Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet

Welcome to a 7-week in-depth online learning journey to nurture insight, compassion, community, and mindful action in service of the Earth.

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7 week course:
3-7 hours per week,
Combination of self-paced content and live events.

Language: English

Prices: €/$200, €/$300
Scholarships are available

Dates for next course: March 24 – May 12 2024

Join this new online course bringing to life the teachings in Thich Nhat Hanh’s book Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet.

Do you have a deep sense of care for the Earth, and want to find ways to bring mindfulness to your climate response? This new online journey harnesses the wisdom of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh to teach us how to face challenging feelings and create a sense of freedom and possibility. It is designed to empower the human resilience we need to face our current situation.

This course will be offered twice in 2024. Course registration is now open:

You can also sign up to receive updates.

Why Take this Course?

  • Balance personal wellbeing with climate action 
  • Begin to master difficult emotions and develop inner resilience
  • Join a grounded purpose-driven community of changemakers
  • Train in deep listening and compassionate communication
  • Nourish a profound relationship with the Earth
  • Turn your climate concern and anxiety into sustainable action

What Does the Course Offer?

New Teaching Videos

Professionally filmed short-form teachings from Plum Village monastic and lay teachers

Talks from Thich Nhat Hanh

Specially curated archive footage of teachings on engaged Buddhism and the environment

Daily Zen Practices

New guided meditations and other mindfulness exercises to incorporate into daily life

Live events

Learn together with Plum Village monastics and lay teachers

Small Group Sharings

Four group sessions to share insights and absorb the learning with others

Bespoke Interactive Platform

To connect with each other and feel a sense of community

You will have access to the course material for 6 months after the course ends.

We have entered a period unseen before in human history that requires all hands and all hearts on deck. Whether you’re a climate activist, a scientist, a parent, an outdoor enthusiast, or someone who simply doesn’t know where to begin, this course will help you respond to the current crisis from a more grounded, thoughtful, connected, and effective position

Christiana Figueres, UNFCCC Chair of the Paris Climate Agreement

What Will You Learn?

Week 1

Embracing the Pain

Become able to ground ourselves in our breath and body, to create the stability and clarity needed to handle the difficulty of our situation.

Week 2

Cutting Through Illusion

Learn to move beyond a human-centric view of the world, to break out of our separation and touch a greater wonder and mystery in life.

Week 3

Living with Courage

Face our deepest fears about our death and the possible destruction of our civilization to have the peace and energy to respond to big challenges.

Week 4

Learning to Rest

A chance to rest & restore, and to reflect on course learnings up until this point.

Week 5

Brave Dialogue

Discover strategies for listening and speaking to help us in the challenging dialogues needed to heal relationships and address the climate crisis.

Week 6

Mastering Mind & Habits

Explore how Buddhist psychology and self-compassion can help us take care of fear, anxiety, and despair, transform our habits, and identify our deep aspirations.

Week 7

Action Dimension

Identify and nurture the power of community to support us beyond this course and feel empowered to walk in the company of bodhisattvas.

Meet your Teachers

Sister Peace, Brother Pháp Dung, Christiana Figueres, Dr. Larry Ward
Sister Chân Đức, Brother Pháp Hữu, Sister Từ Nghiêm, Anh Tran (Nho)
Brother Pháp Xả, Sister Lăng Nghiêm, Sister True Dedication, John Bell
Sister Trai Nghiêm, Felipe Viveros, Sister Tuệ Nghiêm, Sister Chân Không
Sister Định Nghiêm, Brother Pháp Linh, Sister Lực Nghiêm


After being in climate justice movements for many years, I’ve found myself stuck in a routine way of thinking and taking action. My time with you all has been a breakthrough, a start of a new journey.

Isabelle, USA

I had burned out and now I see that taking care of me is the first thing to do, to serve with my true self for humanity

Donna, Chile

My biggest takeaway from the course has been that I have all the tools necessary to heal myself. I can connect to mindfulness and the earth whenever I need. My life has become slower, more meaningful, and colourful since engaging with this course.

Cait, South Africa

What are the Practicalities of the Course?

  • To take this course, we recommend you take a minimum of 3 hours per week (including live events), and ideally allow 5-7 hours a week to complete all elements of the course.
  • For the next cohort of this online course, there will be 4 live events (plus one optional live relaxation), which you can access via Zoom. Live events will be held on Sundays at 19:30 Central European Time (CET), on the following dates:
    • 24th March: Live opening (1 hour)
    • 7th April: Q&A with monastics (1 hour)
    • 21st April: Optional live relaxation (1 hour)
    • 28th April: Workshop (1.5 hours)
    • 12th May: Closing (1 hour)
  • We also encourage you to join a small sharing group to follow the course with and exchange insights. These groups will meet 4 times, and you will likely be invited to choose either Fridays or Saturdays, with meeting times adapted to different time zones.
  • In addition, we’ll run the course again later in the year, from October – December 2024 (exact live event dates in this cohort TBC).

Use your tears to put out the fires scorching the Earth, and your breath to redirect the waters of your heart towards wellness, justice and harmony.

Dr. Larry Ward, Senior Plum Village Dharma teacher

Pricing

Our aim is to make the course financially accessible whilst covering the costs involved in producing and running the course and, if possible, supporting the international Plum Village monastic community.

Standard Rate | $300

This rate helps us sustain the course, the creators and community that is offering it.

Discount Rate | $200

For students and people on a lower income that are unable to afford the standard rate.

Scholarships | $0 – $60

For those in need of financial assistance, and who also identify as: a young person (35 and under) and / or Black, Indigenous, Person of Colour (BIPOC) and / or from the Global South.

Sponsor Rate | $600

This option helps sustain the course and enables us to offer more scholarships.

 

Register

Registration for our next course cohort, running from the 24th of March until 12th of May 2024, is now open:

We will also run another course cohort from 20th October – 8th December 2024 (tentative dates) which you can already register for here. And if you’d like to be the first to hear about any course news, please sign up for updates

Frequently Asked Questions

Registration and payment

The intention of this course is to offer a transformative and healing online learning journey, helping people to cultivate insight, compassion, and resilience. This course has been created with much hard and loving work. To help us sustain the course and the community that is offering it, the refund policy is as follows:

  • Within six weeks before the course start date – 100% of the full fee may be refunded. An admin fee of €30.00 will be charged.*
  • Within one week before the course start date – 50% of the full fee may be refunded. An admin fee of €30.00 will be charged.*
  • Within two weeks after the course start date – financial refunds no longer possible, however you will be able to transfer your place to future courses if you experience personal circumstances which mean you can no longer participate on your originally chosen course dates. 
  • Two weeks after the course start date – Refunds or transfers no longer eligible.

    *The admin fee is waived for scholarship recipients.

Course content and time requirement

Can I join the course…

Live events and sharing groups

Languages

After the course

Can’t find your answers here? Please take a look at our more extensive FAQ page.

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Course Content

Expand All
Get Ready for the Journey
Week 1: Embracing the Pain
Week 2: Cutting Through Illusion
Week 3: Living with Courage
Week 4: Learning to Rest
Week 5: Brave Dialogue
Week 6: Mastering Mind & Habits
Week 7: Action Dimension
Post Course: Continue the Journey

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What is Mindfulness

Thich Nhat Hanh January 15, 2020

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