Action Wake Up Fellows Receive 5 Mindfulness Trainings
Five members of the inaugural Action Wake Up cohort received the Five Mindfulness Trainings after three months of practice on the Rains Retreat at Deer Park.
Yesterday, mindful steps carried us along the stream of practice to the Ocean of Peace Meditation Hall. There, on a winter morning before daybreak, saffron-clad monastics and lay people surrounded a group of practitioners with a formal request. As the black sky began to brighten with the first signs of day, the sangha granted this request and transmitted the Five Mindfulness Trainings. When asked if they committed to receive, study, and practice each training, the voices of these seekers resonated as one, shaking the cosmos and sending chills up spines.
It was a familiar ceremony, but a special day, for the five members of the first Action Wake Up cohort were taking their bodhisattva vows. After three months on the Rains Retreat at Deer Park, their togetherness was already shining brightly, amplified by the spirit of their practice and loving hearts of service. They received names like Stable Friend of the Source and Spacious Compassion of the Source, reflecting deep aspirations to offer kindness, love, and wisdom to the world, each other, and themselves. When it was all over and the certificates had been distributed there was much laughter, many hugs, and lots of photos. The fruits of our practice filled the air with sweet nectar, offering a sense of belonging, joy, and stability to all.
As hunger began to nudge us towards breakfast, we left the hall in quiet reverence, sharing admiration for the strength of each others' practice, and appreciation for the importance of sangha on the path. After a few mindful logistics about the house, I got in my car (on loan from a retreatant) to head back. With a few deep, mindful breaths I set off, gliding through the once-dark hills, now capped with golden sunlight. For the first time, I made it back to the house without a map, the way having been fully traced in my heart. I have arrived, I am home.
Action Wake Up (AWU) is a new 15-month residential training program in Buddhist spiritual practice, applied ethics, community living, mindful service, and leadership development. Deer Park Monastery welcomed the first Action Wake Up cohort of young people (aged 18-35) to live and train in Escondido, California in October 2025.
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As this is a new offering, the Action Wake Up Program is supported entirely through the generosity of our community. Your donations help nourish and sustain this program, allowing us to continue opening the door for more young practitioners to join, practice, and grow together on the path.
Your donation contributes to our mission to learn, practice, and teach the art of mindful living in the Plum Village tradition in order to realize Thay’s vision for a vibrant and healing Beloved Community of happy people who live in peace and harmony with each other and the Earth.
