Meet Our Monastics

A Vietnamese monastic Dharma teacher of Plum Village, born in 1985. He received novice ordination on 23 March 2011, at the age of 26. His Dharma name is Tâm Thanh Trung, and his Dharma title is Chân Trời Tuệ Chiếu. He belongs to the Green Bamboo monastic family.

He received full ordination on 23 March 2016, during the Gratitude and Grace ordination ceremony at New Hamlet Monastery. In 2021, during the Crossing the Shore ordination ceremony, he received the Lamp Transmission with the following transmission gatha:

A noble man carries the weight of earth and sky,

With the sword of wisdom, he enters the world to liberate beings.

Never forget to shine the light back upon yourself,

Realize Buddhahood and fulfill your ancient vow.

As the 713th disciple of Thầy Làng Mai, Brother Trời Tuệ Chiếu belongs to the 43rd generation of the Linji Zen tradition and the 9th generation of the Liễu Quán lineage.

A Vietnamese monastic Dharma teacher in the Plum Village tradition, Thầy Trời Đạt Nguyện was born in 1988. He received novice ordination at the age of twenty-five on 8 December 2013, at Thai Plum Village Monastery, and was given the Dharma name Chân Trời Đạt Nguyện. He belongs to the Linden Tree family.

He received full ordination on 22 February 2017, at Thai Plum Village Monastery during the Tánh Thiên Great Ordination Ceremony. In 2025, he received the Dharma Lamp Transmission at Deer Park Monastery with the following transmission gatha:

On the true horizon, flowers of mindfulness bloom;

Right within the realm of dreams, the seat of suchness unfolds.

The ancient promise is fulfilled, the aspiration realized;

After a thousand years of rising and falling, one now dwells in freedom and ease.

A Japanese Buddhist monk whose English name is “Sunlight”. He became a novice in 2017 and received full ordination as a bhikkhu in 2021 at Thai Plum Village.

Sister Chân Trai Nghiêm (釈尼真齋嚴) was ordained by Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh in 2009, received her full Bhikshuni ordination on 24 May 2014, and became a Plum Village Dharma Teacher in 2020.

Born in the USA and spending her formative years in Yokohama, Japan, she relocated to Seattle at the age of thirteen. Before joining the monastic order in Plum Village, France, she worked as a concert violinist for several years, performing worldwide as a member of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, among others. She is also a certified yoga teacher and enjoys exploring creative ways to share the Dharma, cultivating harmony and healing in body and mind. She has led mindfulness retreats in South and North America, Europe, and Asia, and has helped publish numerous works by Thầy in the Japanese language.

A Vietnamese monastic Dharma teacher in the Plum Village tradition, born in 1988. She began her monastic training in 2006 at the age of 18 and received novice nun ordination on 3 March 2007, at Bát Nhã Monastery. Her Dharma name is Tâm Đại Hiếu, and her Dharma title is Chân Tạng Nghiêm. She belongs to the Agarwood Tree monastic family.

She received the Lamp Transmission during the Gratitude and Grace ordination ceremony in 2016 at New Hamlet Monastery, with the following transmission gatha:

The Five Organs descend to the Thu Bồn River.

Ānāpānasati, held with grace, preserves childhood’s innocence.

The vow made long ago has now come true —

Clear skies and bright moonlight on both banks of the sacred river.

Sister Tiếp Nghiêm (Sr. Tea) is a Vietnamese nun and Dharma Teacher born in 1992. She became an aspirant in 2005, ordained as a novice in 2007 at Prajna Monastery in Vietnam, and received full ordination in 2012. Her monastic name, Chân Tiếp Nghiêm, means True Continuation.

She lived at Deer Park Monastery in California for a few years, and has been living in Thai Plum Village since 2020, where she received the Dharma Lamp Transmission in 2021.

A female monastic of Plum Village. She is Thai, born in 1986, and received novice ordination on 15 August 2015, at the age of 29, at New Hamlet Monastery. Her Dharma name is Beautiful Mind of the Heart, and her Dharma title is Chân Trăng Thanh Thiên. She belongs to the Sala Tree monastic family.

She received full ordination on 3 October 2021, during the Crossing the Shore ordination ceremony held at Deer Park Monastery. As the 924th disciple of Thầy Làng Mai, Sister Trăng Thanh Thiên belongs to the 43rd generation of the Linji Zen tradition and the 9th generation of the Liễu Quán lineage.