The Way Out Is In – Podcast

Episodes

Stepping into Freedom – Live Recording with Q&A Session (Episode #67)
18 Apr· The Way Out Is In
Welcome to episode 67 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.
This inaugural live recording of the podcast was made in London, England, on April 5th, 2024, before a sold-out audience of more than 400 people. For the first half of this episode, Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and leadership coach/journalist Jo Confino explore what it means to step into freedom in the light of Buddhist teachings, drawing on insights from the life and teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh, and including much needed practical steps which can be applied to our daily lives. Their conversation touches upon the pressure of perfection; layers of freedom; the best time to make a decision; experiencing gratitude; true happiness; vulnerability as an expression of love; working with the feeling of ‘not enough’; and much more.

The second half of the episode consists of a live question-and-answer session, with questions from the audience covering a wide range of topics: ways to embrace suffering; compassionate sharing; ending wars by cultivating peace; the joy of missing out; cultivating aspirations; empathy and mindfulness; and more.
And this time you can even enjoy two short meditations guided by Brother Phap Huu.

Thank you for listening!
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
Stepping into Freedom: An Introduction to Monastic Buddhist Training
https://plumvillage.org/books/stepping-into-freedom
‘Cong Phu Journal – Everything You Need to Know About the Practice Notebook’
https://plumvillage.app/cong-phu-journal-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-practice-notebook/
Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha
https://plumvillage.org/books/old-path-white-clouds-2
Rains Retreat
https://plumvillage.org/articles/now-we-have-a-path-2023-24-autumn-winter-rains-retreat
Christiana Figueres
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiana_Figueres
Dalai Lama
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalai_Lama
World Wildlife Fund
https://www.worldwildlife.org/
Quotes
“We’re all looking to feel free, to be ourselves, to find happiness, to be recognized, to love and be loved. It’s at the core of our deepest aspiration in life. And yet, oftentimes, we don’t feel like that. We feel disturbed in our mind; we suffer from anger or frustration; we’re too busy; we have many obligations in our lives; we’re constantly bombarded with news and social media. And so we experience a dissonance between this wish to be free and our everyday lives.”
“Practicing mindfulness is, first, a practice of mere recognition, to call our habits by their name and to recognize the sources of energy that emerge in us. That, already, is the first step towards freedom. And freedom is a continuous energy and a continuous insight that we are cultivating. Thich Nhat Hanh was very firm when he said we all have the ability to have freedom, but here freedom doesn’t come from outside in, but is what we cultivate from the inside.”
“Thay wasn’t ever using the war to affirm who he was. He was free from that. And that is something that I still aspire to walk towards. And when we talk about cultivating, it is very practical; it’s not just a mindset. Mindset is like a will – but, for us, aspiration has to go alongside action. So, very concretely, in the Plum Village tradition of Buddhist practice, in all of our Dharma, we have to engage in everyday life.”
“Thich Nhat Hanh was once asked, ‘What’s the difference between Buddhism and engaged Buddhism?’ And he said, ‘If Buddhism is not engaged, it’s not really Buddhism. That’s just philosophy.’”
“I practice to look at all beings with the eyes of compassion. That is a choice we have. So, if we recognize this glimmer of life, this glimmer of a moment that we can make into a moment of freedom, we have freedom. And then we don’t just stop there; Engaged Buddhism is a continuous journey.”
“Smiling is an act of peace.”
“Why are we meditating? It’s not to run away; meditating is to be present. And if we allow ourselves to be truly present, we start to see ourselves more clearly; we get to identify the energies that pull us away from our freedom.”
“Each and every one of us is a flower in the garden of humanity. And a garden that is very diverse is beautiful; it’s colorful and it offers its uniqueness, its different cultures, its different understandings.”
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The Practice of Gratitude (Episode #66)
28 Mar· The Way Out Is In
Welcome to episode 66 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.
This time, Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and leadership coach/journalist Jo Confino talk about the practice of gratitude and its power to shine a light in even the darkest circumstances. Their conversation touches on many aspects of gratitude, from the way it has been viewed in Buddhism since the days of the Buddha, to gratitude for life, gratitude as a gift and a rebalancer, and gratitude even when things don’t go well.
Brother Phap Huu further talks about nourishing our deep connection to interbeing; opening our hearts to suffering; loneliness in the monastic community; gratitude for the Earth, all living beings, and (even) minerals; the feeling of ‘enough’; the Cong Phu Sheet; and more. And why is gratitude a such a difficult practice, even when there are many opportunities to apply it?
Jo delves into daily practices of gratitude; coming back into balance; Christmas presents and meaninglessness; approaches to economic development in Bhutan; and more.
The episode ends with a short meditation on gratitude guided by Brother Phap Huu.
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
The Way Out Is In live recording
https://wakeuplondon.org/thewayoutisin/
Bodhicitta
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhicitta
Old Path White Clouds
https://plumvillage.org/books/old-path-white-clouds-2
Ananda
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%80nanda
Shariputra
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Śāriputra
Interbeing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbeing
Bhutan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhutan
The Alchemist
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Alchemist_(novel)
Dharma Talks: ‘The Three Doors of Liberation or the Three Dharma Seals’
https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/the-three-doors-of-liberation-or-the-three-dharma-seals-sr-chan-duc-italian-retreat-2018-05-04

‘Cong Phi Journal – Everything You Need to Know About the Practice Notebook’
https://plumvillage.app/cong-phu-journal-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-practice-notebook/
Maudgalyayana
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maudgalyayana
‘A Teacher Looking for His Student’
https://plumvillage.org/poems
Brother Bao Tang (Brother Treasure)
https://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/brother-bao-tang
Gratitude for the Four Elements (short audio meditation by Brother Phap Dung)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWQlmyXF7fc
Quotes
“When we really touch the present moment with the deep insight that ‘what I have here is enough’, we start to touch freedom. But a lot of us are afraid to come home to ourselves. And the whole art of meditation is learning to come home.”
“Gratitude is a practice and a muscle that we need to develop. Because if we have a practice of gratitude, then being grateful is going to flow much more easily.”
“There is a lot of suffering today, but if we focus solely on that suffering, we may also lose the light. Therefore, gratitude becomes a light that we want to protect, to give us hope, to help us know why we are doing what we’re doing, for the activists to know what they are protecting, for the people who are calling out injustice to be grateful that, as human beings, we can use our voices to speak about suffering.”
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Taming Our Survival Instinct (Episode #65)
15 Mar· The Way Out Is In
Welcome to episode 65 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.
This episode is the second to be recorded live in front of an audience, in the Still Water Meditation Hall of Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, France.
This time, Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and leadership coach/journalist Jo Confino are joined by frequent guest Sister True Dedication (Sister Hien Nghiem). Together, they discuss ‘manas’: in Buddhism, “an aspect of the mind that wants to believe we’re separate, wants to crave after all the pleasures of life, wants to avoid suffering, and does not like the idea of moderation.”
The two monastics begin by defining manas and their larger context, as well as sharing relevant examples from their lives and the community, to support a better understanding of these concepts. The live discussion touches upon topics such as right diligence, watering the right seeds in us, Buddhist psychology, understanding how the mind works, the laws of moderation, reality checks, the importance of community in taming manas, the seven characteristics of manas, and much more.
The episode ends with a short meditation guided by Brother Phap Huu.

Enjoy!
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
Sister True Dedication
https://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/sister-hien-nghiem
The Way Out Is In: ‘Understanding How Our Mind Works (Episode #28)’
https://plumvillage.org/podcast/understanding-how-our-mind-works-episode-28
Sister Lang Nghiem
https://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/sr-lang-nghiem
Yogachara
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogachara
The Way Out Is In: ‘Shining Light (Episode #63)’
https://plumvillage.org/podcast/shining-light-episode-63
Dharma Talks: ‘Manas Consciousness, Teachings on Buddhist Psychology Retreat, 1997’
https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/manas-consciousness-thich-nhat-hanh-teachings-on-buddhist-psychology-retreat-1997
Interbeing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbeing
Mahayana
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahayana
‘51 Mental Formations’
https://plumvillage.org/transcriptions/51-mental-formation
Dharma Talks: ‘The Noble Eightfold Path’
https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/the-noble-eightfold-path
Classes: ‘(Class #13) Right Diligence’
https://plumvillage.org/library/classes/class-13-right-diligence
Quotes
“Mindfulness has to be a verb. Compassion has to be a verb. We have to practise compassion for ourselves.”
“If you want a child to stop playing with something, you have to give him something else to play with.”
“Mindfulness is always to be mindful of something. The energy of mindfulness is like a light that we are able to generate, and we can shine that light towards ourself.”
“Our manas is what keeps us alive, and we take care of it with nonviolence, with compassion, and with the insight of interbeing and nondiscrimination. Thay is known for his worldly or political nondiscrimination, but his insights on nondiscrimination extend to our whole being, our whole mind, and what it means to be human. And there’s so much compassion and nonviolence in that.”
“We always say understanding – true, real understanding, right understanding – will generate compassion. And compassion is one of the elements of true love for oneself and for others.”
“In the path that Thay has opened up for us, we are allowed to show up with our whole self, including all our shortcomings, and it’s such a special feeling to be accepted for who you are.”
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Ripening Moment by Moment (Episode #64)
29 Feb· The Way Out Is In
Welcome to episode 64 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.
This episode is the first to be recorded live in front of an audience, in the Still Water Meditation Hall of Plum Village, France, during a retreat, rather than in Thay’s Sitting Still hut.
Together, Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and leadership coach/journalist Jo Confino explore the Buddhist concept of ripening, or the Fourth Dharma Seal of Plum Village: the understanding that the care, love, attention, and commitment we put into what’s important in life take time to ripen, and that we shouldn’t expect instant results.
Brother Phap Huu starts off by introducing the first Three Dharma Seals and why Thay created them, before digging deeper into the Fourth Dharma Seal, the main theme of this episode; the process of ripening; the life journey of the practice; and much more.
Jo brings examples of lifelong journeys of forgiveness, and explores trust versus control, dharma rain, and more.

