Zen Master Thich Nhat Hahn above!
Maria Whittaker,author, on the far left practicing mindfulness at Magnolia Grove Mindfulness Practice
center in the Thich Nhat Hanh Tradition during the summer of 2015. This practice center is located in rural
Mississippi, outside of the city of Batesville, Mississippi. It was founded by the Mississippi Vietnamese Community
and today hosts people of all ethnicities who wish to practice mindfulness in the Thich Nhat Hanh Tradition!!!!
Just amazing!!!!!!
Global Directory (including the USA) of Local Lay
Communities of Mindfulness Practice in the Thich Nhat
Hanh Tradition & Opportunities for Online Practice with the 3 centers of
Mindfulness Practice in the Thich Nhat Hanh Tradition
in the USA
I. Global Directory (including USA) of Local Lay Mindfulness Communities of
Practice
https://www.mindfulnessbell.org/directory
One of the great and powerful opportunities for mindfulness practice offered by
Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and his mindfulness practice centers in France,
the USA, Asia and Australia are local lay communities of mindfulness practice
all over the world, including here in the USA! Such lay communities are made of
people like you and me who are not monastics, monks or nuns. “Lay
practitioners” are people like you and me: ordinary people in human society who
want to practice mindfulness with a group or community, but who do not want to
become monastics, monks or nuns or “religious people.”
These lay groups are often formed by people like me who have practiced at
Plum Village, but many are not. Many are formed simply by interested people
in a community who have studied Thich Nhat Hahn's teachings which are
widely available online and in writing and very powerful in themselves!
You yourself thus could start a mindfulness practice community in this tradition
as well once you have enough experience to feel confident to do so!!!!!
These “lay groups of practice” usually meet once a week in person,
but now on zoom due to the Coronavirus, and follow the teachings of Zen
Master Thich Nhat Hahn. Sometimes, they offer local retreats on zoom or in
person as well. All very beneficial and supportive to one's individual practice!!!!
The meetings are structured this way:
Greetings and announcements
Silent meditation for anywhere between 15 to 30 minutes
Maybe also walking meditation as a group (anywhere from between 15 to
30 minutes)
And dharma sharing, i.e., sharing one’s concerns, thoughts and beliefs at
that time. These are not conversations with other participants but just spoken to the group without reply, sometimes described as shared to the dharma.
Sometimes social visiting afterwords, and
Sometimes inspiring words from Zen Master Thich Nhat Hahn will be
shared or his teachings or a video.
II. As well now, the 3 mindfulness practice centers in the USA are offering on
line, Zoom. weekly mindfulness practice sessions:
1. Mississippi https://magnoliagrovemonastery.org/ This mindfulness practice center was founded by the USA Vietnamese
community in this region!!!! All of us who practice in the Thich Nhat hahn tradition,
people of all descendants, African, European, Native, Latino, Middle Eastern
and beyond have joined them over the years including myself.
This is where I, Maria Whittaker, practice in the USA. Here is some
information on their weekly zoom mindfulness practice sessions:
https://magnoliagrovemonastery.org/calendar/weekly-online-mindfulness-practice/all/
2. Southern, CA https://www.bluecliffmonastery.org/Here is the information on their online zoom practice offerings for the lay community.
https://deerparkmonastery.org/live-stream/online-days-of-mindfulness/ Please contact the mindfulness practice center for more information.
3. New York state. https://deerparkmonastery.org/ Here is the information on their online zoom practice sessions for lay community
members. https://deerparkmonastery.org/live-stream/online-days-of-mindfulness/ Please contact the mindfulness practice center for more information.
A Little More Information on Local
Communities of Practice (Sanghas) from
the Plum Village Website
A sangha is a local community of mindfulness practitioners who gather to meditate, to share
their joys and difficulties, and to encourage each other on the path of practice. Meeting regularly
with others to sit and share together is a precious way to cultivate our understanding and
compassion and to re-establish our deep connection with others. Before COVID!!!!!!
Find a Sangha
There are sanghas all over the world practicing in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh.
We encourage you to search for a local practice community.
Start a Sangha
If there is no sangha in your area, you may consider starting one! This can begin as simply as
meeting with a few people in someone’s home. There, you might sit in meditation, read an
excerpt from one of Thay’s (Thich Nhat Hanh’s) books, then share together about your
experiences in the practice. For more information, see the New Sangha Handbook and our Start a Sangha page.
We invite you to deepen your engaged Buddhism practice by joining the Community of
Mindfulness Sangha, a group of laypeople working with our monastic siblings on activities
and projects designed to support and deepen the loving impact of our practice.
Our activities and projects focus on three primary areas: supporting Deer Park Monastery;
building and supporting Sanghas throughout the Western United States; and connecting
and nurturing the larger community. To find out more, please click here.
Wake Up
If you are about 18 to 35 years of age, you may have particular interest in Wake Up, an active global community of young adult practitioners.
The Mindfulness Bell
If you would like to learn more about Thich Nhat Hanh’s tradition of mindfulness practice, you
will surely enjoy his many books as well as The Mindfulness Bell, a journal of the art of mindful living.
Zen Master Thich Nhat Hahn at Plum VIllage with children.
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