Local Resources
Library
We maintain a small library at the Vihara. It includes books by Thich Nhat Hanh and others, including guidance on meditation and mindfulness. We each contribute an annual fee of $5 if we want to use the library; you can then borrow as many books as you would like: we only ask that you return them so others may also read them.
Retreats
WMC members have many opportunities to participate in retreats over the course of the year, typically over a weekend but sometimes longer. Retreats offer an opportunity to enjoy simple and peaceful living, and to learn how to cultivate the energy of mindfulness, so we can have more freedom, peace and happiness in our daily life. They also offer an in depth opportunity to nurture our inner growth as we take time to look deeply, in order to transform both our individual difficulties and the difficulties in our society. During the pandemic, there are an increasing number of online retreat offerings.
The Mindfulness Practice Center of Fairfax (www.mpcf.org) offers several retreats each year, usually at Claymont Court Retreat Center in West Virginia.
Stillwater Mindfulness Practice Center (www.stillwatermpc.org) offers retreats and days of practice during the year, in Maryland.
The Opening Heart Mindfulness Community (www.openeingheartmindfulness.org) offers a weekend retreat each spring, usually at the Wellspring Conference Center in Germantown Maryland.
Blue Cliff Monastery (www.bluecliffmonastery.org) offers themed retreats, seasonal retreats and group retreats throughout the year, on their peaceful 80 acre campus in upstate New York.
Plum Village (www.plumvillage.org) also offers retreats throughout the year, on their 700 acre campus near Bordeaux, France. This was the first monastic community Thay founded in the West, and today it has grown into Europe’s largest Buddhist monastery. They have a Spring and Autumn retreat season, as well as special retreats such as a Health Retreat, an Ecology Retreat on the farm, an Educators’ Retreat, or their four week long Summer Retreat for families.
Our friends at Plum Village also offer a wonderful app, available in IOS or in Android. The app helps us cultivate mindfulness, compassion and joy through guided meditations, deep relaxations, practice poems, and bells of mindfulness. It includes teachings from Thay and other monastics, as well as guided meditations for children.
Other local sanghas practicing in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh
Located in the Program Building of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax (UUCF), 2709 Hunter Mill Road,
Oakton, VA 22124.
email: info@mpcf.org
tel: 703 938-1377
address: PO Box 130, Oakton VA 22124
Locations in Annapolis, Ashton, Columbia, Gaithersburg, Sandy Spring, Silver Spring, Takoma Park.
email: info@stillwatermpc.org
tel: 301-270-8353
address: PO Box 11360, Takoma Park, MD 20913
email: info@openingheartmindfulness.org
tel: 202.686.1104
address: 3838 Northampton Street NW, Washington DC 20015
Monastic Practice Centers
Today, there are nine monastic practice centers in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh, in Europe, the United States and Asia, all founded by Thay himself:
Blue Cliff Monastery, New York, USA
Deer Park Monastery, California, USA
Magnolia Grove Monastery, Mississippi, USA
Plum Village, Bordeaux, France
Maison de l’Inspire, Paris, France
Other websites of interest
The Mindfulness Bell is a quarterly journal of the art of mindful living, in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh. It is intended as an inspiration and a practical teaching resource for those practicing mindfulness in their daily life. Each issue features a teaching by our teacher, Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. Also included are stories and teachings by teachers and students in this lineage, based on the author’s direct experience of transformation through the practice of mindfulness. Instead of giving academic or intellectual views, the teachings emphasize simple and successful ways to transform the difficulties and limitations in our lives so that each day becomes an experience of peace, happiness, and freedom.
Parallax Press is a nonprofit publishing house founded by Thich Nhat Hanh. They publish books and media on the art of mindful living and Engaged Buddhism. They are committed to offering teachings that help transform suffering and injustice. Their aspiration is to contribute to collective insight and awakening, bringing about a more joyful, healthy, and compassionate society.
This is a compilation of sanghas worldwide, in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh. It includes a search function.