And: how can we all apply this practice of ripening to our own lives?
The episode ends with a short meditation guided by Brother Phap Huu.
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
The Way Out Is In – Live recording information
https://wakeuplondon.org/thewayoutisin/
‘The Four Dharma Seals of Plum Village’
https://plumvillage.org/articles/the-four-dharma-seals-of-plum-village
Sutras: ‘Discourse on the Dharma Seal & the Three Doors of Liberation’
https://plumvillage.org/library/sutras/discourse-on-the-dharma-seal-the-three-doors-of-liberation

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

The Way Out Is In: ‘The Three Doors of Liberation (Episode #18)’
https://plumvillage.org/podcast/the-three-doors-of-liberation-episode-18
Dharma Talks: ‘Three Doors of Liberation’ https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/three-doors-of-liberation-br-phap-khi-italian-retreat-2018-05-01/
‘The Doors of Liberation’
https://www.lionsroar.com/the-doors-of-liberation-may-2014/
Mahayana
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahayana

Dharma Talks: ‘Right View: Understanding the Roots of Our True Happiness’
https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/right-view-understanding-the-roots-of-our-true-happiness
Old Path White Clouds
https://plumvillage.org/books/old-path-white-clouds-2
Fragrant Palm Leaves
https://plumvillage.org/books/1998-neo-ve-cua-y-fragrant-palm-leaves
Sister Chan Khong
https://plumvillage.org/about/sister-chan-khong

Sister Lang Nghiem
https://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/sr-lang-nghiem
Sister True Dedication
https://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/sister-hien-nghiem
Quotes
“When we practice meditation and mindfulness to come home to the here and now, we start to discover that the present moment is the only moment in which we can be alive. And the present moment embraces the past as well as creating the future.”
“If we don’t have darkness, the light won’t have a chance to appear.”
“It is impossible to physically go back to the past, but I can bring the past into the here and now, and heal it by being right here, right now. By this present moment, I am creating a new path.”
“The world is created by our mind.”
“The insight of ripening allows us to understand that the path of practice is a wonderful journey, and that it takes time and space for things to mature, for things to transform, for things to heal. When we hear about ripening, we may think of a tree – say, an orange tree. It takes time for the seed to be planted. For the roots to deepen. For the tree and its leaves and flowers to grow. Even when the fruit appears, it takes time to ripen. And so our practice can be viewed as a journey of ripening.”
“Each thing we say, each thing we think, each thing we do, ripples out. I love that image of a pond or a big lake where you throw in a stone and see the ripples spread in every direction. And even when you can’t really see them, they’re still there in a subtle way, stretching out further and further.”
“The learning journey is endless.”
“If you know how to suffer, you suffer less.”
“If we take away the need for the outcome and are instead just present for people, then life can show up fully.”
“The Buddha said that the dharma is like fine-tuning an instrument for our path. If we are too intense, too rigid, too extreme, we won’t go the distance. The string might snap because there’s too much effort, there’s too much intensity. But if we’re too lazy, and are just daydreaming about what can be, then the string is loose and doesn’t play the the sound that’s needed.”
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Shining Light (Episode #63)
16 Feb· The Way Out Is In
Welcome to episode 63 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/journalist Jo Confino explore ‘shining light’. This deep-looking practice, established in the Plum Village community, allows monastics to share and receive feedback, so that they can learn and grow together, and better understand each other.
Fresh from a shining light session, Brother Phap Huu offers insights into the practice and its evolution over the years, while Jo brings insights from feedback systems in the lay communities. Their conversation touches upon radical transparency, power dynamics, generating joy and happiness in the sangha, the practice of gratitude, the importance of language in the process of growth, bringing this shining light into the everyday, and much more.
Enjoy!
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
‘Shining the Light’
https://www.parallax.org/mindfulnessbell/article/shining-the-light/
‘The Practice of Gratitude’
https://plumvillage.org/articles/the-practice-of-gratitude
Interbeing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbeing
Sutras: ‘Discourse on the Dharma Seal & the Three Doors of Liberation’
https://plumvillage.org/library/sutras/discourse-on-the-dharma-seal-the-three-doors-of-liberation
‘The Four Dharma Seals of Plum Village’
https://plumvillage.org/articles/the-four-dharma-seals-of-plum-village
Bhikkhu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhikkhu
Quotes
“Meditation on offering guidance. Lord Buddha and teachers over many generations, today we have a chance to practice offering guidance to our brothers, sisters, and friends. We know that in spirit, we are all part of one sangha, that our flesh and bones are also part of one sangha. Therefore, we are aware that offering guidance to another is offering guidance to ourselves. We vow to use all of our love and understanding in order to practice offering guidance. We promise that every word we speak will come from the good intention of wanting to have a correct view about the person to whom guidance is being offered. We vow not to let our anger, sadness, and prejudice wrongly influence our opinion. We promise that every word we speak will come from love, because offering guidance to one is also offering guidance to many. We are aware that this practice will offer benefits to each of us. Dear Buddha and ancestral teachers, please support us in our wholehearted effort to successfully offer guidance today.”
“The essence of this [practice] lies in real friendship or in real relationships. According to my understanding and experience of relationships, they require the time and space to acknowledge the flowers, as well as to support one another when we see a particular negative habit or tendency. This may be a viewpoint, or a recurring action. And if you don’t fix it, or if you don’t support the other person to change it, it will grow.”
“When you hear something as simple as, ‘When you smile, brother, you make the whole room smile’, that’s a wonderful quality [to be told that you have]. I received this [complement] when I was a young novice. And I’d never experienced that before: being acknowledged for a simple action that can help brighten the room. And that became one of the threads in the fabric of who I am, and I always remember that [complement] when I smile. So shining light can water the seed that helps the wonderful characteristics of a human being grow and develop.”
“Freedom is freedom from something.”
“My life is my message.”
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The Heart of Meditation – Part Two (Episode #62)
4 Jan· The Way Out Is In
Welcome to episode 62 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/journalist Jo Confino continue their discussion with Sister True Dedication (Sister Hien Nghiem) about the 16 exercises of mindful breathing which are at the heart of the teachings offered by Thich Nhat Hanh and the Plum Village community.
This episode, the second of a two-part special, explains and breaks down the practice of breathing exercises nine to 16. It includes the exercises’ traditional texts, revised versions, and variations and adaptations, with extensive explanations given by the two monastics about how to apply each to our daily lives. The first eight exercises are also briefly recapped, along with a description of the Three Doors of Liberation.
Also, where do the 16 exercises come from? How do we gladden the mind? What is true strength? What about authenticity? Why is it important to name the mental formations? What does liberation feel like? And how do we integrate the 16 exercises into a busy life? These and many other questions are answered in this installment of the podcast.

Enjoy.
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
Sister True Dedication
https://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/sister-hien-nghiem/
Songs: ‘The 16 Exercises of Mindful Breathing’
https://plumvillage.org/library/songs/the-16-exercises-of-mindful-breathing
Thay’s Poetry: ‘Please Call Me by My True Names (Song & Poem)’
https://plumvillage.org/articles/please-call-me-by-my-true-names-song-poem
Interbeing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbeing
Sister Jina
https://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/sr-dieu-nghiem
‘51 Mental Formations’
https://plumvillage.org/transcriptions/51-mental-formation
Dharma Talks: ‘The Noble Eightfold Path’
https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/the-noble-eightfold-path
The Way Out Is In: ‘The Three Doors of Liberation (Episode #18)’ https://plumvillage.org/podcast/the-three-doors-of-liberation-episode-18
The Art of Living
https://plumvillage.org/books/the-art-of-living
Chinese Buddhist canon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Buddhist_canon
Dharma Talks: ‘The Five Remembrances’
https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/the-five-remembrances-sr-thuan-nghiem-spring-retreat-2018-05-17
‘The Four Dharma Seals of Plum Village’
https://plumvillage.org/articles/the-four-dharma-seals-of-plum-village
Master Tang Hoi
https://plumvillage.org/books/master-tang-hoi

Nagarjuna
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagarjuna
Yogachara
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogachara
Quotes
“‘What is going on in my mind?’ This phrase is a mental formation. And, especially in our tradition of Buddhism, we love this term ‘formation’; it means that everything is made of everything, is composite. Even our happiness, our sorrow, or our depression is made of lots and lots of different elements. There are many threads to them, and that insight, simply the word ‘formation’, can help us to not be so scared or overwhelmed by our feelings. There’s an inquiry here, an investigation: ‘What is going on in my mind? What has come to be, what has formed in my mind at this moment?’”
“In terms of Buddhist psychology, because our mind has different layers and different depths, we can be carrying a feeling in it without knowing that we’re carrying it. And I would say my loneliness is a feeling. It’s partly in the body, but largely in the mind, because of the way my mind processes my daily life. So, unconsciously, I’m processing my daily life, and perhaps even without words, non-verbally, I’m experiencing all sorts of moments as lonely moments. So I’m feeding the seed of loneliness in myself, without even knowing it.”
“A lot of people feel power in their negative mental formations. If we’re angry or jealous, or whatever the feeling is, sometimes we feel that gives us power. And gladdening the mind at that point feels like disloyalty to our negative feelings. So it feels like a rebellious act to have a strong negative feeling and then to gladden one’s mind, or bring happiness at that moment when, actually, we often want to feel righteous; we want to believe that that negative feeling is who we are and is justified.”
“How we cultivate our mind shapes how we interact with the world. So if we have an evil thought, that evil thought can become our speech, can become our action. But if we have a kind thought, that would then become our kind action, our kind speech, our kind attitude.”
“Thanks to impermanence, everything is possible.”
“You are much more than your emotions. Never die because of one emotion.”
“We may feel completely stuck in the depths of the ocean of our despair and depression, but thanks to impermanence a day will come when that depression will no longer be there. That depression is surviving because it has sources of food. That depression is a mental formation. It is composed of different threads and by identifying the threads that are feeding it, one by one, we can dissolve it. We can find a way through.”
“The future is not known to us, because of impermanence. And that’s good news.”
“One of Thay’s simple teachings is to contemplate the friend or loved one that we are angry with. And in that moment of anger, ask yourself, ‘Where will they and I be 200 years from now?’ Apply this very simple lens of impermanence, this concentration of impermanence, even in the moment of great fury – because we’re often angry at the people that we love the most because we think, ‘How dare they be the ones that hurt us?’ And then Thay would say, ‘You realize right away that they will be dust. I will be dust. But in this moment, we’re both alive.’ And if we really touch the fruit of that insight, then all we want to do is hug that person and cherish the fact that, ‘Wow, in this moment we are both still alive in this human form. How wonderful that we can hug.’”
“Going through these exercises, if we found that we were sitting with a specific anger towards a specific person, applying the practice of impermanence can really help us to hold that anger. Throw it away, choose to free yourself from it, and just get on with your life. That’s a wonderful aspect of our teaching, and of Zen: to sometimes just cross to the other side of the road and keep going. We don’t need to penetrate every aspect of why we were angry or, ‘Does the other person need to do this or that?’ Choose a different channel and just proceed; let it go, leave it behind. Set yourself free. Don’t make too much fuss. Move on. Life is new in this moment. Celebrate it. Embrace it. Go forward.”
“A little bit of growth can seem like a good idea. But now it’s become this terrible systemic mechanism that’s destroying our planet. And that’s the absolute hook. So you have to reel back. But in these [16 breathing] exercises we’re starting with ourselves, our own bodies, and our own wrong perceptions about what we think we need to be happy.”
“Monastics of 15 or 20 years of meditation might spend 30 minutes only on those first four exercises. So, listen to yourself. And one reason it’s lovely to master these 16 exercises of mindful breathing is that we then have our own internal guided meditation to follow. Because when we listen to a recorded guided meditation, we’re following the pace of the person giving the guidance. The idea with these 16 is that they’re yours; they’re yours to keep and take to heart. They’re yours to play with, to experiment with, and to take as long as you need for each step, and to feel listened to and really respond to your own body and mind.”
“Gladdening our mind is exactly that: a declaration of freedom around the mental formation, around our feelings. It’s like, ‘I have the freedom to choose, here. My anger is a seed that has manifested as a formation in my mind consciousness. But I am more than that.’ So we trust in something, we have faith. We are claiming freedom by gladdening our mind, like, ‘I am angry and I have the right to take five breaths in peace and freedom because my anger isn’t all I am in this moment.’ So I think that’s a great affirmation and freedom. And it’s not bypassing, it’s not escaping.”
“The breath is the rope that brings our mind and our concentration back to the present.”
“Especially when we look at suffering, it can be very tempting to go down a dark hole and get lost in it. So sometimes we have to remember that we are alive right now; we’re present, breathing. And then, when you have this wonderful habit of knowing how to come back to the body and come back to the present, you can apply this in meetings, gatherings, and big crowds, or when you’re very lonely. So it becomes your friend; it’s a companion for life.”
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The Heart of Meditation – Part One (Episode #61)
28 Dec 2023· The Way Out Is In
Welcome to episode 61 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/journalist Jo Confino are again joined by frequent guest Sister True Dedication (Sister Hien Nghiem). Together, they discuss the sixteen exercises of mindful breathing which are at the heart of the teachings offered by Thich Nhat Hanh and the Plum Village community.

