The Teaching Buddha

04/08/2025

A Mind like Sky.
Rest in this spacious awareness. It is your home.
A soothing meditation by Tara Brach.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/392uMlJbkuw4uDSxI2JlY7?si=0HEbxWCEQ3WqqC3YQkmPiw

30/07/2025

Friendship is not just for companionship and comfort. It is a mirror to all that you are and all that you are not.

27/07/2025

🌱 Dear friends,

We are happy to announce that version 4.0 of the Plum Village App is available now!

This is the second major Plum Village App release in the past year. Since the previous major release, – version 3.0, in October 2024 – a number of small updates added features such as daily mindfulness quotes and a random option for the Bell of Mindfulness. Now, version 4.0 introduces a major new feature: contributor screens.

Read more about the update and new features on our blog - https://plumvillage.app/app-release-4-contributors/

26/07/2025

“We can begin by choosing to be present. We can choose to pay attention. That is the essential magic of mindfulness, and of the Buddha’s own life. When you pay attention to your experience, you realize that you’re not just a separate organism sitting here breathing. You are not only breathing but being breathed. You need an oxygen-producing web of life for you to breathe—you need trees, you need plankton.

So where does the self begin and where does it end? When you really pay attention, you see that you are part of the whole web of life. That leads you to want to know that life and to protect it.”

By Joanna Macy,
quoted by Melvin Mcleod

The renowned Buddhist thinker, environmental activist, and author Joanna Macy passed away on July 19, 2025. She was 96. In her memory, we invite you to read this interview with her and Melvin McLeod, in which she shares her vision for the global awakening our planet needs. At heart, it’s a spiritual revolution.

The renowned Buddhist thinker, environmental activist, and author Joanna Macy passed away on July 19, 2025. She was 96. In her memory, we invite you to read this interview with her and Melvin McLeod, in which she shares her vision for the global awakening our planet needs. At heart, it’s a spiritu...

17/07/2025

The only way out is in. Thüpten Jinpa on the potential of every human being to find this inner source of happiness and joy, lecturing at this wonderful online party of .

“Buddhahood is a very democratic gift: every sentient being has this Buddha Nature.” But because we are social and emotional creatures, we often get overwhelmed and our acts do not serve ourselves or the other. So how do we manifest these beautiful qualities that are there, to help us to feel more “happy”?

📿 develop a healthy relationship with your emotions (to be aware and awake, so we do not suppress negative or destructive emotions, but make a shift to calm awareness)
📿 give attention to the positive qualities of our mind and heart (like empathy, compassion and understanding)
📿 have a deep understanding of the nature of reality (be aware of what constitutes your outlook on the world: your mind creates your view).

And how do we work on this?
📿 by setting an intention, for example every morning, stepping out of bed
📿 taking some minutes every day, just to sit, reflect and breathe
📿 by practicing ethical restraint (causing no harm), by living a virtual life (doing good), by helping other people when and where you can.

With the acceptance of principles like impermanence and interdependence we can live our lives more fully and content. We train in order to be more free of fixation and grasping. We develop an attitude of gratefulness. Which leads again to more happiness…

And these principles and practices, Jinpa says, referring tot his HH the Dalai Lama, are not necessarily Buddhist rules or prerogatives. It is about universal spirituality, available to is all.

Picture: Kopan Monastery, Kathmandu Vakkey, Nepal, May 2024.

14/07/2025

Yes! The BuddhaFest:)

● Eight New Talks from Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, Sharon Salzberg, Roshi Joan Halifax, Thupten Jinpa, Sister True Dedication, Robert J. Waldinger, Jan Willis, and Gullu Singh● Encore Talks from Previous BuddhaFests with Joanna Macy, Ram Dass, Matthieu Ricard, Lama Tsultrim Allione, Sylvia Boorstei...

12/07/2025

🌱 Two Promises 🌱

I vow to develop understanding
In order to live peacefully with people, animals, plants, and minerals.

I vow to develop my compassion
In order to protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals.

We’re in the middle of our Summer Opening retreat here at Plum Village — a joyful and peaceful time when children, teens, and families come together to practice, play, and simply be.

During the children’s program, we explore these Two Promises — offered by our teacher Thay () — as a way to help young hearts connect with mindfulness in a simple and real way.

When children repeat them, they begin to feel:
"My actions matter. I can choose peace. I can protect life."
It’s not about being perfect — it’s about remembering what’s in our hearts, and choosing to act with love.

✨ You can read more on the Plum Village website — including how to bring the Two Promises into daily life:
🔗plumvillage.org/articles/two-promises-planting-seeds-of-peace-in-young-hearts

07/07/2025

Summer 2022, Dharamshala, India. His HH the Dalai Lama was residing in the cool mountains, but the whole place breathed his presence and personality. After Covid times, it was the first opportunity to travel far away again, but also a new opportunity to connect with the inner self.
I remember sitting there for a long time. Breathing in wisdom, breathing out compassion. Feeling so connected with myself and all the people around me. With all sentient beings.
Grateful for being there, happiness and health. Fully aware that everything will change again. But at the moment: calm and confident.

“Therefore, compassion and affection help the brain to function more smoothly. Secondarily, compassion gives us inner strength; it gives us self-confidence and that reduces fear, which, in turn, keeps our mind calm. Therefore, compassion has two functions: it causes our brain to function better and it brings inner strength. These, then, are the causes of happiness. I feel it is like that.”

~ His Holiness the Dalai Lama IVX ~

https://www.dalailama.com/messages/compassion-and-human-values/compassion-as-the-source-of-happiness

https://open.spotify.com/track/6uz15WulA17DDA12LzhIw4?si=W89Ibf_WSqyd43V_-kqvng

02/07/2025

29/06/2025

Amsterdam, July 6th:
https://bodhitv.nl/evenement-compassie-in-actie/?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwLNyoBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHkQlVE2gHQcC_4ksJMk0804S45YXLpJV3Y_2E8lm-XwlNCcRSbg_nvyqyIce_aem_lfOXaXfbOQ6caDpRy2Cybw

Koop nu je tickets voor Compassie in Actie: een feestelijk en verbindende evenement met vrijdenkers en changemakers van alle achtergronden.

26/06/2025

This film tells the story of her life, inspired by the vision of her brother the Dalai Lama, with tireless compassion and unwavering dedication, she worked to transform the lives of countless Tibetan children in exile.

Watch it via the website - www.compassionrising.com