We invite you to enjoy this powerful meditation, offered by the sisters at Plum Village Monastery in France. The meditation is based on Thich Nhat Hanh’s guided meditation on the Five Mindfulness Trainings in his book, The Blooming of a Lotus.

It is in moments like this that we stick to our mindful breathing and gently recognize our afflictions, whether anger, frustration, or fear. Suppose we are feeling worry or anxiety. We practice, ‘Breathing in, I know that anxiety is in me. Breathing out, I smile to my anxiety.’ 

This month's Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation newsletter offers several practice resources to help ground and nurture you during this period of change: teachings by Thich Nhat Hanh, online events and Sanghas, mantras to share with you family, and more.

Recognizing our monasteries are places of community and togetherness for large groups of people from many different regions, our monastic teachers have made the difficult decision to temporarily close several of our centers to the public during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Click here for the latest updates.

To complement your reflection on “releasing your cows” (view our New Year post), here is an excerpt from Thich Nhat Hanh’s book The Path of Emancipation. In this passage, Thay beautifully elaborates on what it means to identify and release pieces of our life that we believe make us happy, but are actually burdensome.

The new year - and decade - is the perfect time to begin anew with ourselves and let go of what is no longer serving us. Sometimes, we refer to this type of letting go as “releasing our cows,” inspired by a story told by the Buddha. In a 2006 Dharma talk, Thay shares beautifully about what it means to release our cows.

This year, you funded 53 of copies of Thich Nhat Hanh’s “How To” books for high school students at the Mindfulness Clubs of Atlantic High School and Inlet Grove High School in Palm Beach County, FL.

This October, you helped make possible the Philadelphia Sangha Retreat “Ancestry in Progress,” hosted by the Many Faces Sangha and facilitated by senior Dharma teachers Dr. Peggy Rowe Ward and Dr. Larry Ward. Thanks to your donation, the Philadelphia Sangha was able to fund rental of the retreat facility so that attendees could join at a lower cost or with a scholarship.

Thanks to the kindness, generosity, and love you have shown by making donations to the TNH Foundation, this past August fifteen young people from the Middle East were able to participate in the Wake Up Retreat at Plum Village. Because of your generosity, ten of those received financial aid without which they could not have been here. 

We’re happy to announce that on Thursday 28th November, Thay traveled from Huế, Vietnam to Bangkok, Thailand for a full medical check-up in Bangkok. The trip and hospital visit went smoothly.

For the past few years, Tracy McMahon, a member of the Mountain Mindfulness Sangha in Asheville, NC, has asked her friends and family to make a donation to the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation for her birthday and for holidays, instead of giving her material gifts.

Thanksgiving is a holiday for renewal and connection within ourselves and with our loved ones. This week, we have the opportunity to collectively reflect on all that we have been given, and renew our relationships to ourselves, our families and Mother Earth.

Read about how your generosity helped make possible a transformative public talk and two-day retreat led by Dharma teacher Valerie Brown in Rochester, NY.

This year, you helped plant seeds of joy, community and peace by helping to fund construction of new retreatant accommodations at MorningSun Practice Center. Learn how you are making a difference.

Despite the heat and humidity of recent months, Thay has coped very well, perhaps because this is the climate of his youth. (For some of Thay’s attendants, the hot weather has been much more challenging!) From time to time he has a chance to visit the beach for a few days, just thirty minutes from the temple. Thay’s health remains fairly stable overall, although from time to time he faces challenges with appetite, sleep, and physical discomfort. Thay continues to receive regular treatments from acupuncturists and physiotherapists, which are very beneficial.

In gratitude to Thay for his many powerful transformational teachings on caring for our planet, mindfulness practitioners from around the world sent in photos of themselves, their Sanghas and their families tending to Mother Earth.

The Way Out is an urgent film about the climate crisis, activism and mindfulness, created by Evermind Media. Filmed in the UK and in Plum Village Monastery in France, The Way Out explores how we can incorporate into our daily lives Thay’s teaching that “the way out of climate change is inside each of us.”

This summer, your generosity funded young adults with limited funds to join the Wake Up retreat at MorningSun practice center in New Hampshire. Read how these scholarships opened up possibilities for joy, growth, community and self-reflection among these youth.

The Five Mindfulness Trainings represent the Buddhist vision for a global spirituality and ethic. They are a concrete expression of the Buddha’s teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, the path of right understanding and true love, leading to healing, transformation, and happiness for ourselves and for the world.

To share our gratitude with Thay on his continuation day, we invite you to submit a photo of you, your family or your Sangha caring for our planet.

Join the rest of our community on Friday, Sep 20th, in solidarity with our younger generation for a future to be possible.