The 90-day Rains Retreat is an annual retreat whose origins date back to the time of the Buddha. It is a time for Buddhist monastics to deepen their studies, practice, healing, and transformation. In Plum Village, we also welcome lay friends to join us and participate in the 90-days of practice alongside the monastics. This creates a joyful, community experience, and a time for collective healing and transformation. Due to the pandemic, we are unable to accept short-term guests, but hope to welcome guest retreatants to join us for long stays, with an initial 2-week quarantine to enter the “Plum Village bubble.”
A Unique Experience
The Rains Retreat is a great chance to stay longer in Plum Village, with a full and stable program of practice. It’s an opportunity to get to know the Plum Village community and our way of life better, and it’s a good way to explore whether you may like to stay on longer in 2022.
The Rains Retreat is a wonderful way to deepen your personal practice of mindfulness in the context of community. The emphasis is on practicing as a community as we live, practice, study, and serve. In Lower Hamlet, we will have an international core group of 10-20 three-month retreatants, and together you will have a chance to cultivate sisterhood and form the heart of the Lower Hamlet lay community during the three months.
We hope that during the Rains Retreat you will consider Lower Hamlet as your own home :) In this spirit, we request that all retreatants join the monastics to joyfully contribute to sangha service in and around the hamlet during the retreat (during the daily service meditation time), such as mindfully pot-washing & mopping floors; helping outdoors in the gardens; cleaning bathrooms; tending the wood-stove; sorting recycling; translating, and so on. Those who are more experienced in Plum Village practice will also have an opportunity to facilitate practices such as dharma sharing circles.
Cultivating sisterhood as we learn to work together.
Joyful contribution to Sangha service.
Practical details
We welcome applications to join our Rains Retreat, for all 3 months or, if that is not possible, for 2 or 2 ½ months. All accepted applicants will quarantine in one of our “gites” for two weeks before entering the community bubble. Due to accommodation limits, we only have 15 places for new arrivals, so please submit your application early. There are three arrival days:
- August 24th,
- September 10th
- September 24th.
To preserve the stability of the Retreat, everyone is requested to stay through till December 7th, which is the only “departure day” for this retreat.
Please be aware that, if we have more applicants than we have space for, we will need to give priority to:
- Those who have an aspiration to become a nun or to apply to stay on to serve as a layperson for one year in 2022, on the happy farm, or in other areas (since participating in the Rains Retreat is a prerequisite for both pathways).
- Experienced practitioners who have been to Plum Village before.
Extended stay
In the closing weeks of the Rains Retreat will receive and consider applications to stay on beyond December 7th. If you feel you may be interested to request this, please make flexible travel arrangements.
Accommodation and pricing:
- The initial two weeks quarantine: will be in a room in the Crystal House (a short 15-minute walk from the main Lower Hamlet campus). The community will provide you with veggies, grains…etc for you to cook. There will be other practitioners also doing the quarantine, and will take turn to cook for each others. We will do our best to create a mindful atmosphere for each quarantine group with support from monastics.
- This period is free of charge.
- Autumn Camping period: after the quarantine, you will join the community for the Rain’s Retreat and move to the main Lower Hamlet site land stay in your own tent until October 20th or 22nd.
- Pricing for this time will be 165 Euros/week.
Indoor accommodation: it will start to be cold around mid-October, and it’s time to move indoors. We have three types of accommodation for you to choose from. It will be a seven-week stay in a room until the end of the retreat
- Here is the pricing:
| Dormitory(in crystal house with other 5 to 6 people) | Three-bedroom, shared bathroom (located in Crystal House) | Two-bedroom, shared bathroom (located in Crystal House or in the Lower Hamlet main campus) |
| 195 Euros/week | 200 Euros/week | 250 Euros/week |
| 1365 Euros (7 weeks) | 1400 Euros | 1750 Euros. |
Registering
If you are interested in applying to join us for this coming Rains Retreat, please fill out this form.
We will get back to you soon.
If you have any questions, please contact “Sister Deer Park” and “Sister Xuong” in the Lower Hamlet office: lh-office@plumvillage.org
We look forward to practicing with you.
A lotus for you
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