Order of Interbeing
The Order of Interbeing, known in Vietnamese as Dòng Tu Tiếp Hiện, is a Buddhist community comprising monastics and lay practitioners founded by Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh in Saigon in 1966.[1][2] Rooted in the Linji school of Zen Buddhism, it emphasizes the concept of interbeing—the interdependence of all phenomena—through continuous mindfulness practice, ethical conduct, and compassionate engagement with social challenges.[1][2] Established amid the Vietnam War to counter hatred and divisiveness without taking sides, the order began with an initial ordination of six members—three men and three women—from Thich Nhat Hanh's School of Youth for Social Service, who committed to the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings blending traditional Bodhisattva precepts with contemporary social action.[1] These trainings form the core ethical foundation, guiding members in non-attachment to views, reverence for life, and skillful means to foster peace and understanding.[2] Ordinations paused for over a decade due to the war and Thich Nhat Hanh's exile but resumed in the West in 1981, leading to steady growth; by 2006, it included approximately 1,000 lay and 250 monastic members outside Vietnam, with further expansion following Thich Nhat Hanh's return visit to Vietnam.[1][2] The order's defining characteristics include its inclusive structure encompassing monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen, and its focus on the Four Spirits of practice: non-attachment to views, interdependent origination (interbeing), appropriateness, and skillful means.[2] It has no hierarchical clergy separate from the Sangha, promoting collective mindfulness in daily life and global Sanghas that recite the trainings and support humanitarian efforts.[1] Thich Nhat Hanh's teachings, disseminated through books, retreats, and communities like Plum Village in France, have sustained its influence as a vehicle for engaged Buddhism, prioritizing practical application over doctrinal rigidity.[2]History
Founding and Early Development (1964–1966)
The Order of Interbeing, known in Vietnamese as Dòng Tu Tiếp Hiện, emerged amid the escalating Vietnam War, as Thich Nhat Hanh sought to integrate Buddhist mindfulness with compassionate social action to alleviate suffering without aligning with warring factions. In 1965, Thich Nhat Hanh co-founded the School of Youth for Social Service (SYSS) in Saigon, a volunteer organization that provided aid to war victims, including rebuilding homes, caring for orphans, and supporting refugees, drawing from Buddhist principles of non-discrimination and interdependence.[1][3] To institutionalize this form of "engaged Buddhism," Thich Nhat Hanh formally established the Order of Interbeing in Saigon in 1966, grounding it in the Linji (Rinzai) Zen tradition while emphasizing practical application of the Dharma to contemporary crises of violence and division. The order's foundational Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings were articulated to guide members in ethical conduct, deep listening, and non-dualistic action, adapting traditional Bodhisattva precepts for modern exigencies.[1][3] On February 5, 1966—a full moon day—Thich Nhat Hanh ordained the first six members at a ceremony in Saigon: three monks and three nuns, aged 22 to 32, selected from the SYSS board for their demonstrated commitment to relief work. These initial ordinands, comprising equal representation of monastics and lay practitioners, embodied the order's innovative structure, which blurred traditional distinctions to foster collective mindfulness and service. By mid-1966, the nascent group focused on training in the Fourteen Trainings and extending SYSS efforts, laying the groundwork for the order's expansion amid ongoing conflict.[1][2]Expansion During the Vietnam War Era (1966–1975)
The Order of Interbeing was established on February 5, 1966, in Saigon by Thich Nhat Hanh, who ordained its first six members—three men and three women aged 22 to 32—all serving as board members of the School of Youth for Social Service (SYSS), an organization founded in 1965 to provide aid amid escalating conflict.[1] These founding members, known as the "Six Cedars," committed to the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings, emphasizing non-attachment to views, compassionate action, and mindfulness in daily life, drawing from the Linji (Rinzai) Zen tradition adapted for wartime engagement.[1] The Order's formation responded to the Vietnam War's intensification, promoting "engaged Buddhism" that integrated meditation with social service, such as rebuilding villages destroyed by bombings and supporting orphans and refugees, without aligning with either warring side.[3] Membership did not expand numerically during this period, remaining limited to the initial six due to wartime disruptions, government suppression, and Thich Nhat Hanh's exile; no further ordinations occurred until after 1975.[1] In Vietnam, the founding members sustained Order practices through SYSS operations, including weekly Days of Mindfulness for relief workers and public demonstrations advocating cessation of hostilities, while aiding draft resisters and war victims.[4] Sister Chan Khong, a founding member, directed SYSS efforts starting in 1966, coordinating teams that delivered medical care and reconstruction support in contested areas.[4] Thich Nhat Hanh's 1966 lecture tour in the United States and Europe amplified the Order's principles internationally, as he urged leaders like U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to recognize the war's human cost and promoted interbeing—mutual interdependence—as a basis for peace.[4] Denied return to Vietnam by the South Vietnamese government later that year, he entered exile, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967 by Martin Luther King Jr. for embodying nonviolent resistance.[3] A poignant act of commitment came in May 1967 when Nhat Chi Mai, another founding member, self-immolated in Saigon to protest the war's violence, underscoring the Order's fusion of personal sacrifice with collective action.[4] By 1969, Thich Nhat Hanh led a Buddhist peace delegation at the Paris talks, with Sister Chan Khong joining him in France, extending the Order's advocacy to diplomatic arenas despite ongoing barriers to return.[4] The 1973 Paris Peace Accords failed to lift his banishment, and as Saigon fell in 1975, the Order's Vietnam-based activities effectively ceased under the new regime, shifting focus to exile communities while its teachings influenced global anti-war discourse through publications and Thich Nhat Hanh's writings.[3] This era marked the Order's conceptual expansion via practical relief and non-sectarian ethics, though constrained by conflict, laying groundwork for later international dissemination.[1]Post-War Growth and Exile (1976–2000)
