Category: Announcements

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An invitation to Shantideva Sangha

Dear community,

We are happy to share that a new practice center in the Plum Village tradition is available for Plum Village sanghas to organize days of mindfulness and similar activities.

Shantideva Monastery is located on a few beautiful, hilly acres in Castro Valley, just east of Hayward, and about a 1-hour drive from San Francisco, Berkeley, or San Jose. The address is 30345 Palomares Road, Castro Valley, CA 94552.

If you want to arrange a practice day for your sangha at Shantideva, please email Ven. Thich Tu Luc (thichtuluc@yahoo.com) and cc Dylan Tweney (dylan@tweney.com).

There is also a monthly meeting of Shantideva Sangha at this location. We are a group of lay mindfulness practitioners who enjoy practicing in the Plum Village tradition, with chanting in both Vietnamese and English. We invite anyone in the community to join our practice from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the following dates (generally the 3rd Saturday of each month):

  • July 20
  • September 7
  • October 19
  • November 16

These dates are all listed on the NorCal Sanghas event calendar.

We extend a special invitation to OI members, OI aspirants, OI-curious people, sangha facilitators, and anyone interested in helping build the NorCal sangha community.

We aspire that Shantideva (the sangha and the monastery) will become a resource and anchor for our broad and diverse Bay Area and Northern California community.

May you be happy,

Thich Tu Luc, Dylan Tweney and Isabelle YenChi Chappuis

Grey Simple Shantideva FlyerDownload
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New Teen Sangha in the Bay Area

from Nicole Kramer:

My name is Nicole (“Coco”) Kramer, and I am a sangha member in the Bay Area. Some of you may know me for my work at the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation from 2018-2022.

I am writing with the joyful news that along with my dear friend Amelia Ravitz, I am helping to form a new teen sangha in Berkeley, CA. Our aspiration is to create a long-term Plum Village sangha for teens in the area, and to plant an initial seed we are creating an 8-week series, on Tuesdays from October 10 – Dec 5. The group is freely offered, and open to teens ages 14-19.

We would be very grateful if you could share this information with your local sanghas and with the teens in your life! Registration closes on October 7. The group will be capped at fifteen participants.

To register and find out more, please visit the series website: https://www.bayareateensangha.com/

If you have any questions, you can also contact us at BayAreaTeenMeditation@gmail.com.

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Sending Love Letters to the White House

A message from LoAn Nguyen:


Dear Friends, Dear OI Members, Dear Dharma Teachers, Dear TNHF Board Members/Staff, Dear Beloved Monastics:

Thank you for sharing the impacts of the Cluster Bomb that is being considered by the U.S. government to supply Ukraine, and thank you for the ways you have called attention to this harm.

I just wrote to the White House. It was a simple process from this link provided by Susan Poulos. It took no time at all. I saved the message for possible resend elsewhere. I got a response and took a screenshot of it to use in my FB post next.

Continue reading “Sending Love Letters to the White House”