Blue Ocean Sangha

03/03/2026

Still time to register for our Day of Mindfulness in March 7th. 🙏🏼🪷💕

02/25/2025

Mindfulness Verse of the Week (A Weekly Series, Every Monday)

Gathas are short verses that help us stay present and bring mindfulness into our daily lives. At Plum Village, we use gathas throughout the day — when we wake up, enter the meditation hall, eat our meals, or even wash the dishes.

These simple verses are a gentle reminder to come back to the present moment and find peace and joy in whatever we’re doing. You can combine the gatha with your breathing:
- Breathe in and recite the first line.
- Breathe out and recite the second.
- Continue like this with the next lines, following the natural rhythm of your breath.

We invite you to join us in this practice! Pause, take a deep breath, and reflect on this week’s verse as you go about your day. Together, let’s nurture mindfulness and create space for peace and joy in our hearts.
Stay tuned for this week’s verse — let’s practice together.

01/09/2025

Deer Park Monastery’s Engaged Buddhism Series

01/01/2025

Happy new year !!
We invite you to start the year meaningfully by writing your own New Year prayer or resolution. Let’s take this moment to reflect, aspire, and plant seeds for a more peaceful and loving world together. 🙏

12/22/2024

Seven self-care practices for the Festive Period

11/13/2024

Engaged Buddhism / Practicing Mindfulness in Divisive Times

On October 18th 2024 Dharma teacher Kaira Jewel Lingo joined Brother Phap Luu (Brother Stream) in Deer Park Monastery to share how we can practice mindfulness in divisive times. This offering is part of a monthly online series on Engaged Buddhism.

https://plumvillage.org/articles/practicing-mindfulness-in-divisive-times #

On October 18th 2024 Dharma teacher Kaira Jewel Lingo joined Br. Stream in Deer Park to share how we can practice mindfulness in divisive times. This offering is part of a monthly online series on…

10/11/2024

Happy Continuation Day Dear Thay!
🪷🙏🏼💙🌊🎂🎊

03/17/2024

In this short video, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh answers a question about frustration and how to prevent it from dominating us. This is an excerpt from a public event which took place at Blue Cliff Monastery (USA) in 2011.

"Frustration is something that exists in every one of us. When things do not go as you wish, you feel frustrated. But as a good practitioner, you don't allow frustration to take over you and dominate you for a long time. With the practice of mindful breathing you can recognize your frustration. Hello, I know you my frustration, but we don't need to be frustrated because there are many good things around and inside. It's like you go to a beautiful garden. Even there is one or two trees that are not growing very well and one may be dying. But we know that the rest of the garden is still very beautiful. Many beautiful trees are there. So even if one or two trees are not beautiful enough, you don't get frustrated. You tell yourself that, well, you might replace that tree by planting another tree. So you don't allow frustration to take over. So first you say hello to your frustration. Hello there, my frustration I don't think that we need to suffer because there are many good things around you can still enjoy. I will take care. So again, the practice of mindful breathing and help meet our frustration and help our frustration to transform. Thank you."

Find this and more teachings on the free Plum Village App

01/18/2024

Blue Ocean Sangha’s Annual Retreat
Restoring Inner Peace
Feb 17-19th.

11/01/2023

“A strong emotion is like a storm that comes, stays a while, and passes. Everyone must learn to survive a storm”.
Thich Nhat Hanh

10/14/2023

Message to the International Plum Village Community for Peace in the Middle East 🙏🏼🙏🏼

Even as theystrike you downwith a mountain of hatred and violence;even as they step on you and crush youlike a worm,even as they dismember and disembowel you, remember, brother,remember:man is not …

10/11/2023

Happy Continuation Day (Birthday) to our beloved teacher! Thich Nhat Hanh was born on October 11, 1926, as Nguyen Xuan Bao. But as he said,

"The day your mother gave birth to you is not the day you were born. It is just the day you manifested in this form. You have always been there. There is no birth; there is only continuation. Your so-called birthday is really your continuation day. The next time you celebrate it, you can say, 'Happy Continuation Day.'"

Our teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, was "born" on this day, October 11, in 1926. We say "born", because he taught us that nothing is really born and nothing really dies, everything is continuation. For this reason, Thay has said a birthday should be called a "continuation day".

We are happy that Thay continues in us and in the world, at a time when his teachings on peace and reconciliation are deeply needed.

"If you have Thay’s Dharma joy and Thay’s happiness in every step, in every breath, then even though in appearance you may not look like Thay, but inside you are a true continuation of Thay. This is why the practice of “signlessness” in the Three Doors of Liberation is so important in helping us recognize true continuation." Thich Nhat Hanh

To celebrate this day, we offer touching stories of encounters with Thay from his lay and monastic students, read them here: https://plumvillage.org/articles/thay-in-our-hearts