Americanizing Buddhism: Evolving a Living Buddhist Tradition in America

I am happy that Brother Pháp Dung is giving this course as a fund raiser for DeerPark new interbeing school for the next generation. It will be an opportunity to get to know a VietNamese American Brother.

Course introduction

This course is an invitation to explore and reflect together on how a living Buddhist tradition—the Plum Village Tradition established by Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh—can continue to grow and take root in the West, especially within North American culture. Together, we will look through the eyes of Brother Pháp Dung as he shares how his teacher, Thầy, understood Buddhism and its relevance for our times. We will engage in collective reflection and dialogue, examining the role this tradition can play in our daily lives. Along the way, we will also consider how these teachings can be thoughtfully adapted and authentically maintained and expressed within our own cultural and personal contexts.

My Introduction

We moved to San Diego three years ago from New York City area where I had lived most of my life and raised my 2 children. I have been following the devotional path since the age of 10 when I first attended the Dharma talk at the temple with my Mother in Saigon, Viet Nam. After the fall of Saigon in 1975, our family settled in the North East where the Vietnamese settlements where then quite sparse (unlike California Texas or Florida). Typical of most Vietnamese family Thẩy name was never mentioned and I did not really know much about Thẩy and the Plum Village tradition until our family moved to San Diego and discovered that we would be living next to DeerPark. After sending our 2 teenagers (15 & 17)to DeerPark’s teen camp and was surprised at the end that they had overcame their initial resistance and were crying so wanting to return the following year. I asked them why and they said they were so moved by all the beautiful shares that they had heard during camp. What share I asked because the Buddhism I know we never share but only to suffer silently inside. But this is Buddhism 2.0 and last year I had the opportunity to deep dive on Thầy’s journey from VietNam in ways not so unlike my own from the New Jersey camp to the streets on Upper West side where Thẩy had slept, walked and yearned for the memories of Viet Nam. I am blessed to be educated in the best of American humanistic Liberal Arts tradition and with my years of living in New York City I am now very much ready to receive Thầy’s teaching. Today my day starts at 5 AM (before calling to my global IT colleagues) when I get my kitchen fully cleaned before my family waking up so that I can begin the day w peace in every step. The engagement path is different from the devotional path in forms but both follow the same Buddha’s path in essence and principles. I am happy to be on this journey to deepen my practice in this living Buddhist Tradition in America.

Week 1

What personal and collective conditions have shaped who you are in this moment and led you to the Buddhist practice?

How has the Buddhist path supported you? What inspires you about this path, the Plum Village tradition, or your “place in the family of things”?

I was 10 years when I first sat next to my Mother at our local temple in Saigon Vietnam to listen to my first Dharma teaching by the Venerable Thầy Thích Huyềng Vi. As the youngest amongst other Buddhist practitioners I had already then felt at home and belonged. 2 years later in 1975 10 days before the fall of Saigon my Father made a promise to my Mother that he would leave the city w Venerable Thầy Thích Huyềng Vi and his counterpart Thầy Thích Th!ền Định in order to convince my Mother to get on the last official tourist airplane by South Viet Nam Airline to be with my brother and sister who were studying in Japan. Leaving Saigon I left my childhood home with these two Venerables on a 2 week sea voyage to find a new home in America. The devotional path has always been my way to stay connected w my family and to the Buddha until 18 when I found my new Home in the Arts while studying at Amherst College. Thầy came to America via Princeton and then New York City in the early 60’s and was later exiled from Vietnam in 1966 until his return in 2006. For 40 years thru the 70's and 80's Thầy's writings and the creation of Plum Village had influenced a generation of American Artists and Teachers in the journey of Mindfulness and they then brought the new insights into their creative toolkits which became their personal paths for creative inspirations and creations. After college and 4 years working in Boston I arrived to New York City beginning of 1990 I was blessed to be able to find these Teachers in the City who could not only teach me the crafts of acting, improv, physical movements and abstract paintings but would also introduce me to the paths of breath, physical embodiment and nature mindfulness as a way to find the creative inspirations for the personal self expressions. Arriving at DeerPark I immediately realized that I have finally arrived at Home.

Week2

What are your experiences or impressions of Vietnamese culture or Vietnamese Buddhism, either in your life generally or during a meditation retreat?

Each morning and night I would light an incense candle for Buddha and my ancestors. On the death anniversary of each ancestor our family would celebrate by putting out their favorite dishes. We go to the temple on major holidays like Tết to pray, chant and meditate.

Week3

What is your relationship to Buddhism, as a religion, a spirituality, a path of mindfulness practice? How do you frame this relationship with others in your life - family members, work colleagues, social friends, etc.? 

The devotional path will always be my Vietnamese heritage cultural connection via shared family practices and ancestral rituals. But Thầy had liberated me from the meditation seat to find my own internal temple to practice mindfulness in painting and swimming in my new Home.

Week5

How can the lessons from Thầy’s life during the war nourish and guide us in responding to the suffering and uncertainty happening now in the U.S. and around the world? What is one surprising insight you have discovered so far in this course?

I want to share a piece of Thầy ‘s writing that has helped me understand all my Christian brothers and sisters and provide deep insights into how to transform my devotional practice into an engagement path from arriving to a temple with a large Buddha outside to being at home with a temple of the within in Nature https://www.dzudo.org/post/san-dieguito-thursday-6-28-2025