Welcome back, Jack here.
This is Modern Monastery: your guide to contemplative practice. We connect you to trusted traditions and create spaces to practice together.
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Sup fam,
Just a quick email to let you know that a group of 26 monastics from my favourite monastery are visiting Melbourne in May!
The founder of the tradition, Thich Nhat Hanh, was one of the most influential spiritual teachers of the 20th century. He is widely considered the 'father of mindfulness' for introducing mindfulness practices to the Western world in the 1960s and '70s. The group of monastics who are visiting trained directly under him for years, some for decades.
here he is next to MLK in the 60s, working to end the Vietnam War.
I have booked in for all of the events, here is the line up…
Residential Retreat: a weekend retreat (Fri to Sun) at their monastery in Daylesford. It’s the perfect entry level retreat for anyone interested.
Stream Entering Monastery in Daylesford
It seems it has now sold out, but there is a waitlist you can join. It’s common for a few spots to open up before a retreat kicks off.
Peace Walk & Peace Talk: a group mindful walk for peace followed by a talk at Fed Square.
Amanthi and I went to this one on New Years Day, 2025
This one will be great for anyone who wants to listen to the monastics speak for a couple of hours, the peace walk component is optional.Non-Residential Retreat: similar to the other retreat but it’s at a temple ~30 mins from the city, and you don’t stay the night. I’d recommend the residential retreat over this one, just because the immersion makes it way better.
All info and booking links can be found here.
what to expect
Plum Village teaches a ‘24 hour’ mindfulness practice that is carried into each activity. There is a strong emphasis on community and integrating mindfulness into everything we do, beyond formal sitting meditation.
Here is the typical schedule for a retreat:
05:00 Wake up
06:00 Sitting meditation
07:00 Light exercise
07:45 Breakfast
09:00 Dharma Talk, class, or mindful service
11:30 Walking meditation in nature
12:30 Lunch (often with a few minutes of silent eating)
13:30 Rest or optional guided relaxation
15:00 Dharma sharing or mindful service
18:00 Light dinner
20:00 Personal study, sitting meditation, or collective practice
21:30 Noble Silence begins
22:00 Lights out
The residential retreat will likely follow this schedule, and the non-residential retreat will be more condensed starting at 9am instead of 5am.
If you aren’t game for a retreat just yet, I would recommend joining the Peace Talk at Fed Square. They’ll likely give a talk on mindfulness, followed by some Q&A.
These events are the perfect intro to this tradition, from some of their senior teachers who only visit once every few years.
If you are interested or have any questions, please reach out!
Would love to see you there.
If you got this far, I love you.
See you soon.
Jack