Plum Village is dedicated to creating an environment in which healing, understanding, happiness, and peace can blossom and grow. The brothers and sisters of Plum Village Monastery have the aspiration to continue our teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh’s, long history of deep listening and sharing mindful practices with people living in areas of conflict and war.
Thay first led a retreat in Plum Village for Palestinians and Israelis in 2003, where he offered insights based on his own experiences in the war in Vietnam and Buddhist teachings.
To realize their aspiration to continue Thay’s efforts, a monastic delegation from Plum Village travelled to the Middle East and then hosted young people from that region at a Plum Village Wake Up Retreat. The monastics were able to offer two cycles of this outreach in 2018 and 2019, but they were unable to travel during the pandemic of 2020 and 2021.
This year, the monastic Sangha is able to resume this transformational work. In July, a group of 10 young Palestinians will come to Plum Village France for the Wake Up Retreat and in 2023 a group of monastics is planning to travel back to Palestine and Israel. Donations to support this initiative are very welcome.
Eman is a young Palestinian woman who lives in Gaza. She is part of the group of 10 young people we are inviting for the July 2022 Wake-Up retreat in Plum Village. This will be the first time we have invited someone from Gaza and we hope that she will be able to join us. In this video she is expressing her gratitude to the donors, and her deep desire to be able to come.
Here you can read about the monastic teaching tour and Wake Up retreat in 2019. The 2022 program will follow in the same vein.
How You Can Support Plum Village’s Efforts in the Middle East
Plum Village’s work in the Middle East can only happen with the support of our friends and family. More than half of the young people who came to the Wake Up Retreat received financial aid provided by generous donors to help cover their travel costs, including not only airfare, but also such things as visas and border taxes. If you would like to support Plum Village’s efforts in the Middle East please visit our donation page. If you are not able to financially give, you can still support them by sending your good energy so all of them can get a Visa to join the retreat and join hundreds of young people from all over the world.
Our deepest thanks go out to you.
