Plum Village Monastery — Upper Hamlet

Plum Village Monastery — Upper Hamlet is in Thénac, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France and is one of the three principal French monastic hamlets of Plum Village, the Buddhist community founded by Thich Nhat Hanh in southwest France.. Plum Village was founded in southwest France in 1982 by Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh and collaborators and developed into an international monastic and retreat community.

The French community is organized across three separate monasteries or “hamlets.” Upper Hamlet at Thénac is the monastic home of the brothers and is formally identified on the official site as Pháp Vân Temple. Religious life or devotional practice associated with the site includes Mindfulness meditation, Zen monastic practice, retreats, and chanting.

Upper Hamlet is one of three geographically separate Plum Village monasteries in France and is the principal residence of the monastic brothers. Visitors normally participate through registered retreats or scheduled Days of Mindfulness, so the address should not be treated as a generic drop-in tourist attraction. This record intentionally represents Upper Hamlet alone.