Willow Branch Sangha

Plum Village

You are warmly invited to visit Plum Village and practice with our growing international community of practice and to enjoy the wonderful energy of mindfulness. The Summer Retreat is for us to enjoy simple and peaceful living, and thereby nurture our own inner growth. We take time to look deeply in order to transform both our individual difficulties and the difficulties in our society.

Our practice at Plum Village helps us weave mindfulness into all of our daily activities. In this way we can practice meditation throughout the day, while eating, walking, working mindfully, sitting in meditation, or enjoying a cup of tea together. Visitors participate in community activities such walking and sitting meditation as well as community work such as arranging the meditation halls, cleaning bathrooms, washing pots and other simple tasks as part of the daily practice of mindfulness.

Deer Park Monastery

Deer Park Monastery is a community in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh & the Plum Village Practice Center.

This 400-acre sanctuary rests peacefully in the chaparral mountains of southern California, surrounded and protected by oaks and the natural landscape.

It was established in July 2000 by the Plum Village four-fold Sangha. Now, it is a safe and serene refuge for many practitioners to come and learn the art of mindful living and practicing with a community, or Sangha.

At Deer Park, the residential monastic community and lay Sangha practice together year round under the guidance of our teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh (Thây), in the tradition of engaged Buddhism and mindfulness practice in everyday life. There are two hamlets: Solidity Hamlet (for monks and laymen) and Clarity Hamlet (for nuns and laywomen). The two hamlets come together several times a week to practice.

At Deer Park, we are nourished not just by the formal sitting meditation sessions, but also by the practice of meditation in our daily activities outside the meditation hall. We are guided by the teachings of Thây on mindfulness and peace-making. We learn to live together as a community and to take refuge in the wisdom of the Sangha.

http://deerparkmonastery.org

Magnolia Grove Monastery

Magnolia Grove Monastery is a residential monastery and is simultaneously,Magnolia Village, a Mindfulness Practice Meditation Center in the tradition of Plum Village, founded by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh.

Magnolia Grove Monastery is a place to practice meditation and mindfulness. It is where every breath we take reminds us of the wonders of life. A place to sit and relax. A place to walk and kiss the earth beneath our feet. A place to rest under a willow tree on an island in a lotus pond. A place to eat together and savor every bite. A place to listen deeply to the

sounds of life and the sound of our hearts. A place to work together to build a community of love and understanding.