This episode, the first of a two-part special, explains and breaks down the practice of breathing exercises one to eight. It includes the exercises’ traditional texts, revised versions (plus the reasons for their revision), and variations and adaptations, with extensive explanations given by the two monastics about how to apply each one to our daily lives.
In addition, stories are shared about Thich Nhat Hanh practicing meditation, as well as the concrete steps taken and challenges faced over time by both Brother Phap Huu and Sister True Dedication.
And why is sitting meditation the hardest practice? Is it essential to meditate in order to be a good practitioner of mindfulness? How can one ease oneself into attention? What difference does paying attention to our breathing actually make? These and many other questions are answered in this installment of the podcast.

Enjoy.
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
Sister True Dedication
https://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/sister-hien-nghiem/
Songs: ‘The 16 Exercises of Mindful Breathing’
https://plumvillage.org/library/songs/the-16-exercises-of-mindful-breathing

Dharma Talks: ‘The Noble Eightfold Path’
https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/the-noble-eightfold-path
The Five Contemplations Before Eating
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjyQVYqr6-U
Interbeing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbeing
Breathe, You Are Alive!
https://plumvillage.org/books/breathe-you-are-alive
Mahayana
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahayana
Jo-ann Rosen
https://www.parallax.org/authors/jo-ann-rosen/
Sister Jina
https://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/sr-dieu-nghiem
Dharma Talk: ‘Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing’
https://www.parallax.org/mindfulnessbell/article/dharma-talk-sutra-on-the-full-awareness-of-breathing-2/
Quotes
“From a more Western background, there’s a goal we need to meet and then we’re done. And I think that has also been applied to meditation, mindfulness, or spirituality: we think that there is one aim and if we practice for this long, then we will feel successful and accomplished, and then we’re finished. But Thay didn’t stop practicing, even after being named a Zen Master. The Buddha himself never stopped practicing, even after his enlightenment. So we have to change our view of meditation, to see and understand it as a path of practice. And each step, each breath is a journey, is a continuation. And we will grow in our own understanding of the breath.”
“Our practice is also learning to befriend the breath, and seeing that the breath is our spiritual foundation, our spiritual home. And it’s mobile, because wherever we go, that breath is with us.”
“Meditation in the sitting position offers a combination of stillness, alertness, and deep calm, and then deep looking can arise from that stopping and that stillness. And so, each of us may have to be quite creative to find the moment when we can have real stillness.”
“Meditation is not a fixed point in time or a fixed place; it’s a way to see the world.”
“In our deepest tradition, we learn there’s nothing to attain. There are fruits that may ripen, which we will get to in the later steps of these 16 exercises of mindful breathing, but ultimately there is no goal.”
“It was very important to Thay to bring meditation out of the meditation hall and to integrate it into our daily life; for it to be accessible to everyone. So there is a doorway, a pathway to touch peace and stillness in our day. We don’t need to be in a temple; we don’t need to be in a formal setting in front of an altar. But, even at home, that stillness, peace, and presence is available to us. And the doorway which allows each of us to reach it is the breathing and the simplicity around that moment. And that’s where we really have this direct authenticity of Zen, which is there in the present moment, whatever it contains.”
“There is no such thing as sitting for peace. We will sit in peace.”
“Sitting meditation is a cultivation of true presence; a practice of learning to be there for yourself.”
“In the sutra on the full awareness of breathing, the Buddha shows us how to transform our fear, despair, anger, and craving. I was so happy the day I discovered this sutra. I thought I had discovered the greatest treasure in the world. Before, I’d been content to simply gain knowledge, but I didn’t know how to enjoy the present moment, how to look deeply into my life, and how to enjoy the positive conditions that were all around me. This sutra is so basic and so wonderful. There are many great sutras, but approaching them without this one is like trying to reach the top of a mountain without a path to follow.”
“By being with our breathing and our breath, we’re opening up doors of experience that are not normally available to us in our daily life, especially in the West, where the particular paradigm we live in excludes other modes of perception and ways of being in an embodied, interrelated way in the world. And so, by establishing ourselves in the body – by opening up the door of our body, by opening up the door of our senses – we start to experience the embodied mind.”
“With this practice of mindful breathing, we’re establishing a real quality of presence and perception around ways of being in touch with ourselves in the present moment.”
“To be a little bit more flexible and allow myself space to grow in the meditation is also very important, in the body as well as in the breath.”
“One of the challenges with meditation is that our own ideas about it get in the way of doing it successfully, of having a fruitful time. We’re so convinced that there’s something to do, but that we’re doing it wrong, that we don’t allow ourselves to be as we are. And it’s simply the quality of our presence that is the meditation that is embracing, allowing us to be in the present moment in a deeply attentive, curious way.”
“It is a daily practice to live in such a way that we are awake to the joys in life. And it’s a training to actively identify them, and to balance that against our society telling us that we don’t have enough: ‘You can only be happy when you have this, when you have that, when you’ve done this or realized that.’ And so this is using our breathing, quietness, and stillness to cultivate, to activate, and to generate a feeling of joy as we’re sitting on the cushion, and then a feeling of happiness that has a little more peace in it.”
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32 Words to Create Harmonious Relationships (Episode #60)
14 Dec 2023· The Way Out Is In
Welcome to episode 60 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 and journalist Jo Confino share 32 words from Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh that can make your relationships deal with suffering and create happiness. The Four Mantras, Thay’s beloved teachings, are intended to help create healthy relationships by allowing conversations and enabling people to be truly present for each other.
The discussion touches upon generating presence; setting up intentional practices; being a refuge for people; building two-way communication; calligraphy as a way ‘to change the energy’; and so much more.
Brother Phap Huu shares the origins of mantras and helps introduce each mantra with practical tips, real stories from his life and from the monastic community, as well as unheard (yet!) insights from Thay’s practice and creation of the mantras. And can you guess which is Thay’s favorite mantra?
Jo brings his lay perspective on the mantras and their application in life. A couple of new mantras are discussed, too, but you’d better dive in for some pure essence of Buddhist wisdom.
The episode ends with a mindful recap of the mantras discussed.
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
Rains Retreat
https://plumvillage.org/retreats/info/rains-retreat-2023
Historical Vedic religion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_Vedic_religion
Vedas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedas
Mahayana
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahayana
New Heart Sutra translation by Thich Nhat Hanh https://plumvillage.org/about/thich-nhat-hanh/letters/thich-nhat-hanh-new-heart-sutra-translation
Interbeing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbeing
Sister Chan Khong
https://plumvillage.org/about/sister-chan-khong
Dharma Talk: ‘The Six Mantras’
https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/the-six-mantras-2
‘Plum Village Mantras and How to Be the Sum of Your Acts’
https://tnhaudio.org/2012/07/30/plum-village-mantras-and-how-to-be-the-sum-of-your-acts/
‘The Four Dharma Seals of Plum Village’
https://plumvillage.org/articles/the-four-dharma-seals-of-plum-village

