The theory of two American Buddhism(s) has been somewhat useful to understand the cultural differences of practices in the States, but what it fails to account for are those communities that create space for practitioners from all backgrounds and transcend this dualistic idea. The Plum Village tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh does just that. With three centers around the United States, the teachings of Plum Village have had an immeasurable effect on how Americans conceive of Buddhism, not only in the localities of these practice centers but across the country. The main American center is located in upstate New York, affectionately referred to as Blue Cliff Monastery. The teachings which come out of these centers reach quite a large audience, both directly and on a wider, cultural scale. Adapting Vietnamese Zen teachings for the modern Western audience, the tradition of Plum Village and Thich Nhat Hanh aims to make Buddhism accessible to all, instead of catering to “one type” of practitioner.
The tradition of Plum Village started in 1982 outside of Bordeaux, France.[1] This was not Thich Nhat Hanh’s first visit to the West, but it was his first time completely moving to the West. The monastery started as a small, rural farmstead and is said to be where Thay (another name for Thich Nhat Hanh) saw his dream coming to fruition: “creating a healthy, nourishing environment where people can learn the art of living in harmony with one another and with the Earth.”[2] It has now grown into a large community of monks and nuns, with different hamlets around the world. One of the most popular outside of Bordeaux is Blue Cliff Monastery in New York. This center is home to thirty monastic and lay practitioners who work to share the teachings of mindfulness with visitors. Blue Cliff presents itself as “a place to quiet the mind, look deeply, and enjoy the wonders of life within and around us through the practices of sitting meditation, walking meditation, mindful eating, deep relaxation meditation, and sharing togetherness.”[3] This mission is evident across all of Thich Nhat Hanh’s work and comes into physical manifestation at the monastery.
Thich Nhat Hanh’s life story has played a big role in shaping both the teachings of Plum Village and how they have come to be spread in the world. Born in Vietnam, Thay had an early draw to Buddhism when at the age of nine, an image of the Buddha left him with a deep sense of peace and a strong urge to become like the Buddha, who he described as: “someone who embodied calm, peace, and ease, and who could help others around him to be calm, peaceful, and at ease.”[4] At sixteen, with his parent’s permission, he left to begin novice training under Master Thich Chan That, as part of the Vietnamese Zen tradition in the Linji school. As he was completing his novice training, Thay witnessed the Japanese occupation of Vietnam and the Great Famine of 1945. These events inevitably had an impact on his training and started to sow the seeds of his connection between Buddhism and social action. This would continue through the First Indochina War, when he affirmed his aspiration to be a bodhisattva of action.[5] In 1950, he helped to cofound An Quang Pagoda which housed a reformist Buddhist Institute, his first official foray into his efforts for an action-oriented practice. During this time he published his first book, contributed to and edited Buddhist magazines, and began teaching. In 1961, he was offered a Fulbright Scholarship to study Comparative Religion at Princeton Theological Seminary, which is where he first began to realize his path was to teach in the West.[6] In 1964, Thay returned to Vietnam as a leader in the Buddhist movement for peace and social action. As the Vietnam War broke out, Thay advocated for peace, refusing to take a side, leading to both armies seeing him as a threat to their cause. He wrote to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who later became an outspoken critic of the war and nominated Thay for a Nobel Peace Prize, which played a massive role in elevating his fame in the West. After years of advocacy in Vietnam, Thay left in 1966 to give a lecture series at Cornell, but eventually was blocked from returning home due to his advocacy.
From this point on, Thay focused his efforts in the West, building up the Plum Village community, traveling around the world to share his teachings, and publishing many books through his company, Parallax Press. His philosophy shifted from: “demonstrations and press conferences to the deeper work of transforming consciousness through mindfulness retreats and community living.”[7] In the 1980s, he founded Plum Village in southern France and began to ordain a lineage of monastic disciples. He also became known as a renowned Buddhist scholar, offering translations of the Heart Sutra, Diamond Sutra, Ānāpānasati Sutta, and the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta. As his name became increasingly common knowledge in the U.S., he led many peace talks and retreats for members of the government along with special sessions to respond to the global tragedies that would unfold over the years. During all this time, he always stayed grounded in his philosophies that he practiced during tumultuous times in Vietnam: interbeing, Engaged Buddhism, and compassion.
