Building Monastic Community

In Plum Village, we believe that in order for Buddhism to take root in the West, there must be a very strong monastic community. So far, in Western Buddhism the building of monastic community has not been emphasized, due to the decline of monastic culture in the West. Most people in the West do not look on monastic community, whether Christian or otherwise, as a place of refuge; hence Buddhism has entered the West primarily through the laity rather than through monastics. In Plum Village we believe that, for lay Buddhism to develop and grow, there must be a monastic culture existing in parallel, to hold the practice and to form the foundation on which Buddhism can enter into the society.  

We have tried in the last 30 years to build a monastic community based strongly on brotherhood and sisterhood. Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh has observed that if we do not structure the monastic community as a family, we will not be able to last very long. Historically, in Asian countries, most monastic communities are structured like blood families with an elder monk acting like a father, an elder nun like a spiritual mother, elder brothers and sisters, and younger spiritual brothers, sisters, sons and daughters.  

In our monastic community, we do not practice so much devotion, or teaching the lay people to pray to the Buddha to solve their problems. We try to develop our understanding and insight so that meditation and social service are the core of our monastic life. We still have the religious aspect; but it is very minimal. We do not perform a lot of ceremonies. We have a lot of meditation in our daily life – sitting, walking, playing or working. All aspects of our life are viewed as meditations in which we stop and look deeply.

During the last 20 years, we have tried our best to update the Pratimoksha that has been handed down to us through thousands of years. In 2003, during a trip to Korea, we were able to release a first draft Revised Pratimoksha to help monastics to practice in modern times. We have received a lot of input from monks and nuns of different traditions. A final revised Pratimoksha has been published since then, and is available on our website, www.plumvillage.org. We have kept the structure of the traditional Pratimoksha according to our tradition which is in the Dharmagupta school; but many precepts have been rewritten to help protect monks and nuns encountering the challenges posed by 21^st century society. For example, we have added provisions concerning the skillful use of motor vehicles, mobile phones, the Internet, e-mail, and so on.  

In our community, while the importance of seniority is very much respected, the hierarchical element of monastic life has been reduced to a minimum and the more democratic Sanghakarman procedure is used for decision-making in all aspects of community life. This approach is actually closer to the tradition of the original Sangha. The role of the abbot is to take care of the spiritual life of the members of the community,  rather  than  being  consumed  in  administrative  tasks.

A “caretaking council” composed of younger brothers or sisters of the community oversees the day to day operations of the community, and a dharma teacher council is responsible for guiding all matters concerning the practice of the community; but all final decisions are in the hands of the bhikshu or bhikshuni council. These fully ordained monks or nuns are the ultimate governing body of the community.

In our community, we transform together as one sangha body. We do not emphasize so much the career or progress of the individual. The most important element of community life is the cultivation of real brotherhood and sisterhood. Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh has said in his more than sixty years as a monk, he has found there is no higher principle or ideology than brotherhood and sisterhood. Fame or other forms of success are not worth trading for brotherhood and sisterhood.  

It is in this spirit that we practice shining light, a very sincere sharing offered to each member from all the other members of the community concerning the strengths and weaknesses in that member’s practice.  Every year, we practice the three-month rains retreat during the winter season. Traditionally, shining light is offered at the Pavarana ceremony at the end of the rains retreat from just one community member to another. In Plum Village, each member receives shining light from all other members of the community, and we take the time necessary to accomplish this. Then, at the Pavarana ceremony, a shining light letter summarizing the insights shared by the whole community is given. It is a very deep practice to receive so much wisdom from the eyes of the whole Sangha. In Buddhist tradition, we have spoken of the Buddha eyes and the Dharma eyes, but not yet of the Sangha eyes. In Plum Village we are developing the understanding and action of Sangha eyes. The Sangha eyes contain the Buddha eyes and the Dharma eyes.  

Due to the needs of modern society, monastic dharma teachers are not enough to satisfy the demand for receiving the teachings. In the past twenty years, we have trained lay as well as monastic practitioners to become dharma teachers in our tradition. We have transmitted the lamp of wisdom to nearly 200 monastic and lay teachers. The dharma teachers are trained, not to lead ceremonies, but to have the understanding and depth in their practice to be able to help people transform their suffering. Our lay dharma teachers are in many countries. We have approximately 700 local sanghas practicing all around the world, and most of them do not have a dharma teacher to lead their practice. Hence there is a great need for dharma teachers everywhere.