and we have
also jazz in the upper hamlet who on a volunteer

basis have been supporting this incredible
network of young people and we're so grateful

to you annika for that and for doherty so
a couple of years after starting the wake

up movement tai wanted to see how we can have
more young people in plum village and with

the brothers he had the idea to create vegetable
farms so that we can really come and have

time healing with the earth our hands in the
soil nurturing the seeds in the land so dojote

one minute about the happy farms thank you
sister um dear hall um i don't know really

how to start um of course plum village doesn't
wait the happy farm to manifest to grow food

and to garden but i think we are also helping
with the happy farm the monastic community

who doesn't have the time as a gardener to
spend so much time in the garden so that's

also one of the aspects of the happy farm
who started in her parliament in 2012 and

i did my first retreat in 2013 and i fall
in love with the practice and with the project

of the happy farm i think at that time i see
my first eggplant plant aubergine plant and

i was so amazed and so amazed about yeah what
what they share about this project is not

obviously only about growing food but it's
also um yeah the linked with all the the metaphor

that we can find in thai stitching uh with
the seeds you know is um yeah growing um nourishing

ourselves and all yeah all the metaphors about
nature that we can find uh on his teaching

we try to um to be with those teaching in
the garden i often uh tell myself that the

the happy happy farm is my meditation hall
because sometimes i miss uh some of the other

activity with the sangha because yeah may
and june are really um busy at the garden

and i i really enjoy just knowing that the
song i also is practicing and i'm i'm practicing

um in the happy farm yeah it's also a place
for transmitting and to inspired of um yeah

from where come the food and maybe we can
all start growing our own food in any scale

and yeah that's for me so uh important and
inspiring thank you thank you and what i i

find fascinating is how tai was still experimenting
with what a healthy community looks like and

a healthy community grows its own vegetables
in mindfulness and a healthy community is

a place where young people can come and touch
peace and touch meaning and i feel also that

with the wake up movement and the happy farm
thai was also seeing what he can offer the

young generation who will face so many challenges
ahead in the coming decades what are the skills

the the physical skills but also the inner
resilience and learnings that the young generations

will need to survive the challenges ahead
so i feel it's a great gift that we're experimenting

with in the wake up movement and with our
happy farms so thank you both and uli this

is connected also to thai's teachings on the
earth and thai gave so many teachings on the

earth i have we'll just show some of the books
that we may recognize the first one was called

the world we have where tai really started
raising the alarm bell he described the climate

crisis as a bell of mindfulness in this book
and then tai went further and said we need

to fall in love with the earth and some of
us may remember these teachings in 2011 2012

and they became the book love letters to the
earth and then more recently and the teachings

that i gave to young people have become this
book zen and the art of saving the planet

where we also have all of thai's teachings
on engaged action and ecology and thai's vision

for how the young generation can protect our
world so ali what would you like to share

about the earth holder community

first i want to share that i'm reading this
book you mentioned the last and it's not only

from tai it's also from sister to dedication
she writes many interesting parts in this

book it's very inspiring

one motivation to leave my beloved teacher
in the japanese center edition was that i

could not uh combine this experience so like
this like this like this i could not combine

this meditation practice with my political
activism i could not share it with my family

and i could not share it with my students
in the university and i was a political activist

since i started with my studies but i was
motivated by hate by fear and [Music]

also filled with despair

and to encounter ties teachings about activism
in a different kind it inspired me a lot being

active out of love being active and at the
same time caring for yourself being active

and not opposing someone not uh

say you are guilty and i'm right no we are
in the same boat and the ones who make the

coal mines in australia i'm fighting they
are in me and this is uh the poem

of thai call me by my true names is the poem
for every activist you have no opponent the

opponent is in your heart and this is a very
very deep teaching and i'm so grateful to

have this teacher and to have a community
that shares this concern for mother earth

thank you thank you uli so if you haven't
yet heard about

the earth holder sangha or the gardian de
la terre here in france they have

a wonderful website full of resources and
we're just starting in the last couple of

years to develop earth holder groups here
on in europe and there are many already in

america and they do a lot of online activities
which are wonderful to join discussions presentations

and study study groups and it's a wonderful
way to express our love for the earth as tai

has encouraged us to do

so voila we arrive somewhere through some
kind of arc we've had a beautiful uh journey

and we arrive to activism engagement and love
for the earth thank you for being up here

our final cushion sofa group you can return
to your seats thank you so much and thank

you everyone for your patience and generous
listening we've had a journey along the river

of

the sangha and
i hope you have felt the spirit of community

that shines through the people that really
make the sangha and of course there are so

many ways to still tell the story of plum
village maybe as many people as have experienced

plum village that's how many stories there
are so we're just presenting a brief glimpse

of flavor of the arc of growth and especially
as told by those who've practiced here in

the lower hamlet so we will enjoy listening
to three sounds of

the bell to close our session thank you so
much we can enjoy feeling feeling connected

to one another and feeling enriched by everything
we've heard

as
we enjoy these sounds of the bell

you