India Pilgrimage: 100 Years of Thich Nhat Hanh, In the Footsteps of the Buddha

This India pilgrimage retreat marks one hundred years since the birth of Thich Nhat Hanh. It is a two-week journey through India and Nepal in the Plum Village tradition, led by monastics from that lineage and accompanied by Dharmacharya Shantum Seth. It is for practitioners who want to practice the Buddha's teachings in the places where he shared them, and for students of Thich Nhat Hanh who wish to honor his centenary in that spirit. The pilgrimage is listed through Deer Park Monastery in Escondido, California, and is organized by Buddha Path.

What to Expect

The retreat runs for two weeks. Practice is held at sites across India and Nepal associated with the Buddha, so the days are shaped by the places themselves: walking, sitting and learning where the teachings are said to have unfolded. The monastics bring the Plum Village approach to mindfulness, with its emphasis on steady, gentle attention to breath, steps and community.

The pilgrimage is presented as a centenary observance of Thich Nhat Hanh, and the company travels as a practicing community rather than as a group of sightseers.

About Thich Nhat Hanh

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926 to 2022), affectionately called Thay by his students, was a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, teacher, author, poet and peace activist. He founded the Plum Village Tradition and is widely credited as a major influence on how Buddhism and mindfulness reached the West. Born Nguyễn Xuân Bảo in Huế, central Vietnam, he entered the monastery at Từ Hiếu Temple at sixteen and was ordained as a monk in 1951. In the 1960s he co-founded the School of Youth for Social Service, which sent volunteers into rural areas to build schools and clinics and to help rebuild war-torn villages. He also created the Order of Interbeing, a community of monastics and laypeople built around the Five and Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings, and he coined the term "engaged Buddhism," the idea that mindfulness and compassionate action in the world belong together.

About Shantum Seth

Dharmacharya Shantum Seth accompanies the pilgrimage together with the Plum Village monastics. Dharmacharya is the title given to teachers authorized within the Plum Village tradition.

The Setting

The pilgrimage travels through India and Nepal, visiting places connected with the life of the Buddha. It is hosted through Deer Park Monastery, a Plum Village practice center in Escondido, California, while the travel itself is organized by Buddha Path.

Before You Go

Registration, itinerary, travel arrangements and everything that is included are handled by Buddha Path, the organizing body, so questions about logistics are best put to them directly. Deer Park Monastery offers further ways to connect with the community in the meantime, including online courses on mindfulness and the life and teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh, and the Plum Village app, which offers guided meditations, deep relaxations and practice poems.