Resources

Dharma Talks

from Thich Nhat Hanh and Plum Village Monastics

Plum Village on YouTube

The Way Out Is In Podcast

Thich Nhat Hanh Dharmacast

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SnowFlower Resources

Mindfulness and Meditation
The practices of mindfulness and meditation are at the heart of SnowFlower Sangha. At our gatherings, we practice sitting or walking meditation and reflect on some aspect of the Dharma (readings, short talks, videos) which inevitably is a reflection on mindfulness. Read more

Growing Your Practice
Whether you are interested in receiving the Five Mindfulness Trainings, talking with a mentor, joining a Kalyana Mitta (spiritual friends) group or aspire to join the Order of Interbeing, SnowFlower has resources to support you.  Read more

Significant Buddhist Teachings

Many of these teachings are explored further on the Plum Village website. Thich Nhat Hanh founded the Plum Village Monastery in France in the 1980s while he was exiled from his home country, Vietnam. He was exiled for protesting peacefully against the Vietnam war, without taking sides. This monastery remains the heart of a vibrant, international community dedicated to following Thay’s (Thay is a Vietnamese honorific for teacher) contemporary translations of ancient Buddhist teachings.

The Four Noble Truths

Thay refers to the Four Noble Truths as the finger pointing to the moon. The moon is nirvana, the cessation of suffering that has been caused by our tendency to attach to states and things that are not permanent. Our tendency to seek fulfillment by clinging to desires that cannot be satisfied is bound to fail. We are bound to suffer. The four Noble Truths provide a path for our practice.

  • Dukkha - Suffering exists
  • Samudaya - There is a cause of suffering
  • Nirodha - Suffering can be overcome
  • Magga - There is a path to the end of suffering, the Eightfold Path
    • Right View
    • Right Thinking
    • Right Speech
    • Right Action
    • Right Livelihood
    • Right Effort
    • Right Mindfulness
    • Right Concentration

Read more from the Mindfulness Bell.

The Three Jewels

The Three Jewels of Buddhism are the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha; these are places of refuge from the chaos of life. To find safety in the Three Jewels, both inside and outside of yourself, is a fundamental practice for Buddhists and non-Buddhists to awaken love, understanding and compassion for ourselves and all beings. “Taking refuge … is the fruit of our practice,” Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh wrote in “From the Heart of the Buddha’s Teachings:” “At first, our Buddha may be a book we’ve read, our Dharma a few encouraging words we’ve heard, and our Sangha a community we’ve visited once or twice.”

In a talk at Plum Village, Sister Chan Duc described the Three Jewels:

  • Taking refuge in the Buddha is to touch your awakened nature within, even if you come from a different faith; everyone has the seed of awakening in themselves.
  • Taking refuge in the Dharma (the law of nature) means that we can experience liberated by teachings of the way things are – interbeing, which means this is because that is.
  • Taking refuge in the Sangha is to take refuge in a community that “?lives in harmony and awareness." while practicing mindfulness.

Read and listen to more about the Three Jewels.

The Insight that Brings Us to the “Other Shore”

The Prajnaparamita, the Heart Sutra is an essential part of Buddhist teaching. It calls us to overcome seemingly opposite conditions, such as birth and death or, subject and object. In his translation, called The Insight That Brings Us to the Other Shore,” Thay reexamines the meanings of self and no self.

“The insight of prajnaparamita is the most liberating insight that helps us overcome all pairs of opposites, such as birth and death, being and non-being … which is the true nature of all phenomena,” Thay wrote. “This is a state of coolness, peace and non-fear that can be experienced in this very life, in your own body … It is nirvana.”

Learn more on the Plum Village website.

The Five Remembrances

The Five Remembrances are among contemplations that are meant to be read daily.

I am of the nature to grow old. There is no way to escape growing old.

I am of the nature to have ill-health. There is no way to escape having ill-health.

I am of the nature to die. There is no way to escape death.

All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them.

I inherit the results of my actions of body, speech, and mind. My actions are my continuation.

Read more contemplations.

Watch Sr Thuận Nghiêm’s talk on the Five Remebrances.

Other Resources

The Mindfulness Bell (visit)

The Mindfulness Bell publishes articles on the art of mindful living in the Plum Village tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh each week.

Song Book ( download )

Listen to songs on the Plum Village website.

Listen to chants on the Plum Village site.

Dharma Sharing Guidelines ( visit )

Dharma sharing allows practitioners to reflect on? and benefit from each other’s experiences. It is a time to practice deep listening and for learning to speak about “our joys, our difficulties and our questions relating to the practice of Mindfulness,” according to the Plum Village website.

Read the Plum Village guidelines for Dharma sharing.