You and your family are warmly invited to join us for the Earth, Our True Nature Retreat, August 18-23, 2024 at the YMCA of the Rockies, Colorado.

During this retreat, mindfulness communities and friends from across North America gather to honor the Earth, practice the teachings of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh in the Plum Village tradition of Engaged Buddhism, and build a beloved community.

Hosted by over 50 monastics traveling by bus from Deer Park Monastery, California, the Earth, Our True Nature Retreat will give us a chance to restore our connection to nature and bring about transformational healing in ourselves, in our relationships, and in the world.

REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED

2-Person Shared Room with Queen Beds

A room features two queen beds, single floor pad, full bath, mini fridge, and linens/towels.

Prices start at $1100 per adult*

If you want to reserve a private room, you must pay for two beds. Please include this request in the Notes section of your reservation.

REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED

5-Person Shared Room with Bunkbeds

Deer Ridge Lodge features bunk beds and a private ¾ bath.

Prices start at $800 per adult*

Brother Chân Pháp Dung (Brother 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. 

Sister Kinh Nghiem (Sister Adornment with Respect) is a senior Dharma teacher in Thich Nhat Hanh’s international community of Engaged Buddhism. She ordained on Februray 4, 1998 at the age of 15. As Thich Nhat Hanh’s personal attendant for over 15 years, she has traveled around the world leading mindfulness and meditation retreats for communities, schools, universities, and business corporations. She received full ordination on December 18 in 2001 and the Lamp Transmission in 2006. She currently resides at Deer Park Monastery in southern California, where she enjoys picking wild sage, studying deep Buddhism, and sharing tea and laughter with her sisters and brothers.

Brother Mãn Tuệ (Brother Insight) is one of our eldest brothers at Deer Park. As he will tell you, he is a happy monk. He was born in Central Vietnam and ordained when he was seventeen at Plum Village’s Root Temple, Chùa Từ Hiếu. He came to Plum Village France in 2006, then lived at Deer Park from 2008-17, and after five years at Blue Cliff Monastery in New York he returned here in 2022. On his YouTube Channel, Qi Gong Meditation, he posts some of the most popular Qi Gong tutorials on the internet–his Shaolin Qigong Daily Routine video has over seven million views. You can usually find him on lazy days hiking or sitting outside his room burning sage.

Brother Pháp Lưu (Brother Stream) graduated Dartmouth College in 1997 and ordained as a monk six years later in 2003, Brother Pháp Lưu received Transmission of the Lamp from Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh to teach in 2011. He helped start Wake Up, the international movement for young people, as well as the Happy Farm, Plum Village’s organic farming community, and has been working with Wake Up Schools since its inception in 2012 to bring mindfulness to schools. He has served as a monastic editor for a number of Thầy’s books, including Happy Teachers Change the World, Stepping Into Freedom, Cracking the Walnut, and How to Focus. Brother Pháp Lưu leads mindful backpacking retreats in nature around Deer Park Monastery, and has been working lately with scientists at Dartmouth College and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health to develop research on the effect of Plum Village mindfulness practices on children.