A Mindfulness Retreat for Scientists in the Field of Consciousness

A CONVERGENCE OF SCIENCE AND MEDITATION
August 19th – 26th, 2006
Plum Village, France

Is there free will? How do mind and body work together? How do objective neuronal events in the brain become subjective consciousness? How does consciousness arise and where can it be located? Is the brain different from the mind?Science studies the brain from outside, but do we know what happens when we look inside to experience our own minds? Ancient Buddhist wisdom has been found to correspond very closely with recent scientific discoveries on the nature of reality. Discoveries in science can help Buddhist meditators and Buddhist teachings on consciousness can help science. Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and the monks and nuns of Plum Village invite you and your family to a seven day mindfulness retreat to learn about our own minds using Buddhist teachings and recent scientific findings. Research on the brain demonstrates that mind and body are interdependent. No self can be found when science looks deeply into the functioning of consciousness. In order to do good science, we must first take good care of the scientist. How can we apply our scientific discoveries to our daily lives in order to improve our relationships with our beloved ones? How can we nourish joy, peace and stability in ourselves, our families and our communities?

Excerpt from a talk of Thich Nhat Hanh in Plum Village- Nov. 17, 2005

During the retreat participants are invited to enjoy talks by and pose questions to Buddhist Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. Every day we will practice sitting meditation and outdoor walking meditation in order to develop our calm, stability, peace and joy. As a basis for freedom and happiness we will learn about the Buddhist approaches to skillful communication, quieting the mind (samatha) and deep looking (vipassana). We will practice taking meals in silence in order to enjoy the food and the presence of other practitioners around us. Throughout each day we will have a chance to practice mindfulness and to share our experiences and insights in small groups. In retreats at Plum Village we all share in daily working meditation periods, learning to work together in harmony and with ease to help the retreat run smoothly. This could include helping with food preparation or clean up, keeping common areas clean or working in the garden. There will be a period of Noble Silence each day to help us cultivate our inner wisdom, and we will enjoy periods of personal time to reflect, absorb the beauty of the landscape and connect with other retreatants.

Although priority will be given to neuroscientists and those who work in the scientific fields of the brain, the mind and consciousness, everyone is welcome to attend. Families are welcome to join the retreat. A children’s program (ages 6 to 12) and a teenagers’ program (ages 13 to 19) will be offered. All meals will be vegetarian. We are unable to cater to individual dietary needs. Retreatants are requested to refrain from smoking and drinking alcohol during the retreat.

Please send your registration form before June 30th, 2006. The retreat begins with check-in after lunch on August 19th, with dinner served at 6:00 pm and an orientation at 8:00 pm. The retreat will end after lunch on August 26th. Please plan to attend the entire retreat.

Some scholarships will be available for those with financial need. Please contact us for a scholarship application form.

Thich Nhat Hanh draws from 2500 years of Buddhist inquiry into the mind and has been studying and teaching Buddhist psychology for more than fifty years. He is a world-renowned writer, poet, scholar, Zen Master, and peacemaker. He is the founder of Van Hanh Buddhist University in Saigon and has taught at Columbia University and the Sorbonne. Thich Nhat Hanh is the author of more than one hundred books translated into many languages. His lineage is traceable directly to the Buddha himself.

Plum Village is a beautiful Buddhist meditation center with monastic and lay members. It is located in the countryside of southwest France surrounded by rolling hills, vineyards and plum orchards. We are one and a half hours by car from Bordeaux.

“…this gentle Buddhist monk from Vietnam…is a scholar of immense intellectual capacity. His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity.”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in nominating Thich Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967

For further information and to register please contact us at:

Upper Hamlet Office, Plum Village, Le Pey, 24240 Thenac, France
Tel: (+33) 553 584858, Fax: (+33) 553 584917
E-mail: UH-office@plumvillage.org
or check our website: www.plumvillage.org