Dharma Talks: ‘True Love and the Four Noble Truths’
https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/true-love-and-the-four-noble-truths
Quotes
“Thay created these mantras, which are very practical; it sounds very simple, but if done with right mindfulness, it has such impact. The first mantra is the essence of the practice of mindfulness. When we practice mindfulness, it is to generate the energy of awareness, so that we can offer ourselves a presence and know what is going on inside of us and around us. And with that mindfulness, we are in control. We have the agency of the present moment.”
“When we’re close to someone, we take each other for granted. We stop noticing the little things. We stop noticing that what someone is doing is generous. That what someone’s doing is making them happy. We just stop noticing.”
“The first Dharma seal of Plum Village is, ‘I have arrived, I am home.’ What does it mean to arrive and be home? It is to say, ‘I am safe here. I can show up as myself and I know that I will be held.’”
“We forget how precious things are right in front of us, and we forget to be present for the ones we truly love. So the first mantra is, ‘I am here for you.’ It is as simple as that. But in the word ‘present’, when we want to give somebody a present, our natural tendency is to think about buying something, to consume in order to offer something that we feel will make them feel loved. And what we’ve learned in true love is that to be loved is to be seen. To be loved is to be recognized, is to be heard.”
“The real practice of true love, first and foremost, is learning to be there for one another.’”
“The way Thay poured tea, he was the freest person ever. So, in true presence, you are free because you’re not being distracted, you’re not being carried away, and you are just there for the person you love. And in our modern time, this is probably the most advanced training because we are so distracted, there is so much noise, there is so much information. And the seed of fear, anxiety, worries – even worrying for the goodness of life – can make us lose ourselves in the present moment.”
“The practice of mindfulness is to always shine that light [that says] that you’re not alone and that there is love around you. But if we do close our hearts, we will not be able to tap into the love and the support that is around us.”
“One time, walking with Thay, he stopped. It was in the evening. And Thay saw the full moon. And we took a very long pause and we just admired the moon. And in that admiration of the moon that is present is the practice, ‘I know you are there and I am very happy.’”
“Love is understanding. Because that is true love, being there for our suffering. Because we all suffer, we have multiple sufferings. And if we’re truly there for our suffering and each other’s suffering, how can that not be love?”
“When we have the insight of interbeing, if a person is going through a hard time, there is no way that we cannot be in touch with their suffering, because we are interconnected through a relationship. And so the practice is to have courage. It is to show up for those who suffer and say, ‘I know you suffer and I’m here for you.’ And ‘I’m here for you’ doesn’t mean I have the answer. ‘I’m here for you’ doesn’t mean I’m going to save you, or that I have the solution. It’s just, ‘I want you to know that I see you. I want you to know that I want to acknowledge what you are going through.’ By showing up with this openness, if we do it with real presence and a true openness, without expectations and without creating the story of what will happen when I say that, but just showing up and sharing this, we may be able to allow that person to have the courage to also accept what they are going through.”
“Do you want to be happy or do you want to be right?”
“I am here for you.”
“I know you are there, and I am very happy.”
“I know you suffer. Therefore I am here for you.”
“I suffer. Please, help.”
“This is a Happy Moment.”
“In true love there is freedom.”
“You are partially right.”
“I love you to not consume you. I love you to show you that you are enough.”
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Transforming Generational Suffering and Hatred (Episode #59)
20 Nov 2023· The Way Out Is In
Welcome to episode 59 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 and journalist Jo Confino discuss conflicts in our world. They focus on the war in the Middle East, through the prism of Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings, which remain so relevant in the current moment.
Exploring Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings in relation to conflict, pain, and the path to peace, the presenters investigate ways to not take sides during a conflict, and how Thay managed this during the Vietnam War; deep listening, holding space, and transforming the conflict in us; keeping communities together; cultivating nondiscrimination; walking the path of love and understanding in times of war; and gratitude.
Brother Phap Huu further shares around Thay’s legacy of dealing with conflict and the joint retreats he organized for Palestinians and Israelis in Plum Village; ways to show love for humanity; right action and enabling healing in the present moment; the importance of small acts of kindness; our own true presence of peace and nondiscrimination.
Jo also opens up about what it feels like to go through a “period of deconstruction”; being the child of refugees and the deep connection this can create to generational trauma; dealing with the tensions created in organizations by global conflicts; and fear, and how to not be consumed by despair, but, instead, how to feel it in order to transform it.
The episode ends with offerings of gratitude and a short meditation guided by Brother Phap Huu.
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
A Cloud Never Dies
https://plumvillage.org/a-cloud-never-dies
Interbeing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbeing
Peace Begins Here
https://www.parallax.org/product/peace-begins-here/
Calming the Fearful Mind
https://www.parallax.org/product/calming-the-fearful-mind-a-zen-response-to-terrorism/
Love in Action
https://www.parallax.org/product/love-in-action/
Peace Is Every Step
https://www.parallax.org/product/peace-is-every-step/
The Way Out Is In: ‘War and Peace (Episode #24)’
https://plumvillage.org/podcast/war-and-peace-episode-24
Dharma Talks: ‘Right View: Understanding the Roots of Our True Happiness’
https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/right-view-understanding-the-roots-of-our-true-happiness
Rains Retreat
https://plumvillage.org/retreats/info/rains-retreat-2023
Quotes
“Thay went through the Vietnam War, or as it is known in Vietnam, the American War, and was constantly under pressure to take sides. And he refused to take sides and advocated for peace, knowing that violence does not end violence, that war does not end war, that killing does not end killing, and that all it creates is generational trauma.”
“Thay’s foundation of action was peace, and his foundation of action came from true love and deep mindfulness. To be aware of the suffering, to listen to the suffering, and to look deeply at the suffering will be the way out of the suffering.”
“What you can offer is your true presence of peace, your true presence of nondiscrimination, and your true presence of courage to show up where it is needed.”
“Thay did not take sides; he took nonviolence as the path and peace as the path. So the voice that we speak, that we use, the actions of body, speech, and mind, is to generate and cultivate peace inside, to bring peace around us.”
“Thay always spoke about cultivating inner peace in order to touch true love inside, because love reminds us of our human nature, of our humanity. If there is love in us, there is love in others. If there is suffering in us, there is suffering in others. So these practices are to go deeper, to see the interbeing nature of all that is happening in the here and now.”
“When somebody kills somebody, they are also killing themself. They’re killing a part of humanity.”
“Thay said, ‘If you ask me what we want in Vietnam, we want the bombing to stop. We want the fighting to stop, the killing to stop, because only when we get it to stop can we start to listen deeply, to listen to the suffering that is happening and not be carried away by views and ideology that are probably not even true, that are probably based on greed and fear.’”
“We have learned that the quality of our actions really matter. If we want a world of care, then love and compassion has to be the fabric of every moment. What we do every day is of cosmic importance.”
“We need to make room for more than one truth.”
“Stop the killing. Stop the bombing. Cease fire. I think that these are the main messages and calls for action that I am seeing across the world right now in protests. And this happened also during the Vietnam War. And this is also a way of showing love for humanity. And I feel that if we are taking actions to stop the killing, to stop the bombing, to cease fire, that is the course of right action. Like Thay said, ‘As a monk, I am not to go down the path of being a politician. But where there is suffering, I need to shine my light.’”
“Sometimes, it’s powerful just to breathe together and acknowledge we’re all going through something.”
“If we are to walk the path of peace, the peace has to be cultivated inside. So the way we show up has to be the peace.”
“Anger is not a bad thing. Anger is a bell of mindfulness, a feeling that we experience. But we need to invite peace to hold and embrace anger. Because if we walk with anger, that can lead to destruction. But anger is like a bell of mindfulness that tells us that this is not right, this is injustice. But we also have many other emotions and feelings that are more wholesome, which lead down the path of peace. So we have to invite those energies up to accompany anger and not let it be alone. And so the walk is also peace itself.”
“I remember Thay saying that he would walk so slowly that he created traffic jams in the march, but he was so committed to that because that was his voice. This is what peace is. It’s to be the peace, the transformation inside.”
“I have a lot of gratitude, because it’s the most important thing in times of pain or suffering or despair to have a light to see in that darkness.”
“Not all the darkness in the world can put out the light of a single candle.”
“People don’t dare to listen. That is the problem. They don’t have the capacity and the courage to transform their own suffering, to truly look at the discrimination that is present inside of them. And that’s why meditation is so scary, for some, because you are learning to look at yourself and to really accept yourself. Acceptance is the first path of transformation. Once you accept that, there’s transformation already in action.”
“There is a transmission through actions of kindness, of love and care, that we may not see the fruit of right away. And the fruit of it, for Thay, which he transmitted to us, was that every action counts and not to feel powerless. But every action that we can generate to offer to our loved ones, our community, our nation, the world, starts with each breath, each smile, each loving thought, each prayer, understanding, courage to hold, courage to speak, courage to shine the light. Where there is ignorance, you have to shine the light.”
“Once the deep listening and loving speech happens on both sides, the heart starts to connect and the heart starts to open. Once the heart starts to open, once the heart connects, we have a bridge of communication. And therefore reconciliation is already happening, just by listening.”
“What can I do? What I have to do in my current state is to transform the seed of discrimination in me, to transform the fear and the violence inside of me. That is my responsibility.”
“Even if you only have five minutes, that five minutes is for you to cultivate peace so that it contributes to the peace of the world. And if you live for ten years, it is your responsibility to cultivate peace for those ten years so that it starts to transmit that culture into our way of being. And however many years you have, that is your responsibility. That is your practice: transforming war, the wars that have not yet broken out.”
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Healing Body and Mind (Episode #58)
28 Sep 2023· The Way Out Is In
Welcome to episode 58 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 and journalist Jo Confino talk about healing the body. Brother Phap Huu is back in Plum Village, five weeks after undergoing surgery on one of his knees, ready to discuss dealing with ill health after 21 years as a practitioner of mindfulness. How can we accept what is going on in our bodies but also heal and be present?
The conversation touches upon many relevant topics, such as deep endurance of pain and suffering; being mindful of your body and coming home to it; recognizing ‘the fear’; Thich Nhat Hanh’s journey of being in hospital and dealing with health issues (as recalled by his attendants); accepting the present moment; learning to be teachers; impermanence; and more.
Thank you for listening. Enjoy!
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
Gatha Poems
https://plumvillage.org/mindfulness/extended-practises
‘How to Dwell Happily in the Present Moment’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjfGvC-55GQ
Stepping Into Freedom
https://plumvillage.org/books/stepping-into-freedom
‘The Five Earth Touchings’
https://plumvillage.org/key-practice-texts/the-five-earth-touchings

Sister True Dedication
https://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/sister-hien-nghiem
Brother Phap Linh
https://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/brother-phap-linh
Neural pathway
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neural_pathway
‘The Four Dharma Seals of Plum Village’ https://plumvillage.org/articles/the-four-dharma-seals-of-plum-village
Quotes
“In Buddhism, dying is not just the moment when we breathe our last breath. Because dying – the ‘no birth, no death’ – is the insight that there’s always birth and there’s always death in every moment. And that’s why we are ever changing and recognizing that we have to learn to let go of everything we hold dear – even our health. Our true belongings are our actions of body, speech, and mind.”
“It’s the cultivation of the practice that allows you – in this difficult time [ill health], when there’s so much energy in the opposite direction – to pull back and rest in that place.”
“The only moment we have in life is the present moment. The past will become a memory, will become lessons, will become a legacy. And the future is not yet here. So all we have is the present moment.”
“The present moment always teaches us to accept, let go, and embrace and dance with what we have.”
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Mindful Activism: From Anxiety to Agency (Episode #57)
14 Sep 2023· The Way Out Is In
Welcome to episode 57 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 and journalist Jo Confino are joined by Clover Hogan, climate activist and founder of the Force of Nature NGO. Together, they discuss activism in times of emerging polycrisis, dealing with growing anxiety, empowering young activists, and turning despair into fuel for change in the climate movement (and beyond) – at both collective and individual levels.
Clover Hogan is a 24-year-old climate activist, researcher on eco-anxiety, and the founding Executive Director of Force of Nature – a youth non-profit mobilizing mindsets for climate action. She has worked alongside the world’s leading authorities on sustainability, consulted in the boardrooms of Fortune 50 companies, and helped students in more than 50 countries take action. Clover has taken the stage alongside global change-makers such as Jane Goodall and Vandana Shiva, and interviewed the 14th Dalai Lama, while her TED Talk has been viewed almost two million times.
In addition, Clover shares about her first retreats in Plum Village (and why it is her favorite place on Earth) and how Thay’s teachings have impacted her activism; the pressure, as a teen activist, “to be optimistic and determined”; stepping out of her “bubble of climate privilege”; avenues to creating a regenerative organizational culture; the collective consciousness of the youth movement; lessons learnt from running Force of Nature; fear, disillusionment, and despair in the climate movement; working with intentionality; old practices for new activism; why a spiritual practice is essential; and much more.
Brother Phap Huu and Jo contribute leadership guidance from different perspectives; relevant stories from Thich Nhat Hanh’s own activism; teachings from Buddhism and Engaged Buddhism; advice about accessing the wisdom already inside us all; and mindful ways and practical tools for engaging with ‘the other side’ and showing up in a world in crisis – as an activist, but also in other roles.

