By Lien Shutt I was born in Saigon in 1964. My birth mother was a clerk at the American Embassy. When she realized that she was dying of cancer, she asked her boss to help her find Americans to adopt my older sister and me. In 1973, European Americans adopted us. Because my adoptive parents…
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Healthy Boundaries
photo by Zachiah Murray The Fourteenth Mindfulness Training is jampacked! It invites us to consider our own powerful sexual energy, the sexual energy of those around us, the environmental factors that may contribute to sexual misconduct, and so much more. As I’ve moved through life with this training, different facets…
Orange, Maroon, and Brown
Please Call Me by My True Colors By Brother Chan Phap Tu Brother Phap Son, Brother Phap Tu (Tenzin Donpal), and Sister Luong Nghiem in India My precious master Thich Nhat Hanh says, “Please call me by my true names.” This is a very interesting saying. When I look into…
Breaking up as a Mindfulness Practice
By Octavia Baker For months, I was clinging to my relationship with my partner, thinking we could somehow stay together without my becoming a parent, although he wanted to have children. I thought my partner could adopt my best friend’s children. He could become a mentor, a big brother. He…
Waking Up This Morning, I Smile
By Brother Phap Ho One day quite some time ago, I had a realization. It was like a sweet voice from deep inside, my heart’s song, my deep aspiration. The message was simple: I want to live a life and have a livelihood that make me happy to get up…
Love Letter from Auschwitz
By Peter Kuhn Auschwitz Memorial; photo by Peter Kuhn Dear Friends, Auschwitz, the site of the most notorious concentration camp in Nazi-occupied territory during World War II, may not sound like a vacation destination, but it is a powerful spot for retreat. Last summer, my wife Jackie and I joined…
Running at Night
By Dave Kenneally Dave Kenneally I have been practicing in Thich Nhat Hanh’s tradition for eight years and living at Blue Cliff Monastery in upstate NewYork since November of 2012. I am the inaugural intern in a one-year program for laypeople who want a longer and more intensive retreat at…
Twenty-two Years of Plum Village
By Paul Tingen My first visit to Plum Village, twenty-two years ago, is still as vividly engrained in my memory as if it happened last week, probably because it was packed with surprises, ranging from the eyebrow-raising to the jaw-dropping. I arrived in Lower Hamlet on a warm evening in…
Sangha Building
By Thich Nhat Hanh From a Dharma Talk at Joongang Sangha University for monks and nuns in Kimpo, Korea on March 31st, 2003 My dear friends, according to my experience the study of Buddhism and the practice of Buddhism should always go together. It is not possible to learn the…
Walking on Ice
By Jack Lawlor Even the Buddha's Sangha experienced difficulties. His cousin, Devadatta, once attempted to divide the Sangha and lead it himself. And the Buddha himself could not mediate the dispute over etiquette between the Precept master and the Sutra master at Kosambi-at least, not initially. The Upakkilesa Sutta describes how the bhikkhus at Kosambi were…