Jan 22/23: Casket Ceremony, Live from Vietnam and Plum Village France

Thich Nhat Hanh Memorial Ceremony | Live from Plum Village, France | 2022 01 22

Please join us for our second day of ceremonies, broadcast from Huế, Vietnam (where Thich Nhat Hanh spent his final days) and Plum Village, France, his home for almost four decades, and the largest monastery in the Plum Village tradition.

Ceremony for Laying Thay’s Body in the Casket

Please follow your breathing as high monks and Thay’s senior disciples accompany Thay’s body to the Full Moon Meditation Hall at Từ Hiếu Temple, in Huế. This short ceremony will be in Vietnamese.

This ceremony will begin at 8AM on January 23 in Vietnam (2AM CEST; 5PM on January 22 PST).

Follow the Live Stream Ceremonies

Please see our special Worldwide Memorial Services page for a full listing of online streamed ceremonies from all our centers around the world.

Create a Ceremony at Home

We also would like to encourage anyone who wishes to create your own ceremony at home with family or friends. The video below is a 45-minute ceremony to honor Thich Nhat Hanh, designed by Plum Village monastics for you to follow at home when you have the time. It includes a chant to accompany the lighting of incense, guided prostrations to the bodhisattvas, chanting the Heart Sutra, readings, and music.

Below you can find guidance on how to set up your own altar, and how to generate the energy of mindfulness, peace, compassion during ceremonies. Once you have set up your space, you can find a quiet time to follow the 45-minute ceremony in the video.

How to Create an Altar at Home

For everything you will need to create a ceremony, including chants, inspiring texts and poems, calligraphies and so on, please see: Memorial Practice Resources

Sharing Your Gratitude

We invite you to share your memories of hearing Thay’s teachings, attending his retreats, or simply how his teachings and writings have impacted your life on this page.

Have you been able to reconcile a relationship or transform a difficulty? Has he inspired you to action in peace work, social justice, ecology, education, community-building or other kinds of engaged service? How do you aspire to continue his message in your own life?

We are also archiving pictures of Thich Nhat Hanh and of his calligraphies. If you have a photo of Thay, or a high-resolution photograph of one of his calligraphies, or a more private testimony, please send it to: thankyouTNH@plumvillage.org