The episode ends with a guided meditation from the Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet online course produced by the Plum Village community.
Thank you for listening. Enjoy!
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
Clover Hogan
https://www.cloverhogan.com/
The Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet online course
https://plumvillage.org/courses/zen-and-the-art-of-saving-the-planet
Lazy days
https://plumvillage.org/library/clips/the-art-of-being
Polycrisis
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/polycrisis
Dharma Talks: ‘True Love and the Four Noble Truths’
https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/true-love-and-the-four-noble-truths
Retreats Calendar
https://plumvillage.org/retreats/retreats-calendar#filter=.region-eu
Christiana Figueres
http://christianafigueres.com/#/
The Organic Happy Farms
https://plumvillage.org/community/happy-farm
‘51 Mental Formations’
https://plumvillage.org/transcriptions/51-mental-formation
COP26
https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/cop26
Limited liability companies (LLCs)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_liability_company
The Stonewall uprising
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_riots
The civil rights movement
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_rights_movement
Hollyhock
https://hollyhock.ca/
Dharma Talks: ‘Taking Refuge in the Three Jewels’ https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/taking-refuge-in-the-three-jewels-sr-chan-duc-spring-retreat-2018-05-20
‘The Pebble Meditation’
https://plumvillage.org/articles/news/the-pebble-meditation
Quotes
“Plum Village is what I want the world to look like. [Experiencing] that was really profound, because I hadn’t found that in a place or in a community. It felt like a distant utopian vision and, frankly, trying to reintegrate back into the world was quite difficult. The place itself is a lesson in what the world can look like and how we can show up for one another.”
“One of my favorite things about Plum Village is the deep ecology that supports the practice, and the feeling of interbeing and being interconnected with the abundance of life all around you. I never thought about the fact that, yes, the water in my cup of tea was once a cloud. It’s a very humbling thought.”
“Our practice in Plum Village is learning to reconnect to this simple action: we’re all creating a body, speech, and mind, and seeing its deep impact in the past, present, and future. And this is Engaged Buddhism.”
“All the wisdom is inside people. It’s not like Plum Village is here to give you wisdom. Plum Village is here to open up and share the wisdom it knows so that it can resonate like a tuning fork to one’s own wisdom; it’s only when we’re quiet that we can listen to the quiet voice of our wisdom.”
“In that pit of grief, I realized that I couldn’t perform these mental gymnastics of ‘Everything’s fine’, ‘We’re going to fix this’, ‘We’re going to save the world’, that kind of savior complex. We can’t change everything. And I realized that the only way that I could actually travel through those feelings and not be swallowed by them whole was to talk about them. So I started talking about this terror about the future. And other young people, in particular, started coming forward and saying, ‘Yeah, we’re feeling the same thing. We’re terrified, and we also feel powerless and we feel a lot of despair in response to this widespread denial.’ [Whereas,] people in positions of power, who have every resource and privilege at their disposal to take action in a big way, continue to greenwash and spend money on being seen to do the right thing rather than actually doing it. That has fueled a lot of despair and disillusionment in my generation.”
“A lot of young people feel really hopeless and, at the same time, a lot of people in positions of power are clinging on to this old system, this old way of being, which has created the climate crisis, which continues to perpetuate the climate crisis. This story of separation, this global economic system of extracting from nature, commodifying nature, exploiting people. They’re refusing, even as the climate crisis unfolds around us, to really wake up to it, and, critically, to hold space for the really heavy emotions that come with the realization of what we’ve done and the communities and people that we’ve chosen to sacrifice through our inaction.”
“Spiritual practice is not a nice-to-have, it’s essential. We can’t do this work without that foundation.”
“The Buddha said, ‘My teachings are not to be followed blindly. You have to come and taste it for yourself. You have to come and experience it for yourself.’”
“Love is a verb, right? So we have to learn to generate that love: a seed that we all have, the beginner’s mind, the mind of love.”
“As a monk and as leaders and as parents, as friends, sometimes our teacher says all we have to do is touch the seed of wisdom in others. Allow them to touch the love that already exists in them: the ability to be kind, the skillfulness that they can cultivate inside. And sometimes it’s not by words, it’s by action, by how we show up, by how we are present for others. Because that’s also education, that’s also transmission.”
“We think that by not saying anything, we’re not transmitting, but just by listening, you’re also transmitting space for the other person to see and hear themselves. And so, the power of presence is very real, and is not something that we have to wait 20 or 30 years to have; the wisdom of just one breath can be the thread to bring the mind home to the body, so that you can truly be there for yourself and for the ones around you. And by being present, you can offer so much space.”
“In the wake of [spending time in] Plum Village and trying to maintain the practices as much as possible, I am working with a lot more intentionality. I’m not saying yes to things from a place of scarcity or obligation; I’m saying yes to things where I genuinely feel I can contribute in a meaningful way.”
“We sometimes work with nine- and 10-year-olds who can very eloquently tell you why capitalism is a broken system. They can explain neoliberalism to you. They can explain why an LLC [limited liability company] shareholder model is not fit for purpose within business. These young people are so switched on, and, because they haven’t been around long enough to be indoctrinated into a lot of these systems, have the capacity to stand outside of them and to ask the question, ‘Why?’ Why do we have a globalized food system that is so disconnected, that exploits people? Why is it, when I go to the supermarket, everything is wrapped in plastic? Why is it that there are people experiencing homelessness in my street when there are entire apartment blocks going empty for investors? Why is it that we’ve failed to solve the climate crisis?”
“Asking ‘Why?’, and then following that up with ‘What if?’ – like, ‘What if we did things differently?’ Young people have that disruptive energy. And that’s why they have been the beating heart of every social justice and environmental movement, whether it’s the civil rights movement or the suffragettes or the Stonewall uprising. And so, helping young people to tend to that passion and realize what a super power it is, that’s how I can best show up.”
“Buddhism talks a lot about transforming suffering, and people think we only think about suffering. But that is a wrong perception. The balance and the nutriment that helps us is that we cultivate joy and happiness in our community. And this is real. And only by joy and happiness can we have enough well-being to take care of the loads of suffering.”
“To say ‘no’ can be a mantra. But ‘no’ with intention, not of ignoring and avoiding; ‘no’ when we know our limits, when we know, ‘If I do more, I’m just going to be angry and frustrated.’”
“When suffering is there, the other energy that we need to bring is light, love, and joy.”
“Instead of trying to run away from those emotions, or allowing them to ferment into despair, how do we turn them into the fuel that motivates us? How do we think about those emotions as the compass that tells us where we should be focusing our energy?”
“Being human isn’t some pursuit of just experiencing happiness, just experiencing joy. Your capacity to experience joy is a reflection of your capacity to experience suffering. And rather than trying to run away from those emotions, it’s about removing judgment from them.”
“How you are inside is what you create outside.”
“You can’t swim in the same river as the same person, because we’re always changing.”
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Caring for Children, Caring for the Child Inside (Episode #56)
24 Aug 2023· The Way Out Is In
Welcome to episode 56 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 and journalist Jo Confino talk about the annual family retreats at Plum Village (the one time when families visit with their children): how they came about, and how the dharma can touch the lives of children and teenagers. The presenters share their unique experiences of these retreats, and stories of transformation involving parents and children, including ones featuring Thich Nhat Hanh and his deep teachings and special understanding of the youngest practitioners.

Going deeper, the conversation delves into ways to remain compassionate and continue to listen deeply when dealing with a child; collective energy and co-creating an environment for children; the insight of nondiscrimination; the art of slowing down and being present for your children; authority and separation; the fourteen mindfulness trainings; and more.
Plus, why do people bring their families to a Zen monastery in the south of France? Are mindful practitioners better parents?

Brother Phap Huu further shares how the retreats are run, some popular mindfulness practices, and how monastics work with different age groups. Jo talks about generational pain and the importance of deepening our relationship with our children, at any age.

The episode ends with ‘Practicing with the Five-Year-old in Me and in My Parents’, a recording of a meditation guided by Thich Nhat Hanh.
Thank you for listening. Enjoy!
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
Old Path White Clouds
https://www.parallax.org/product/old-path-white-clouds-walking-in-the-footsteps-of-the-buddha/
The Organic Happy Farm
https://plumvillage.org/community/happy-farm
‘The Pebble Meditation’
https://plumvillage.org/articles/news/the-pebble-meditation
Looking Deeply: ‘Healing the Inner Child’
https://plumvillage.org/articles/healing-the-inner-child
‘The Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings’
https://plumvillage.org/mindfulness/the-14-mindfulness-trainings
The Bodhisattva vow
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhisattva_vow
Mahāyāna
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahayana

‘Practicing with the Five-Year-Old Child in Me and in My Parents’
https://web.plumvillage.app/item/vToqvVSlq6hvFCjp3QUy
‘Practicing with the Child in Me (Guided Meditation)’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG8OmTzmNW8
The Way Out Is In: ‘Healing Our Inner Child: Pathways to Embrace Our Suffering (Episode #10)’
https://plumvillage.org/podcast/healing-our-inner-child-pathways-to-embrace-our-suffering
Quotes
“Now that I reflect on my childhood, what were the gems in my upbringing? One that stands out very clearly is when my parents were in Plum Village, because somehow Plum Village energy and the creation of the space was developed together; everybody co-created the retreat and you got to be yourself. We weren’t competing to see who was more mindful, or who was going to become the Buddha first. Then everybody slowly un-layered all of the masks they were wearing, as well as starting to embrace and accept themselves. And that presence has a very deep impact on a child.”
“It does take a community to help a child grow.”
“When the Buddha became enlightened, the first thing he did was to create a community. And I would even say that the Buddha’s journey goes all the way back to the support of children.”
“Every action that Thay produced through body, speech, and mind was a transmission.”
“The baby may not understand the words, but they absorb the collective energy.”
“Be mindful of your thoughts. Be mindful of your speech. Be mindful of your presence, because it gives off an invisible transmission, just like radio signals that one can receive.”
“What is the meaning of life? It is to be present enough that we can love, that we can see our interconnectedness with all those around us. Your parents, your brother, your sister: even though, sometimes, they make you angry, deep down inside, you do love them. And maybe our whole life journey is not to learn about that, but to live the message of love.”
“Moments of care, moments for being with others, are also time for oneself. And when you shift that narrative, your energy changes; suddenly, your love becomes boundless. You are channeling and practicing non-self and you’re also practicing selflessness. And that is one of the deepest wisdoms of Buddhism.”
“I’m holding this pebble, and if it represents a good deed and I throw it in the pond, where I know it will create ripples, then it seems that my good deeds will have a similar impact. So it is important to cultivate good deeds.”
“Children are a wonderful bell of mindfulness, because they press all of our buttons. Because they often break the rules in a way that adults don’t with each other. They sometimes speak truths that are uncomfortable and that we don’t want to hear.”
“Unless something is healed, it gets passed on, because the next child will witness that pain and soak it up. They either think it’s normal behavior, or they try to swallow it to take it away from their parents, because they want their parents to be happy. That’s their key wish: for their parents to be happy, not for themselves to be happy. When people recognize that their own healing also heals the past, that’s a great motivator; they’re actually healing the wound that was felt in their parents, their grandparents, or their great-grandparents. And then they’re changing the future, especially for their own children.”
“The heart of mindfulness is being in the present moment.”
“We heal the past in the present moment.”
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Spiritual Journey: No Quick Fixes (Episode #55)
3 Aug 2023· The Way Out Is In
Welcome to episode 55 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 and journalist Jo Confino discuss spiritual journeys, why they take a lifetime, and why there are no quick fixes on the spiritual path. But how does this fit into busy lives and the instant answers and results we have become accustomed to? They also touch upon the difficulties of maintaining the practice, the reason there are no certifications for mindfulness, and why a retreat is not enough. And what type of happiness do you most want to generate in this life?
Brother Phap Huu shares insights from both Buddhist teachings and recent Plum Village retreats where he interacted with families and teenagers – beginners on the spiritual path – and suggests essential practical steps for integrating the practice of mindfulness into busy schedules.

