Join Our Community
“We are here to awaken from our illusion of separateness.”
— Thich Nhat HanhDeer Park is the southern California expression of the global Plum Village Community. One of 12 Plum Village mindfulness practice centers around the world, our sense of community extends beyond our physical borders.
The Deer Park Community consists of the resident monastics and long-term lay residents that live onsite year round, along with local mindfulness practitioners who come for retreats and Days of Mindfulness.
The full community also includes people who connect to the global Plum Village community through our website.
The core of our connection is our mutual commitment to deepening our practice of the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh and building the beloved community he envisioned. Exploring Thay’s teaching is the thread that weaves our community together and extends it around the world.
Find a Community
Visit one of our 12 practice centers around the world or find a sangha near you.
- All Ages
- Young Adults (Wake Up)
- Startup
- Mindfulness Practice Center
Circles of Connection
A sangha is a community of mindfulness practitioners who gather to meditate in person or online, share joys and difficulties, and support one another. Search for a sangha or learn how to start one.
Get Started
Wake Up is an active global community of young mindfulness practitioners, aged 18-35, who come together to practice mindfulness, encourage self care, nourish happiness, and contribute to building a healthier and more compassionate society.
Learn More
Those with a sincere aspiration to cultivate understanding and compassion as their only career are welcome to join our monastic community. Monks and nuns live, learn, practice and teach at Deer Park, living as a community rather than as individuals.
Become a Monastic
The Order of Interbeing is a community of monastics and lay people who dedicate their lives to building sangha and living in accord with the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings — a contemporary distillation of the Bodhisattva (Enlightened Being) teachings of Mahayana Buddhism.
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In the spirit of inclusion, belonging, liberation, and co-creation fostered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Thay through their friendship and shared vision of the Beloved Community, we offer retreats, Dharma Sharing groups, and scholarships for BIPOC practitioners.
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The Plum Village tradition is inclusive and embraces all people. Wherever you come from, however you look or identify, whomever you love — you’re welcome at Deer Park. It’s in that spirit that we offer LGBTQIA+ Dharma Sharing groups and foster connections with LGBTQIA+ communities.
Learn More
Plan Your Visit
Deer Park is open to visitors during retreats and Days of Mindfulness. Learn more about planning a visit to the monastery at these times.
Visit Deer Park
Explore Online Courses
From time to time we offer multi-week courses related to mindfulness, the teachings and life of Thich Nhat Hanh, and a variety of similar subjects. Please see our schedule of upcoming courses.
Plum Village App
Take the Deer Park Monastery and Plum Village community with you wherever you go. The Plum Village app is designed to cultivate mindfulness, compassion, and joy through guided meditations, deep relaxations, practice poems, bells of mindfulness, and other practices — all through a mobile device.
