Monastic

Brother Pháp Dung

Brother Phap Dung

Brother Chân Pháp Dung (Dharma Embrace) was ordained in 1998 as a monk in Plum Village France receiving the Dharma Teacher Lamp from Thầy in 2004. He is the former abbot of Deer Park Monastery in California from 2001 to 2010. He was born in Vietnam in 1969 and escaped as a refugee with his family to the US when he was nine years old. He grew up in the Los Angeles area, studied and received a degree in Architecture from the University of Southern California, and worked as an architect/designer for four years before becoming a monk. 

Br. Pháp Dung helped to establish Deer Park Monastery and other US centers, creating meditation programs and retreats for children, teens, families, and young adults, as well as planning its halls and infrastructures. He has led mindfulness retreats in North and South America, China, Hong Kong, India, Bhutan, and Germany.

A Dharma teacher in the Plum Village tradition, originally from Vietnam and a U.S. citizen, born in 1969. He entered monastic training in 1997 at the age of 28 and received the novice precepts on February 4, 1998, at Từ Nghiêm Temple – Plum Village, with the Dharma name Tâm Hòa Sắc and the Dharma title Chan Phap Dung. He belongs to the Cây Táo (Apple Tree) ordination family.

He received full ordination on December 18, 2001, in the Đã Về Đã Tới Great Ordination Ceremony

Ordination Date

February 4, 1998

Name Translation

True Dharma Embrace

Birthplace

Vietnam

Lamp Transmission

Received the lamp in 2004 in the Đoàn Tụ Great Ordination Ceremony with the transmission gatha:

"Listening to the mountains expound the Dharma,
 Seeing the interbeing of the two truths.
 Spring arrives with a new robe,
 Snow clouds flow in the same stream."

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