The episode ends with a short meditation guided by Brother Phap Huu.
Thank you for listening.

Enjoy!
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
The Way Out Is In: ‘Engaged Buddhism: Applying the Teachings in Our Present Moment (Episode #9)’
https://plumvillage.org/podcast/engaged-buddhism-applying-the-teachings-in-our-present-moment
The Way Out Is In: ‘Regeneration and Musical Inspiration: The North American Tour (Episode #53)’
https://plumvillage.org/podcast/regeneration-and-musical-inspiration-the-north-american-tour-episode-53
‘The Four Dharma Seals of Plum Village’
https://plumvillage.org/articles/the-four-dharma-seals-of-plum-village
‘The Pebble Meditation’
https://plumvillage.org/articles/news/the-pebble-meditation
Hollyhock
https://hollyhock.ca/
The Bodhisattva vow
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhisattva_vow
Quotes
“If Buddhism is not engaged, it is not Buddhism.”
“Mindfulness is always mindfulness, first of all, of suffering. That’s why we practice. Because, to understand life, there always has to be an object for us to reflect on.”

“Thay always says that walking meditation is not about arriving at a destination, but to arrive in the ultimate, which is the freedom of the now.”
“Suffering, as a noble truth, teaches us the values of life and allows us to know what peace is. If you only live in peace, you don’t have gratitude for the wonderful conditions that you have. But if we meet suffering, it reminds us of the life that we’ve experienced and the life that we want to create together.”
“When you look at the great arc of history, the idea of a quick fix falls apart very quickly. It seems ridiculous. A quick fix to what? To the millions of years of lives that have come before, which are in us?”
“The Buddha said happiness and suffering are two truths that always go together. As long as there’s that thick mud, there can be some flowers there.”
“What is the world made out of? Each and every one of us. What is the collective consciousness made out of? Each and every one of us. What is the collective habit made out of? Each and every one of us.”
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Space, Time, and The Ultimate Dimension (Episode #54)
1 Jul 2023· The Way Out Is In
Welcome to episode 54 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.
This week, we bring you a very special joint episode of The Way Out Is In and fellow podcast Outrage + Optimism, which explores the stories behind climate change headlines. From the peace and tranquility of the International Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism, Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and leadership coach and journalist Jo Confino speak with Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac.
Christiana Figueres, a student of Thich Nhat Hanh, was one of the architects of the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, and is a valued member of the Plum Village Sangha. Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from 2010 to 2016, she is also the co-founder of Global Optimism, co-host of Outrage + Optimism, and co-author of the bestselling The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis.
Tom Rivett-Carnac is a political strategist, author, and podcaster who has spent more than 20 years working to address the climate and ecological crises. He is also a Founding Partner of Global Optimism, co-host of the podcast Outrage + Optimism, and co-author of The Future We Choose.
Listeners of both podcasts are invited to join an intimate and deep conversation which covers the spiritual elements missing from the climate movement; moving beyond linear timelines into exponential transformation; how to develop the power within ourselves to drive change; non-attachment to views; listening without judgment; what happens when we all stop; and much more. Plus, what is spiritual power and how can it support us?
So bring your tea to the table and let the radical collaboration begin.
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

Christiana Figueres
http://christianafigueres.com/#/
Tom Rivett-Carnac
https://www.globaloptimism.com/tom-rivett-carnac

The Art of Power
https://www.parallax.org/product/art-of-power/
Brother Phap Linh (Brother Spirit)
https://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/brother-phap-linh
The Four Dharma Seals of Plum Village
https://plumvillage.org/articles/the-four-dharma-seals-of-plum-village
The B Team
https://bteam.org/
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
https://unfccc.int/

Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet
https://www.harpercollins.com/products/zen-and-the-art-of-saving-the-planet-thich-nhat-hanh
Music for Difficult Times: Awakening the Heart of Compassion by Brother Phap Linh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YarhXTDs8Z4
The Way Out Is In: ‘Being the Change We Want to See in the World: A Conversation with Christiana Figueres (Episode #21)’
https://plumvillage.org/podcast/being-the-change-we-want-to-see-in-the-world-a-conversation-with-christiana-figueres-episode-21
The Way Out Is In: ‘Benefitting from a Spiritual Practice: In Conversation with Tom Rivett-Carnac (Episode #37)’
https://plumvillage.org/podcast/benefitting-from-a-spiritual-practice-in-conversation-with-tom-rivett-carnac-episode-37
The Way Out Is In: ‘Bringing the Ultimate Dimension Down to Earth (Episode #40)’
https://plumvillage.org/podcast/bringing-the-ultimate-dimension-down-to-earth-episode-40
Aeschylus
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aeschylus
Quotes
“Recognizing our own presence is already a power.”
“The linearity of time is something that those of us who work on climate change live with on a daily basis. We have an alarm clock that is with us all the time because we have very clear timelines. We know that by 2100, we absolutely must have guaranteed that we do not go over 1.5 degrees [Celsius]. We know that in order to get there, we have to be at net zero by 2050. We know that in order to get to net zero by 2050, we have to be at one half of global emissions by 2030. And we know that to be at half emissions by 2030, we have to reduce yearly by 7%. So we take time and we pull it into our current experience and we derive mathematically, we derive then the implications of time upon our work. And so it is not surprising that those of us who work on climate change have a huge anxiety about time.”
“Time and space, we have to be attentive and mindful of them, but we can also be free from them, because this present moment that we’re living deeply is the seed that we need to plant for the future.”
“Some of our transformation and actions of today, we may not see them until two, three, or five generations later – but nothing is lost. And that is the insight. And I believe it’s the truth of karma. The word karma, for us, is not what you hear in music: ‘What comes around, goes around,’ ‘Do better’… Yes, do better, but karma is much more profound than that. The actions of today, we don’t see them. Some of it, we will experience right away; we experience the transformation right away. But there are deeper transformations that need time for ripening.”
“Love has no frontier, it goes on forever.”
“There’s no way to find common ground without respecting and understanding the differences, because then you don’t see what’s common.”
“You can be a different person in how you show up.”
“When you are able to live in the present moment, the right action emerges out of that space, out of that ultimate dimension that you are able to inhabit. If you can stay there and can trust that the best way to prepare for the future is to be in the present moment when it comes – rather than spend all of your time in your head trying to plan it out and think it through, which I think a lot of people get stuck in. Then, when that moment comes, what’s needed is there.”
“Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God” – Aeschylus.
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Regeneration and Musical Inspiration: The North American Tour (Episode #53)
15 Jun 2023· The Way Out Is In
Welcome to episode 53 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 and journalist Jo Confino talk about what they learned and experienced on the recent Plum Village North American Tour, which consisted of retreats (including one for climate leaders and activists) and Plum Village’s first international music tour.
The two presenters reflect on how the Buddhist teachings and lessons offered by this series of public events can help people create a healthier culture of service, and deal with both personal suffering and the collective suffering of climate destruction, biodiversity loss, and social injustice. Also, what is fierce compassion and how can we practice with it?
Brother Phap Huu further shares on “opening new Dharma doors”, the adaptation of old teachings to new cultures; the importance of music in engaged Buddhism and why incorporating the flavors of contemporary music matters; Thay as peace activist and poet; the message of the song ‘Little Star’ (which you get to listen to!); dealing with the energy of anger; deep connection; and more. And what did Thay say when Brother Phap Huu rapped at a Plum Village festivity?
Jo also shares about innovation in the Plum Village tradition; resilience and guilt in the climate movement; novel teachings and itineraries for retreats; the deep spiritual dimension of climate work; radical compassion; forgiveness and transforming the system; nondiscrimination around suffering; and more.
Thank you for listening. Enjoy!
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

Hollyhock
https://hollyhock.ca/
‘Unborn and Indestructible (song)’
https://plumvillage.org/library/songs/unborn-indestructible/
‘Plum Village Announces North American Fundraising Concert Tour with Hip-Hop Artist Born I’
https://www.lionsroar.com/plum-village-announces-north-american-fundraising-concert-tour/
Sister Chan Khong
https://plumvillage.org/about/sister-chan-khong/
Brother Phap Linh (Brother Spirit)
https://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/brother-phap-linh/
Sister Trai Nghiem
https://www.parallax.org/authors/sister-trai-nghiem-2/

Christiana Figueres
http://christianafigueres.com/#/
Sister True Dedication https://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/sister-hien-nghiem/
Sister Lang Nghiem
https://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/sr-lang-nghiem
Tupac
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupac_Shakur
Lupe Fiasco
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupe_Fiasco
Djembe drums
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djembe

The Way Out Is In: ‘Engaged Buddhism: Applying the Teachings in Our Present Moment (Episode #9)’
https://plumvillage.org/podcast/engaged-buddhism-applying-the-teachings-in-our-present-moment
Namo’valokiteshvaraya Chant
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZkjX_c4hm4
‘Little Star’ (song video with lyrics)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3uu_Ru5U1c
Quotes
“The work of a monastic is service and our service is sowing seeds of awakening, or sowing seeds of mindfulness in today’s language.”
“One of my experiences of Plum Village is that there’s a willingness to always innovate. While the core teachings remain present and are at the heart of everything, Thich Nhat Hanh talks about opening new Dharma doors. So there are always new ways, depending on cultural or technological changes, of reaching new audiences with the teachings.”
“Thich Nhat Hanh was an environmental leader and activist for more than 50 years, and he felt deeply around the need to help the environment, to collapse the separation between us and the environment, and the importance of dealing with our suffering so that we can deal with big issues like climate change and social inequality.”
“Spirituality doesn’t mean becoming a Buddhist or following a religion; spirituality is the capacity of awakening which is in everyone: learning to stop our thoughts, our running, and connect to our suffering, taking care of it, transforming. That is spirituality.”
“The way out is interbeing.”
“Mindfulness is a path of understanding and transformation to cultivate nonviolence, peace, awakening, and love.”
“Love is regeneration.”
“With our thoughts, we create the world.”
“Fierce compassion is a deep, deep strength that not only can help change the world, but sustain that change.”
“Anger is not the solution. Anger is an energy to recognize, to practice with; guide it through walking meditation, guide it through being with nature. Because once you realize that your energy, your emotions, are also impermanence, you know that if it goes up, it will have to come down and you can come back to the situation with a different energy. And if you have practiced for a long time, you can channel your anger right away. You make sure that your anger is not the foundation of your words, your mind, and your actions.”
“In Buddhism, the deepest insight of practice is to break free from all views: to touch interbeing so that we can be free and see the truth behind all manifestations, the forms that we meet, whether it is a person, whether it is their energy… Are we meeting just their anger, or can we see beyond their anger and still have compassion and help them out of their suffering?”
“There are always new ways of seeing the world, and if you’re not adapting to that, then the teachings don’t become relevant.”
“Family is not just genetic blood; family is shared aspiration, shared understanding, shared support that we offer for one another, and seeing each other as human beings.”
“Often people chat to hide away from things, so when they’re given silence, it allows other things to emerge.”
“It’s not about forgiving the system, it’s about understanding the system. We can’t forgive a system, but once we understand it, we can transform it. It’s not about forgiving all the time.”