It was not until 2005 that he was eventually able to return to Vietnam after 35 years of exile. He was greeted by an eager crowd of monks and laypeople ready to hear his teachings, along with intrigued political leaders. Unfortunately, this growing popularity, especially among young monks and nuns, scared the communist government which forcibly dispersed Thay’s monastery in 2009.[8] For the rest of his life, he continued to teach around the world, reaching a large and diverse audience of students. At the beginning of 2022, Thay passed away, but his legacy has remained strong, flourishing through the Plum Village communities around the world, his books, recorded dharma talks, and so much more. The West owes Thich Nhat Hanh a large debt of gratitude for bringing Buddhist teachings to popular culture.
Before the end of his life, Thay became a globally recognized teacher, but for a long time his teachings had not been as popular in the East. He defied strict categorization as Zen, Pure Land, or Theravada and preferred to refer to himself as: “taking Mahayana Buddhism to bathe in the waters of early Buddhism.”[9] Though he was purposeful in teaching to a Western audience, there was always a bit of tension between Eastern and Western thought. For example, as mindfulness rose in popularity in the West, some of his students asked him to remove the Buddhist ethical code and Five Precepts from his teachings as they were “inappropriate for modern Buddhism in the West,” but Thay held firm that ethics and mindfulness could to be separated.[10] This would not be the only run-in he would have in this area, but he always insisted that while it was important to be sensitive of the culture to which one was teaching, Buddhism should never be diluted.
Overall, Thich Nhat Hahn is still known as a popular Western teacher, meaning that a place such as Blue Cliff Monastery draws a largely Western audience. However, it is often forgotten that there is a large tradition of Vietnam monastics across Plum Village Centers, with an especially large influx after Thay’s return to Vietnam. Another notable representative of the Plum Village community is Sister Chan Khong, who is the first fully-ordained monastic disciple of Thich Nhat Hanh. She met Thay back in Vietnam and has been a powerful collaborator throughout Plum Village history. Her famous saying is to “view life as the teaching,” and this is present across the offerings at Blue Cliff Monastery.[11] Hosting multiple retreats a year, Blue Cliff offers a space for newcomers and seasoned participants. Retreats typically range from anywhere from a week to three months for specific occasions such as seasons, rain retreats, or a pilgrimage. They are open to both lay practitioners and monastics and are typically run by the local monastic population. Retreats are the only opportunity to stay at the monastery. Before the pandemic, there were Days of Mindfulness which offered a shorter opportunity to visit the monastery, but they have not recovered to the same frequency since. Through this model, one can infer that Blue Cliff is attempting to make itself accessible to all types of practitioners while making sure that there is some level of commitment to the practice for those who choose to spend time in their facilities. Blue Cliff Monastery works to uphold the teachings and practices of Thich Nhat Hanh, through their continued support of Plum Village’s principles and opportunities for seekers to learn about this lineage.
Bibliography
Team, Plum Village. n.d. Plum Village. Accessed November 30, 2023. https://plumvillage.org/#filter=.region-na.
[1] Plum Village Team, “About Plum Village,” Plum Village, https://plumvillage.org/about/plum-village.
[2] Team, “About.”
[3] Team, “About.”
[4] Plum Village Team, “Thich Nhat Hanh: Extended Bio,” Plum Village, https://plumvillage.org/about/thich-nhat-hanh/biography/thich-nhat-hanh-full-biography.
[5] Team, “Bio.”
[6] Team, “Bio.”
[7] Team, “Bio.”
[8] Team, “Bio.”
[9] Team, “Bio.”
[10] Team, “Bio.”
[11] Andrea Miller, “The Life and Teachings of Sister Chang Kong,” Plum Village, https://plumvillage.org/about/sister-chan-khong