Plum Village: From Settlement on a Modest Local Scale to Global Communication Network

Abstract

Founded in the countryside an hour from Bordeaux, France, by Thích Nhất Hạnh, known for his engaged and modern Buddhism, Plum Village is famous throughout the world for its mindfulness meditation retreats. Although many studies have been carried out on Thích Nhất Hạnh’s history and spirituality, none has addressed the question of the territorial implantation of Plum Village on a local scale, nor the processes of the worldwide diffusion of its network. After presenting the context of the penetration of Thích Nhất Hạnh’s teaching in the West, I explore the establishment of an exogenous religious community in the French countryside in terms of otherness and analyse the communication at play in the process of integration into the local scale in its municipalities in New Aquitaine, and then look at the strategy and means of communication put in place to to federate and expand its network on a global scale.