“The present moment is your canvas and your mindfulness, and your body, speech, and mind is the paintbrush that you paint with.”
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Listeners’ Questions: Responding from the Heart (Episode #52)
1 Jun 2023· The Way Out Is In
Welcome to episode 52 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.
This time, Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and leadership coach and journalist Jo Confino are joined again by frequent podcast guest Sister True Dedication (Sister Hien Nghiem). Together, they respond to further questions from listeners in this second part of our first question and answer session of 2023.

We hope that their answers will show how the teachings can help people who are in distress or are dealing with critical issues – but also simply how to find more joy in our lives.
This installment’s questions and answers cover topics ranging from how to create a practice with no sangha to how to develop a spiritual practice in busy, stressful lives; how to find meaningful communities and connections and become aware of our own story and that of our ancestors; understanding the complexity of ancestry and transmitted wisdom; belonging and home; intention and aspiration; the quality of presence; how to engage mindfully in a policing role; the difference between mindfulness and concentration; finding the sweetness of joy in life and making simple things your joy – and much more.

To give a flavor of Plum Village Q and A sessions, the two monastics share memories including a story about Thay singing a song during a Q and A session for children.
And what question do you think people should be asking? Or don’t ask enough?
There’s an answer to this one, too.

Thank you for listening, and for sharing your deep questions!
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

The Way Out Is In: ‘Listeners’ Questions: Responding from the Heart (Episode #51)’
https://plumvillage.org/podcast/listeners-questions-responding-from-the-heart-episode-51/

Sister True Dedication https://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/sister-hien-nghiem/
Touching the Earth
https://plumvillage.org/books/touching-the-earth/
The European Institute of Applied Buddhism (EIAB)
https://plumvillage.org/practice-centre/eiab/
Dharma Talks: ‘The Five Skandhas of Grasping and Non-Self’
https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/the-five-skandhas-of-grasping-and-non-self%E2%80%8B-dharma-talk-by-br-phap-lai-2018-06-08/
Find a local group
https://plumvillage.org/community/international-sangha-directory/
Local communities (sanghas)
https://thichnhathanhfoundation.org/local-communities-sanghas
Kristallnacht
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht
The Miracle of Mindfulness
https://plumvillage.org/books/the-miracle-of-mindfulness/

Sutras: ‘Discourse on Knowing the Better Way to Live Alone’
https://plumvillage.org/library/sutras/discourse-on-knowing-the-better-way-to-live-alone/
‘The Four Dharma Seals of Plum Village’
https://plumvillage.org/articles/the-four-dharma-seals-of-plum-village/
Sister Chan Khong
https://plumvillage.org/about/sister-chan-khong/
Dharma Talk: ‘Mindfulness and the Police’ by Cheri Maples
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ4jrd9IIh0
A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety: How to Keep Your Cool on a Warming Planet
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50747101-a-field-guide-to-climate-anxiety
Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet
https://www.harpercollins.com/products/zen-and-the-art-of-saving-the-planet-thich-nhat-hanh?variant=40244149878818
Online course: Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet
https://plumvillage.org/courses/zen-and-the-art-of-saving-the-planet/
The Way Out Is In: ‘Connecting to Our Roots: Ancestors, Continuation and Transformation (Episode #5)’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHqj5mLGW5c
Quotes
“As long as you are breathing and have awareness to be with your breath, that is an opportunity. And nobody can take that away, besides our old excuses.”
“At the beginning of my practice, I thought that mindfulness meant doing sitting meditation for 30 minutes every morning or having to do sacred reading or something, and having some kind of spiritual structure or program. And, actually, thanks to the five mindfulness trainings and coming on retreats here, I was like, ‘Oh, mindfulness is in three dimensions. Mindfulness is how I listen to my boss at work. Mindfulness is how I don’t get into arguments with my housemates.’ And I started to realize this three- or four-dimensionality of mindfulness, which is about how I choose to spend my time.”
“If we think of our separate selves as just our life and what we’ve experienced, that cuts off an enormous amount of intelligence, knowledge, and understanding that can help us to understand ourselves more deeply and to heal ourselves.”
“Some of the themes we’ve been speaking about are also around despair, and in the Buddhist teachings, intention – what we’d call aspiration – is the antidote and the medicine for despair. And so, if we’re feeling dull in our life, it may be because we haven’t yet identified what we really want and aren’t acting on it.”
“We do not know how long we have. And if mindfulness can give us anything, it is awakening to what is most important to us.”
“Mindfulness is mindfulness when it starts to generate more love and understanding.”
“Mindfulness is not a pill, but it is a path.”
“For us, mindfulness always contains within it love, understanding, and helping people to suffer less. But it also goes to the roots. And what’s happening now is that there are a lot of mindfulness products which are more about wellbeing and making you feel good. But for us, mindfulness does so much more. It gets to the root of our suffering so we can transform what is painful in our life, so we can generate more happiness in our life, so we can heal, sometimes healing things over many generations.”
“It’s not that you can only be mindful in nature. So somehow challenging ourselves to see what is extraordinary about any moment in front of us, and to give ourselves space to enjoy those moments, can really bring back the sweetness.”
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Listeners’ Questions: Responding from the Heart (Episode #51)
26 May 2023· The Way Out Is In
Welcome to episode 51 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 the spirit of Plum Village and its Zen tradition of public question-and-answer sessions, this is the second time that Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and leadership coach and journalist Jo Confino have responded to listeners’ questions. We hope that the answers will help show how the teachings can help people who are in distress or are dealing with critical issues – but also simply how to find more joy in our lives. Because we have received so many questions – around 200! – further answers will be given in a second part, to be released next week.
The presenters are joined by frequent podcast guest Sister True Dedication (Sister Hien Nghiem). Topics which they address cover a wide range, from how to be brave, to speaking your truth and being fully yourself, and handling strong emotions and dealing with hate. Responses include practical examples, draw on both personal experiences and Buddhist wisdom, and cover numerous other topics, such as: non-attachment and healthy attachments; getting in touch with our patterns; building inner confidence; working with our negative seeds; letting go of pain; practicing with impermanence; the energy of prayer and interbeing; the power and purpose of Thay’s favorite chant, Namo Avalokiteshvara; and more. Plus: what is a mudra?

The three presenters also share their favorite daily reminders, sayings, or mantras for bringing them back to the path when they get distracted.
Thank you for listening, and for your questions!
Tune in next week for part two.

Enjoy!
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

Sister True Dedication
https://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/sister-hien-nghiem/
The Four Noble Truths
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy-RI3FrdGA

Dharma Talks: ‘True Love and the Four Noble Truths’
https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/true-love-and-the-four-noble-truths/
Bodhisattva
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhisattva
‘Breathing In, Breathing Out’
https://plumvillage.org/library/songs/breathing-in-breathing-out/
Sister Jina
https://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/sr-dieu-nghiem/
The Five Mindfulness Trainings
https://plumvillage.org/mindfulness/the-5-mindfulness-trainings/
Pain, Despair, and the Second Arrow (a short Thich Nhat Hanh teaching video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlLvjFPtFXw

Sutras: ‘Discourse on the 5 Ways of Putting an End to Anger’
https://plumvillage.org/library/sutras/discourse-on-the-five-ways-of-putting-an-end-to-anger/

Abrahamic religions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrahamic_religions
Avalokiteśvara
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avalokite%C5%9Bvara
Introduction to Namo Avalokiteshvara (a short Thich Nhat Hanh teaching video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjBUZrrqAVQ
‘Listening to Namo Avalokiteshvara’
https://plumvillage.app/listening-to-namo-avalokiteshvara/
Dharma Talks: ‘Listening to the Chant’
https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/listening-to-the-chant/
Namo’valokiteshvaraya Chant
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZkjX_c4hm4
Mudra
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudra
Nāgārjuna
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagarjuna

Dharma Talks: ‘The Five Remembrances’
https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/the-five-remembrances-sr-thuan-nghiem-spring-retreat-2018-05-17/
Quotes
“Buddhism has a great lineage tradition of mentoring and guidance, and we are all seekers on the path. But some of us have had more years of experience and mistakes and getting awakened to our suffering, and can share from that experience to help others.”
“Thay would always say a good question can help many of us who are listening in this moment, because a good question will allow a good answer to manifest.”
“Each day that you have stillness, that you have well-being, acknowledge it; make it your moment of presence, of solidarity.”
“In the spirit of Zen, we have the warrior, and how we bring that warrior out is, first of all, by really knowing how to be with oneself when the emotions and storms are present. How do we recognize that and not be a victim of it? Not allowing ourselves to be the anger when the energy of anger manifests, not to be the fear when fear is present, and turtle away.”
“Thay teaches us that a mountain doesn’t move when there’s a storm. And that storm is the storm of our perceptions, our judgment. We’re not being carried away by what we see, what we hear, but we still have the insight of interbeing. Therefore we can still have right view and clarity.”
“I will not spread news that I do not know to be certain.”
“We are not our thoughts, we are not our speech; we are not defined by that. We are so much greater as a formation, as an entity, than all of these things. But we do want to be aware of our legacy in thinking, speech, and action.”

“In Buddhism, our negative seeds are just part of the garden that we’re composting. They’re something we’re working with, they’re something to embrace. And the good news of Buddhism is that when you see these seeds, you can get an enlightenment about them. That is the compost that we’re going to practice with: each time these seeds come up, try to make ourselves a little daisy. I may not be a lotus, but maybe one daisy for each seed.”
“Some non-attachments are more difficult than others.”
“Attachment that brings suffering, let it go. The attachment that keeps you on the path: ‘I’m attached to my brown robe. I’m attached to my precepts. I’m attached to my sangha.’ We have to also let go of this view that in Zen there’s no thinking, there’s no feelings, there’s no emotions, there’s no attachment.”
“When the going gets tough, keep going.”
“‘Thanks to impermanence, everything is possible’ comes from a great teacher called Nagarjuna. It’s a Buddhist phrase. And it helps me trust that everything is evolving, everything is shifting. My internal landscape is shifting, the external landscape is shifting. And if it’s hard, it won’t last for long; it’s just a phase that we’re passing through.”
“Awareness is a mirror reflecting the four elements. Beauty is a heart that generates love and a mind that is open.”
“Life is too short for mirrors.”
“Our true actions are our continuation.”
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Be Beautiful, Be Yourself (Episode #50)
11 May 2023· The Way Out Is In
Welcome to episode 50 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 and journalist Jo Confino contemplate how to find compassion for ourselves – even when we feel stuck and unable to move forward, and know what to do but enter self-loathing rather than self-compassion. Together, they discuss what it is to love ourselves and what a difference it can make. Plus, why is it so difficult to change? What should we be mindful of? And what is love to us?
Brother Phap Huu further considers how helpful insights can blossom; attaining new views of growth in spirituality; unconditional love; what it is to be stuck and how to unstick ourselves; ‘striving’ energy, perceptions, and aspirations; creating new stories; and acceptance.

