February 22, 2026
Dear Friends,
We joyfully invite you to come celebrate our Lunar New Year’s Day of Mindfulness on February 22, 2026.
Our day program is as follows:
8:30 am Walking Meditation
10:00 am Commencing the Lunar New Year with a Prayers for Peace Ceremony followed by Kiều Oracles
12:00 pm Spring Festival Special Lunch
(Savor a variety of Vietnamese Cuisine!)
In this Lunar New Year of the Horse, we wish you good health, prosperity, and boundless dharma joy!
While this event is donation based, to best support our chefs du jour who will offer a celebratory lunch with many Vietnamese specialities, please register for this Day of Mindfulness soon!
We hope to see you!
Parallel Verses for the Year of the Fire Horse
Did you know that in Viet Nam there is a tradition of writing parallel verses to welcome the Lunar New Year? Our Beloved Teacher, Thay, used to hand write parallel verses for us to decorate our meditation halls, our rooms, on our Earth Cakes and Sky Cakes… as a practice we can embody all year long.
Our sangha still continues this tradition and these verses are calligraphed by our dear Upper Hamlet Abbot, Brother Phap Huu, who many of you may know through the podcast, “The Way Out Is In.”
This Lunar New Year, we invite you to embody the practice of being solid as a mountain and free as a white cloud. When we are overwhelmed by strong emotions let us remember our mindful breathing which can anchor us to be as solid as mountains.
When we strengthen our mindful breathing and are solid, we can taste inner freedom in our heart, in our body, and in our mind. Despite all the sorrow and indignation we may be experiencing, we can still root ourselves in inner freedom and don’t need to wait until there is no trace of suffering left in order to be as free as a white cloud. Our inner freedom will grow bigger if we feed it everyday and naturally we will learn the art of being as free as a white cloud, even in the midst of turbulence.
Together, we can be solid mountain ranges and a bank of free white clouds, offering love and healing.
One of our classic Plum Village songs encapsulates this practice which we can sing as a joyful reminder:
Arrived, Arrived,
At Home, I am at Home.
Dwelling in the here and dwelling in the now
Solid as a mountain, free as a white cloud
The door to no birth and no death is open
Free and unshakeable.
The parallel verses are available here:
