Arrived, Home
A Campaign to Support Our Practice Centers
“I have arrived. I am home. My destination is in each step.”
Thich Nhat Hanh (or “Thay” – Vietnamese for teacher) invited us to return to our true homes, to our deepest, most compassionate selves. At home, we feel safe, supported, and renewed. And from this place, we can emerge refreshed and ready to offer the world our kindness, our deep attention, and our creativity.
For the monks and nuns in the International Plum Village Community who are continuing Thay’s legacy, the monastery is that home. It’s where they rest, deepen their practice and understanding of the Buddha’s teachings, eat and play together, write books, design and lead in-person and online retreats, and imagine fresh ways to share the Dharma.
Unfortunately, because of age, decay, and growing demand, housing for guests and monastics at Blue Cliff Monastery in New York, Deer Park Monastery in California, and Plum Village Monastery in France is no longer adequate.
Your financial support is urgently needed to repair or build the housing needed by our monastics, ensure there is sufficient space for guests, and meet local building codes that protect the health and wellbeing of everyone at the monastery. By supporting the monasteries, we are also supporting all of us who benefit so deeply from the gifts they share with the world.
Our collective goal is to raise the funds needed over the next three years for construction at our three monasteries. This is in addition to the vitally needed $5 million in support you so generously provide each year for ongoing operational expenses, which include food, health care, and the technology needed to share the Dharma.
In his book Peaceful Action, Open Heart, Thay writes that The Six Paramitas help liberate us from craving, anger, envy, despair and delusion. The first paramita, dana, means giving and generosity and is expressed in three ways:
““The first is materials goods. The second is giving the gift of the Dharma. The third and ultimate offering of the bodhisattva is the gift of non-fear. We can make an offering of our time and energy to work with the homeless or with those who are prisoners, or to work on helping the environment.” ”
How to Help
Learn more about how your generosity can make a difference to the future of our community, and to the world:
Build a New Home for the Sisters at Blue Cliff Monastery
Pine Bush, New York (U.S.)
Originally built as a small resort hotel in the 1960s, Blue Cliff was converted into a Plum Village practice center in 2007. Nestled on 80 acres of beautiful woodland in the southern Catskills, two hours from New York City, it draws people from as far away as Florida and Canada.
Challenge: Despite efforts to maintain the property, some original buildings—including the now-empty Moon Lake nunnery—have deteriorated beyond repair. Mold, rotting wood, old wiring, and poor insulation in a region with arctic winters has forced nuns to occupy guest rooms, limiting the number of spots for retreatants.
Objective: Tear down Moon Lake and build a two-story, 8,500-square-foot nunnery on the same spot with modern insulation and other features to ensure the safety, health, and wellbeing of Blue Cliff’s sisters.
Fundraising Goal: $2.5 million
Build Another Dormitory for the Brothers at Deer Park Monastery
Escondido, California (U.S.)
Founded in 2000, this 400-acre sanctuary rests in the chaparral mountains of southern California, close to San Diego. It is surrounded and protected by oaks and the natural landscape and is the largest practice center in the country, home to 35 nuns and 24 monks. It serves 250 local Sanghas in the Western United States and Latin America.
Challenge: Solidity Hamlet, the monks’ residence, has two dormitories built in the 1960s to hold 18 monks. Today, there are 24 monks, a number predicted to grow to 35 or 40 within five years. Additionally, more and more young people are aspiring to live at Deer Park and explore ordination. As a result, some of the monks must stay in guest quarters apart from the rest of the community.
Objective: Build an additional residence for the monastic brothers in Solidity Hamlet.
Fundraising Goal: $800,000.
Build New Residences and Guest Space at Plum Village Monastery
Loubes Bernac (France)
In 1982, Thay bought a farmhouse and land in Loubes Bernac, a small village in southwest France. Four decades later, Plum Village has become the largest Zen Buddhist monastery in Europe and is considered Thay’s root temple in the West. The demand to attend retreats continues to grow every year, with retreats selling out in minutes.
Challenges: The monastery’s three hamlets use many former farm buildings that are more than a century old. They are poorly insulated, cramped, prone to mold, and covered by asbestos roofs. This has forced New and Lower Hamlet sisters to move into guest quarters, requiring lay friends to stay off-site during retreats. Many guest rooms in Upper Hamlet are closed because they no longer meet local building codes. Additionally, local codes require significant upgrades to all three hamlets’ water, electricity, and septic systems.
Objective: Utilizing on green (eco-friendly) building practices, the projects include:
• Lower Hamlet: New nuns’ quarters to house 65-80 sisters; upgraded infrastructure
• New Hamlet: New nuns’ quarters to house 50-60 sisters; upgraded infrastructure
• Upper Hamlet/Son Ha: Expanded guest space with new certified passive guest blocs, wooden Zen huts, glamping, improved tent camping and caravan area; new sanitary blocs; bringing historic Stone building up to code. (Infrastructure work is underway).
Fundraising goal for 3 hamlets: $10-$12 million.