Jo starts with a confession before sharing about epiphanies; times when one’s story is more important than one’s happiness; self-worth; cultivating change at the edges; and mindful reminders.
The episode ends with a short meditation guided by Brother Phap Huu.
Enjoy!
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
Sister True Dedication
https://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/sister-hien-nghiem/
‘Tangerine Meditation’
https://plumvillage.org/library/clips/tangerine-meditation/
Sister Jina
https://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/sr-dieu-nghiem/
Saṃsāra
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sa%E1%B9%83s%C4%81ra_(Buddhism)
Krishna Das
https://www.krishnadas.com/
The Miracle of Mindfulness
https://plumvillage.org/books/the-miracle-of-mindfulness/
The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching
https://plumvillage.org/books/the-heart-of-the-buddhas-teaching/
Dharma Talks: ‘True Love and the Four Noble Truths’
https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/true-love-and-the-four-noble-truths/
The Four Noble Truths
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy-RI3FrdGA
Dharma Talks: ‘The Noble Eightfold Path’
https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/the-noble-eightfold-path/
Quotes
“Peace in oneself, peace in the world.”
“When I know that I don’t hate myself, love is already there. And acceptance is a part of love.”
“Mindfulness is the opposite of forgetfulness, and love is the opposite of hatred.”
“After one of Thich Nhat Hanh’s talks, I said, ‘Sister Jina, don’t you monastics get bored of Thay repeating the same thing over and over again? And doesn’t Thay get bored with repeating the same teachings over and over again?’ And she turned to me and said, ‘But do we practice?’”
“Because of our unmindful society, where there’s more forgetfulness and not enough awareness, love becomes something to gain. People are trying to gain love rather than to cultivate love within them, creating a lot of expectation around it. And when there is love, there is already a need. But in the practice of Buddhism, and in our practice, love should be unconditional.”
“Our practice is to understand that love is a growing organic energy. But hatred is also an organic energy. So the first practice in mindfulness and in Buddhism has to start with oneself. And maybe that is the most painful start because, for some reason, it’s easier to love others.”
“Mindfulness is light. Forgetfulness is the darkness. But the two rely on each other and can dance within each other.”
“If you have an empty bowl, then you’ve got nothing to give. All you really want to do is fill your own bowl. But when your bowl is full and overflowing, it naturally leads to generosity.”
“In my own life, the moments of greatest transformation have been when I’ve stopped long enough for an insight to arise; what I refer to as an epiphany.”
“New forms of life tend to grow at the very edges of ecosystems, like the edges of estuaries where new life forms have space to develop. If they develop and get enough strength, then they come towards the center and become an established lifeform. And they sometimes become what can’t change. Then something else will grow at the edge and come into the center.”
“The Buddha said that we always have to check our perception of our reality and the reality that we want to achieve. And this is very different from aspiration.”
“To look into the past is also to educate, to learn, and to have insight. So insight comes from awareness, and we have to have baby insight to have big insight.”
“Thay says sometimes our habits, our energies, are there for us to reflect on. If I don’t have striving energy, then maybe I don’t have any aspirations.”
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Freedom (Episode #49)
27 Apr 2023· The Way Out Is In
Welcome to episode 49 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.
This time, Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and journalist Jo Confino discuss freedom, exploring a deeper meaning of what it is to be free through a focus on freedom as approached in Buddhism and the Plum Village tradition: something associated with responsibility and commitment. So, what are we trying to be free from?
They further delve into how one can become free within a monastery; liberating moments; working with energy levels; suffering and freedom; collective energy; redefining spaciousness; and letting go of busyness. And how did Thay express freedom in his life and in his practice?
The episode ends with a short meditation on freedom guided by Brother Phap Huu.
Enjoy!
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
Bhikṣu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhikkhu
Filial piety
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filial_piety
‘The Fourteen Precepts of Engaged Buddhism’
https://www.lionsroar.com/the-fourteen-precepts-of-engaged-buddhism/
Rains Retreat 2023-24
https://plumvillage.org/retreats/info/rains-retreat-2023/
Sister Chan Khong
https://plumvillage.org/about/sister-chan-khong/
Freedom Wherever We Go
https://plumvillage.org/books/freedom-wherever-we-go/
‘The Four Dharma Seals of Plum Village’
https://plumvillage.org/articles/the-four-dharma-seals-of-plum-village/
Quotes
“Coming back to the simple pleasures of life is freedom”
“Freedom is commitment. This idea that we’re free if we can do anything we want is not freedom. But when we really commit to something, give ourselves wholeheartedly to it, then actually that is freedom.”
“When we look at ourselves and we say, ‘I want to be me’, who is this ‘me’? This ‘me’ suddenly becomes an object. And if we look into our present moment, can we truly be just ourself?”
“In Buddhism and in our practice of mindfulness, whenever we speak about something such as freedom, it’s always ‘freedom of something’. What is it that we are trying to be free from?”
“We are speaking about freedom of our suffering, freedom of our negativity, freedom of how we want to walk and show up in this world. Our steps can be made of the energy of freedom and ease. Our breath can generate the sense of happiness, liberation in the present moment, which is freedom. And we understand that freedom is something that we can touch in the present moment, even if we are sitting in a prison.”
“We are doing whatever we want. But are we truly free from the past? Are we free from daydreaming about the present moment? Are we free from being worried about the future? Are we free in our thinking? So freedom is always freedom of something. And our practice is to learn to walk and step into freedom each day.”
“We can be in pain, but also be free from it by experiencing it, accepting it, and working through it. So freedom is not a destination very far away; it can be experienced through our practice of mindfulness. And freedom comes with responsibility: when we say something, it has consequences. When we act, it has consequences. So freedom can be cultivated, it can be experienced, but it can also be taken away.”
“Meditation is not a competition.”
“We will continue to be free in our doing.”
“Freedom is not singular; it is not just about my freedom or your freedom: if I give you your freedom, I give myself my freedom. That freedom is not separated into one person.”
“When we have fear, that is when we lose our freedom.”
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Humility in Service to Life (Episode #48)
6 Apr 2023· The Way Out Is In
Welcome to episode 48 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.
This instalment marks the first time the two presenters have recorded separately, with Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu in Thay’s Sitting Still Hut in Plum Village France, and journalist Jo Confino at the Garrison Institute, New York.
Speaking from two different continents, they explore fame and humility. What price do we pay for our fame-obsessed societies? Can humility become a great power? How do we show up in the world? What is it ‘to be enough’ in the world? And how did Thay handle fame and other famous people?

These dimensions are discussed with help from Buddhist teachings, Thich Nhat Hanh’s practices, and the presenters’ personal life stories, giving us a flavor of experiences of fame, but also the power of humility in service to life.
Brother Phap Huu further delves into inferiority, superiority, and equality complexes; openness and insight; unconditional presence; humility in learning and being; simplicity; curiosity; Thay’s bodhisattva energy; and honoring blood and spiritual ancestors. And how is Brother Phap Huu coping with… feline fame?
Jo muses about humility in leadership; the power of leading from the middle; responsible journalism; ‘un-cultivating’ fame; looking inwards and outwards with humility; fame as another form of extraction; and more.
The episode ends with a short meditation guided by Brother Phap Huu.
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
The Garrison Institute
https://www.garrisoninstitute.org/
Dharma Talks: ‘The Power of Understanding – Transformation of Manas’
https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/the-power-of-understanding-transformation-of-manas-dharma-talk-by-sr-tue-nghiem-2018-08-02/
Dharma Talks: ‘The Face of Manas Revealed: Understanding a Hidden Aspect of Our Consciousness’
https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/live-dharma-talk-by-sister-tue-nghiem-2020-11-29-plum-village/
Parallax Press
https://www.parallax.org/
The Happy Farm
https://thehappyfarm.org/
The Order of Interbeing (OI)
https://orderofinterbeing.org/
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
https://www.iucn.org/our-union/iucn-world-conservation-congress
Plum Village Thailand
https://plumvillage.org/practice-centre/plum-village-thailand/
The Four Dharma Seals of Plum Village
https://plumvillage.org/articles/the-four-dharma-seals-of-plum-village/
Dharma Rain, and Being Alone (short teaching video by Thich Nhat Hanh)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYmON_ElwMw
Quotes
“Humility represents openness for us to enter into a spiritual path or into anything that we want to grow. We need an element of openness, of humility. It means we have to humble our ego. We have to let go of our knowledge. We have to come in with open eyes and open ears and an open mind and an open heart in order to truly allow our understanding to grow deeper.”
“As human beings, we’re very curious. And when we block off our curiosity, we’re blocking off some deep resonance in us that wants to know more, wants to expand our knowledge and our awareness.”
“Humility is learning to look with fresh eyes, listen with fresh ears, and continuing to expand our hearts and knowing, ‘How can we know everything?’ There’s so much insight and so much wisdom alive around us, not just among the people, among our teachers, among our mentors, among this community – but we also [need to] learn to open ourselves to the environment, to nature.”
“Service is a way of expressing love. Therefore, humility is also an expression of love, an expression of giving.”
“You can be a victim of your success, but you would never be a victim of your happiness.”
“Go as a river.”
“One thing that we can always grow and develop is our heart; it’s our capacity for love and our capacity for being there for others.”
“We all make our own contribution and everyone’s contribution is based on everyone else’s; we are a constellation of change. We’re all making a small mark on the world.”
“There’s a humility to recognizing one’s skills or what one can offer and not be caught striving for ‘I need to be better at this’, ‘I need to be better at that’. Recognizing who we are and not feeling we need to be more than that.”
“Our greatest offering, I always come back to, is kindness, openness, and the way of being.”
“Have the extraordinary in the ordinary, and the ordinary in the extraordinary.”
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Episodes

Stepping into Freedom – Live Recording with Q&A Session (Episode #67)

The Practice of Gratitude (Episode #66)

Taming Our Survival Instinct (Episode #65)

Ripening Moment by Moment (Episode #64)

Shining Light (Episode #63)

The Heart of Meditation – Part Two (Episode #62)

The Heart of Meditation – Part One (Episode #61)

32 Words to Create Harmonious Relationships (Episode #60)

Transforming Generational Suffering and Hatred (Episode #59)

Healing Body and Mind (Episode #58)

Mindful Activism: From Anxiety to Agency (Episode #57)

Caring for Children, Caring for the Child Inside (Episode #56)

Spiritual Journey: No Quick Fixes (Episode #55)

Space, Time, and The Ultimate Dimension (Episode #54)

Regeneration and Musical Inspiration: The North American Tour (Episode #53)

Listeners’ Questions: Responding from the Heart (Episode #52)

Listeners’ Questions: Responding from the Heart (Episode #51)

Be Beautiful, Be Yourself (Episode #50)

Freedom (Episode #49)

Humility in Service to Life (Episode #48)