RETURNING TO OUR TRUE HOME
4 days of Mindfulness Retreat with Monastics from Plum Village
April 30 - May 4
This Spring, 4 Monastics from Plum Village are offering us the inestimable gift of coming all the way from France to guide us in a 4 day long Mindfulness Retreat. A unique opportunity to take a breath from our daily life, a pure, fresh breath that will rest us deeply and help us reconnect with our basic goodness, empowering us to bring it forth into our families and into the world.
The retreat is open to all publics and all ages, seasoned practitioners as well as newcomers to mindfulness.
For those who don’t know it, Plum Village is a monastery in France, famous for its practice of applied buddhism. Applied buddhism is an updated, dogma free version of buddhism, which can apply to everyday life and is aimed at the development of healthy persons and societies. It is practiced by buddhists just as much as by non-buddhists, by people from diverse religious backgrounds just as much as by atheists.
Plum Village has been founded by the much revered zen master and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh, who is considered the father of modern mindfulness.
A few words by Monastics about their practice:
Our practice is primarily based on the Five Mindfulness Trainings, which are ethical guidelines that offer concrete practices of true love and compassion, and a path towards a life in harmony with each other and the Earth. These guidelines are the foundation of our lives and represent our ideal of service.
Our practice is based on cultivating awareness of the breath and living deeply in the present moment, aware of what is happening within us and around us. This practice helps us to release the tension in our bodies and feelings, to live life profoundly and more happily, and to use compassionate listening and loving speech to help restore communication and reconcile with others.
We aim to be a place of refuge, nourishment and support for all those who aspire to transform their own suffering and contribute to a healthy and compassionate society.
INDICATIVE SCHEDULE
April 30
Arrive in the afternoon
18:00 Dinner
20:00 Total relaxation & Opening Talk
May 1
06:30 Guided sitting meditation
07:00 Exercise
07:30 Breakfast
09:30 Singing meditation
09:50 Orientation
11:30 Walking meditation
12:30 Lunch
14:00 Total relaxation
15:30 Dharma Sharing
18:00 Dinner
20:00 Sitting meditation/sutra reading
May 2
06:30 Guided sitting meditation
07:00 Exercise
07:30 Breakfast
09:30 Singing meditation
09:50 Dharma Talk
11:30 Walking meditation
12:30 Lunch
14:00 Total relaxation
15:30 Dharma Sharing
18:00 Dinner
20:00 5 Mindfulness Trainings Presentation
May 3
06:30 Guided sitting meditation
07:00 Exercise
07:30 Breakfast
09:30 Singing meditation
09:50 Question & Answer session
11:30 Walking meditation
12:30 Lunch
14:00 Total relaxation
15:30 Dharma Sharing
18:00 Dinner
20:00 Beginning Anew
May 4
06:30 5 Mindfulness Trainings Transmission Ceremony
07:30 Breakfast
09:30 Singing meditation
09:50 Dharma Talk
11:30 Walking meditation
12:30 Lunch
14:00 Total relaxation
15:00 Be-In
Cost:
This retreat is an offering from Plum Village and from Oikia.
A very low fee will be set to cover the running costs of the event, mainly food and the monastics’ air fares. The participants will be asked to offer “dana,” a financial gift according to their own means and heart. No one will be excluded for lack of funds.
Dharma Teachers
Sister Tuệ Nghiêm (“Sr. Insight”) ordained as a novice nun on December 11th 1993 at Plum Village France as a member of the “Fish” family. She received full bhikshuni ordination on December 2nd 1996, and the Lamp Transmission from Thầy to become a Dharma Teacher on February 19th, 1999. As a “baby” of the then small community, Sr. Tuệ Nghiêm was cherished by Thầy and the elders, but also firmly guided.
Sr. Tuệ Nghiêm was born in Vietnam, and grew up in California, USA. Influenced by her loving and spiritual mother, she joined the Vietnamese Youth Buddhist Society as a teen. She studied psychology at university, with a strong interest in the mind and the aspiration to alleviate the mental pain she saw around her. The same interest and aspiration then brought her to Plum Village France, where her elder brother (Brother Pháp Đang, “Br. Dharma Lamp”) had already ordained under Thầy. After the sojourn at Plum Village, she returned to California. The contrast between the malaise of a fast-paced living and the simple, fulfilling life at Plum Village helped set her life direction.
Sr. Tuệ Nghiêm balances her time in administrative roles with growing organic vegetables on the New Hamlet “Happy Farm”. She firmly believes in taking care of the body to sustain the practice, thus shares her experience in holistic medicine, yoga, Qi Gong, and nutrition with the community. Her favourite practices are breathing, walking, and reflecting on the sutras. She also enjoys learning neuroscience, Chinese, and loves to knit socks, swing in a hammock, listen to Mozart, and make samosas for the community.
Sister Tuệ Nghiêm regularly leads retreats in Europe, Asia, and North America. While at home in New Hamlet, she finds many ways to be with her younger sisters: hiking, mentoring, teaching the precepts, Buddhist psychology, and Vietnamese/English classes, driving and car maintenance.
Sister Trang Nui Na is Vietnamese. Trang means Moon. Nui means Mountain. Na is the name of a mountain in the northern part of Viet Nam, where Thay had visited as a child with his classmates. And this is one of legendary places that nourishes the Bodhicitta seed, the seed of awakening, in Thay and embarked Thầy on a spiritual journey.
She ordained in Thai Plum Village in January 2012 and had been here for 7 years before moving to Plum Village, France in January 2019. She currently lives, practices and serves in New Hamlet, Plum Village, France. She will receive the lamp as a Dharma teacher in March 2025.
Sr Trang Dieu Vien was ordained in 2013 in Plum village, France. Her name means Wonderful Garden, and she likes to see it as an invitation to remember to take good care of her garden of mind so that it is always a garden of wonders. She will receive the lamp as a Dharma teacher in March 2025.
Sr. Trang Mai Thon (Trang means the Moon, Mai Thon means Plum Village) is a Vietnamese Australian. She ordained in Plum Village, France in 2011 and received lamp transmission, becoming a Dharma teacher in 2020. Known as Sr. Mai in Australia, she currently lives, practices, and serves in New Hamlet, Plum Village.
For registrations please fill out the form: https://forms.gle/FWEYV5YNXDFabGCV6 .
For any further information please contact us at aigina.oikia@gmail.com .