Following the conclusion of the Vietnam War in 1975, Thich Nhat Hanh remained in exile from Vietnam, as the new government repeatedly denied his requests to return, continuing a banishment that had begun in 1966 due to his peace activism.[5] In this period, he shifted focus to humanitarian efforts, including leading rescue operations for Vietnamese boat people fleeing by sea in 1976 and 1977 alongside Sister Chân Không.[4] Settling primarily in France after gaining asylum there in the mid-1970s, Thich Nhat Hanh began adapting his teachings on engaged Buddhism for Western audiences, emphasizing mindfulness practices amid personal and collective trauma from war.[5] Ordinations into the Order of Interbeing resumed in 1981 with the transmission to Anh-Hương Nguyễn in France, the first such ceremony since the Order's founding in 1966 amid wartime disruptions.[4] This marked a tentative revival, as Thich Nhat Hanh and Chân Không established Plum Village Monastery in 1982 on a rural property in Dordogne, France, transforming it into a hub for retreats, monastic training, and further ordinations that integrated lay and monastic practitioners.[5] [4] Plum Village's growth from a modest farm to Europe's largest Buddhist monastery facilitated the Order's expansion, drawing international visitors and enabling regular transmission ceremonies that emphasized the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings.[5] The 1980s and 1990s saw steady institutional development despite exile constraints, with key ordinations including Sister Chân Không as a nun in 1988 on Vulture Peak in India and Sister Annabel Laity as a Dharmacharya in 1990, appointed to oversee practice at Plum Village.[4] The first North American members were ordained in 1987, extending the Order's reach beyond Europe.[2] In 1992, the inaugural International Order of Interbeing council convened at Plum Village, adopting a formal charter to govern structure, councils, and global coordination among monastic and lay members.[4] By the mid-1990s, the Order comprised approximately 30 core monastic and lay members outside Vietnam, supporting emerging mindfulness sanghas in over 40 countries through retreats and publications.[5] This period culminated in the 2000 founding of Deer Park Monastery in California, enhancing U.S.-based activities and refugee support programs.[4]Maturation in the Plum Village Tradition (2001–2022)
During the early 2000s, the Order of Interbeing experienced steady growth in its global membership, paralleling the expansion of the Plum Village monastic centers, with increased ordinations and the establishment of local mindfulness practice groups worldwide.[1] By 2006, the Order comprised approximately 1,000 lay practitioners and 250 monastics outside Vietnam, reflecting maturation through formalized commitments to the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings and engaged Buddhist practices.[1] A pivotal development occurred with Thich Nhat Hanh's return to Vietnam in 2005 after nearly four decades of exile, followed by subsequent visits in 2006 and 2007, during which he conducted Order ordinations for committed practitioners, leading to hundreds of new lay and monastic members within a year and the founding of monastic centers in Vietnam.[2] [1] This reconnection facilitated the integration of the Order's teachings into Vietnamese Buddhist communities, enhancing its institutional presence and adapting Plum Village practices to local contexts amid thawing governmental restrictions.[2] In 2008, the establishment of Plum Village Thailand marked further infrastructural maturation, providing a new Asian hub for training and retreats that supported Order activities and aspirant formation.[6] By 2012, Thich Nhat Hanh released the final revised version of the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings, refining the ethical framework central to Order membership and recitation practices globally.[7] Thich Nhat Hanh suffered a severe stroke on November 11, 2014, rendering him unable to speak or actively teach, which shifted leadership responsibilities to senior disciples and tested the Order's resilience through continued retreats, publications, and community-led initiatives.[8] Despite this, the Order expanded to over 1,000 core members by 2020, with hundreds of affiliated local Sanghas reciting the Trainings and over 400 core community members sustaining Plum Village Tradition practices. [1] Thich Nhat Hanh's death on January 22, 2022, at Tu Hieu Temple in Vietnam concluded this period of maturation, leaving a decentralized network of 11 official practice centers and thousands of practitioners worldwide committed to interbeing principles, as evidenced by ongoing ordinations and global mindfulness programs.[3] [9]Core Teachings and Practices
The Concept of Interbeing
