Paths of Change and Resistance (Episode #114)

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Welcome to a new episode of The Way Out Is In: The Zen Art of Living, a podcast series mirroring Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s deep teachings of Buddhist philosophy: a simple yet profound methodology for dealing with our suffering, and for creating more happiness and joy in our lives.

In this episode, Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and leadership coach Jo Confino are joined by Zen Buddhist nun Sister True Dedication to explore the significance and offerings of the Plum Village community – a sanctuary of peace, healing, and mindfulness, providing a stark contrast to the fast-paced, consumer-driven world outside.

The three speakers further discuss the importance of a physical environment for spiritual practice, a space where individuals can reconnect with their true selves; the value of community living, where monastics share a collective career and work towards the flourishing of the community rather than individual success; the relevance of the five mindfulness trainings, which serve as ethical guidelines for personal and societal transformation; and much more.

The conversation also touches upon the need for support to maintain and expand the Plum Village facilities, the importance of generosity, and the impact of supporting engaged monastic communities.

Co-produced by the Plum Village App: https://plumvillage.app/

And Global Optimism: https://globaloptimism.com/

With support from the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation: https://thichnhathanhfoundation.org/

List of resources

Interbeing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbeing

Plum Village Tradition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plum_Village_Tradition

Bodhisattva Vow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhisattva_vow

The Five Mindfulness Trainings https://plumvillage.org/mindfulness/the-5-mindfulness-trainings

The Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings https://plumvillage.org/mindfulness/the-14-mindfulness-trainings

Es Devlin https://esdevlin.com/

Rebecca Solnit https://www.rebeccasolnit.net/

The Way Out Is In: Stepping into Freedom – Live Recording with Q&A Session (Episode #67) https://plumvillage.org/podcast/stepping-into-freedom-live-recording-with-qa-session-episode-67

The Way Out Is In: ‘Cultivating Joy and Togetherness in the Midst of Hardship (Episode #95)’ https://plumvillage.org/podcast/cultivating-joy-and-togetherness-in-the-midst-of-hardship-episode-95

Quotes

“Plum Village emerged from our teacher’s vision for how the world could look and feel different from mainstream society. From the beginning, Plum Village has always been a community of resistance. We could even call it a community of resilience, a very physical environment that is holding different values from mainstream consciousness. And the values in mainstream consciousness we can all recognize. It might be unbridled capitalism, craving, consumerism, violence, excess of different kinds that all of us might see in our immediate lives and around us and in the economic and labor systems that we’re a part of. The vision for Plum Village was to say, what if we created a physical environment that modeled entirely different values? And in embodying those values, that is the resistance. So for example, to embody more peace, harmony, collectiveness, community rather than individualism.”

“We need to reclaim our sovereignty from the machines of our creation.”

“Plum Village is holding this environment of peace and healing and freedom from the rat race, freedom from this world of technological overwhelm.”

“When we come to a retreat, we are being invited into a space of sharing our generosity in presence. We’re not sitting for ourselves. We’re sitting for the collective. When we are taking care of our emotions, we’re also taking care of the emotions of the collective, because the individual and the collective, we start to see the interbeing of it, the interconnectedness of it.”

“We organize our life in such a way that compassion, mindfulness, patience, inclusiveness are literally what we’re cultivating every day. And we’re not perfect, but this is our work in progress and it’s quite noble and even though we struggle so much, we feel in our bones that we’re doing this work every day. And it allows me to have some faith also in the future as we enter this period of disruption for society, for the climate, for agriculture, for nature, to be able to cooperate, to live cooperatively, to share resources, to moderate and temper our needs. These are such important human practices. The kind of qualities we’re holding here – compassion, mindfulness – are a treasure trove for future generations. These are exactly the kind of values that we want to trust will still be there in decades and centuries to come.”

“In each hamlet we have 50, 60 monastics living together, everyone cultivating non-violence in our speech, in our thinking, in our way of being, in our way of washing a bowl, in our way of brushing our teeth, in our ways of being with the mosquitoes. We’re living as an example of non-violence in the world. And then being able to lift that up into our engagement with everyone who comes to us. It may sound like we’re describing a bubble. It’s really unrealistic, but because we are living in a constant relationship with the thousands of people that come and spend time with us every year, another way you could describe us is as being like the river bank and the river flows through us. We’re a sort of gentle river bank that caresses the water for a little bit before it moves on back into the world. And so people have a chance to taste these energies that we’re generating as a collective here.”

“The only way that we are gonna save ourselves from the collapse of civilization is if there’s a collective awakening. Individual awakening is not enough.”

“We’re not gonna sort everything out in this lifetime, but what we can offer is for the next generation to have more tools, more practices, more understanding, more care, more compassion, so that they can carry this path forward into the future.”

“Thay has really expanded this home – it’s not just for the monks and nuns. The monastery is also open to the lay community for the lay people to come in and taste true peace.”

“When you come to Plum Village for seven days and you don’t drive a vehicle, that’s already an impact. When you’re vegetarian for seven days, that’s impact. When you are not expressing anger for seven days, that’s impact. When you are listening to yourself and healing some blockage that has been waiting for you to look at and embrace, that is impact. That’s healing. That is already work for your ancestors, work for society. And so the journey of a monastery, or we can call it a practice center, is important because it is also a place where we know we can put our masks down. It can become a great equalizer. Everyone here, we’re human beings. It doesn’t matter what titles we’re holding in the world. Here, in the monastery, there’s a power to the monastic’s presence.”

“It is very clear from the teachings of Thay and the teachings of the Buddha and our own moral compass, that if we don’t take care of our suffering, our loneliness, our violence, our hatred, naming it as it is and just saying like, ‘Okay, I’m co-responsible, and it is my responsibility to also transform this’, we’re not gonna change the system.”