Launched December 1st, 2021—only tens of days before Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh ceased to manifest in his familiar form, Thich Nhat Hanh’s Talks (TNHT) is a non-profit project attempting to translate Dharma talks delivered in the Zen Master’s mother tongue into English in the forms of prose transcripts and video subtitles. The website is done out of love and gratitude for Thay and for the teachings that have touched and changed many people’s lives.

This project started off as a personal resource for the translator’s daily mindfulness practice. But as the project grows, the translator is increasingly aware of the same need shared by many other mindfulness practitioners.

Some transcripts you’ll find here, particularly those for the English talks, actually come from the voluntary subtitling work the translator did on Amara for Plum Village from July to November 2021 (together with Bego Laka who started this work long before that).

At the same time, the translator also volunteered to help Plum Village translate Vietnamese talks into English and therefore received a detailed, 16-page guideline from one of the senior monastics in the Editorial Team in France. The transcripts and subtitles of those talks can be found here, together with a number of other talks selected by the translator for their importance and relevance in her daily mindfulness practice.

The amount of work done so far on this site is still humble due to the facts that:

• All transcripts and subtitles are done by one person;

• each Dharma talk takes a lot of work to make sure the translated transcript and subtitles preserve the original tones and meanings;

• the translation needs to be triple-checked with the 16-page Guideline For Subtitling and Translating Thay’s Talks (VI-EN), as well as other available resources on the topics covered in each talk—both in print and online, especially ones authored by the Zen master and/or the Plum Village community;

Please accept the translator’s sincere apology for the inappropriate ads placed on this website as it is run with free hosting. This will make sure the website is forever available for generations to come. Even when, for any reason, the translator can no longer maintain it.

The Vietnamese audio will never be muted so that friends who understand both languages can benefit from the talks. Any suggestions to improve the quality of the transcripts and subtitles are much welcome and appreciated.

Deep bows of gratitude for your patience, kindness, and understanding.
Breathing joyfully,
🙏❤

From heart to heart

This project can never come into being without elements that are not this project.

If you ever find the contents of this project helpful and interesting, it is because of Thay who chose to stick to his ideal from the very beginning. It is thanks to Thay, the contents of this project are available to you now.

Deep bows of gratitude to Sister True Pearl (Sister Bội Nghiêm) who has an unwavering confidence in the translator and whose suggestions embarked her on the journey of translating into English a book originally written in Vietnamese by Thay and assorted materials for the monastic community since 2018. Having the opportunities to work with Plum Village sisters and brothers has also allowed the translator to learn warmth, patience, open-heartedness, and understanding in all kinds of situations firsthand. Without this experience, the translator wouldn’t be able to do this work.

It’s thanks to the daily online practice sessions with Palm Sangha (founded in 1997 in California, US), as well as the weekly online practice sessions with Maple Village Sangha (founded in 1985 in Quebec, Canada) and Magnolia Grove Monastery (Mississippi, US) facilitated by Sister True Pearl and Sister Trì Nghiêm, the translator’s understanding of the teachings and practice can deepen on a daily basis.

The translator would like to express her deep gratitude for the friendship and unwavering support of childhood friend Radiating Kindness of The Heart who has chosen to walk this mindfulness path with the translator, and who occasionally helps with some of the graphic design for the project despite his busy work schedule. And to Mum and Mr. X, without whom she can’t be where she is in life and in the practice.

The translator would also like to thank Bego Laka, a friend in the English Dharma talk captioning team who helped her get in touch with the Plum Village Editorial team in France, and layfriend Sister Đới Hằng (Phương Bối Sangha) who helped the translator get in touch with the Vietnamese Dharma talk transcribing team in Plum Village Thailand. Without this, there would be no 16-page guideline and there would be no Vietnamese talk transcripts for the translator to rely on and to make sure she’s going in the right direction making more accessible Thay’s Vietnamese teachings to English-speaking friends.

Special thanks go to Ms. Ying Jōshin (Chân Nắng Lành—True Sunlight of Wholesomeness, Autumn Moon Sangha, US) for her valuable advice from the very beginning, without which the project cannot go in the direction that it is, and the translator cannot spend her free time on the right things.

The translator is deeply grateful to Ms. Phượng Trần (Sakura-Lotus Sangha, Tokyo, Japan) for sharing many of Thay’s precious Vietnamese Dharma talks and excerpts over the years through her YouTube channel TCT Phượng Trần, which—apart from Plum Village’s English and Vietnamese YouTube channels and Plum Village App, has served as a major resource for the translator’s daily mindfulness practice, as well as the translator’s work through this project.

The translator owes a debt of gratitude to the Plum Village App family whose care, love, warmth, kindness, understanding, and patience touch her deeply.

Last but not least, the translator is grateful for all the food, clothes, medicines, availability of water, electricity, the Internet, her compassionate neighbors, the many acts of kindness of those around her, and your warm support—among many, many other favorable conditions which have all gone into this project.

🙏