The concept of interbeing, coined by Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh in the 1980s, denotes the fundamental interconnectedness and interdependence of all phenomena, asserting that no entity possesses independent existence.[10] This principle posits that reality arises through mutual co-arising, where each element contains and relies upon others, challenging notions of isolated selfhood or separateness.[11] Interbeing draws from core Buddhist doctrines such as pratītyasamutpāda (dependent origination), śūnyatā (emptiness), and anattā (no-self), reinterpreting them for contemporary understanding by integrating insights from ecology and science. Thich Nhat Hanh emphasized that emptiness does not imply non-existence but rather the absence of autonomous essence, as all things interpenetrate and co-depend.[11] A foundational illustration is the sheet of paper, which "inter-is" with non-paper elements including clouds, rain, sunshine, forests, loggers, and even the logger's parents; removing any element dissolves the paper's identity.[12] This formula—"A is made only of non-A elements"—extends to both material and immaterial dimensions, such as time, space, and consciousness.[11] In practice, insight into interbeing cultivates mindfulness to perceive these linkages intuitively, fostering compassion, ethical action, and ecological responsibility by revealing how harm to one aspect affects the whole.[10] For instance, Thich Nhat Hanh applied it to environmental advocacy, urging collective shifts like adopting plant-based diets in 2007 to mitigate planetary degradation, as human well-being interdepends with natural systems.[10] This realization underpins engaged Buddhism, transcending dualities like self/other or human/nature to promote harmony through direct, non-conceptual awareness.[11]The Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings
The Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings serve as the core ethical precepts for members of the Order of Interbeing, guiding the integration of mindfulness into daily life, ethical conduct, and compassionate engagement with society. Developed by Thich Nhat Hanh in Saigon in 1966 amid the Vietnam War, they distill the Bodhisattva precepts of Mahayana Buddhism into practical commitments adaptable to modern contexts, such as nonviolence, mindful consumption, and social responsibility.[13] Initially transmitted to six founding members assisting war victims through relief efforts, the trainings emphasize transforming personal suffering into collective compassion and insight.[13] By 2025, they are practiced by over 2,000 lay members worldwide, alongside monastics in the Plum Village tradition, with regular recitation fostering community accountability.[13] [14] A revised formulation was presented by Thich Nhat Hanh in February 2012 during the Great Ordination Ceremony at Plum Village, France, refining language to address contemporary issues like environmental protection and interfaith dialogue while preserving the original intent of cultivating concentration to overcome fear and the illusion of a separate self.[13] Aspirants to the Order commit to studying these trainings for at least one year under mentorship, observing 60 days of intensive mindfulness practice annually, and receiving public ordination only with Sangha endorsement.[14] The first five trainings parallel expanded versions of the traditional Five Precepts, while the latter nine extend into communal and vocational ethics, reflecting the Order's emphasis on "engaged Buddhism." The trainings are formally recited in Vietnamese and English during transmission ceremonies and can be outlined as follows:- Openness: Members commit to avoiding religious, ideological, or doctrinal fanaticism, using Buddhist teachings as tools for understanding and compassion rather than sources of division, while remaining open to insights from other traditions.[13]
- Non-Attachment to Views: Through mindful listening and dialogue, practitioners release attachment to personal views, recognizing that truth evolves through collective insight and avoiding the imposition of rigid opinions.[13]
- Freedom of Thought: Respect for others' right to differing beliefs is upheld, refraining from coercion or discrimination based on views, and promoting environments where diverse ideas foster peace.[13]
- Awareness of Suffering: Suffering is acknowledged without denial, using mindfulness to comprehend its roots—such as discrimination or injustice—and transform it into actions generating compassion and solidarity.[13]
- Compassionate, Healthy Living: Harmful substances and media that promote violence or exploitation are avoided, cultivating mindful consumption that nourishes body, mind, and society with peace-promoting alternatives.[13]
- Taking Care of Anger: Anger is embraced mindfully rather than suppressed, investigating its causes to convert it into understanding and prevent destructive expressions like verbal or physical harm.[13]
- Dwelling Happily in the Present Moment: Life is nourished through full presence, letting go of regrets about the past or anxieties about the future to cultivate inner peace and joy accessible to all.[13]
- True Community and Communication: Sangha harmony is built via deep listening and loving speech, resolving conflicts through reconciliation rather than domination, and viewing community as a vehicle for collective awakening.[13]
- Truthful and Loving Speech: Words are employed mindfully to convey understanding and reconciliation, abstaining from falsehoods, slander, or divisive language that exacerbates suffering.[13]
- Protecting and Nourishing the Sangha: The community is safeguarded from discord by prioritizing collective well-being over individual agendas, using mindful practices to deepen bonds of trust and support.[13]
- Right Livelihood: Vocations are selected to avoid harm to humans, animals, or the environment, favoring work that promotes ethical production, sustainability, and social equity.[13]
- Reverence for Life: Nonviolence is practiced toward all beings, opposing killing in any form—including war or capital punishment—and advocating protective measures rooted in compassion.[13]
- Generosity: Possessions are shared freely without expectation, refraining from exploitation, theft, or oppressive systems that perpetuate inequality.[13]
- True Love: For lay members, sexual expression is confined to committed, loving relationships protecting all parties from emotional or physical harm; monastics observe celibacy, redirecting energy toward service and insight.[13]