The Five Mindfulness Trainings
The Five Mindfulness Trainings represent the Buddhist vision for a global spirituality and ethic. They are a concrete expression of the Buddha’s teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, the path of right understanding and true love, leading to healing, transformation, and happiness for ourselves and for the world. To practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings is to cultivate the insight of interbeing, or Right View, which can remove all discrimination, intolerance, anger, fear, and despair. If we live according to the Five Mindfulness Trainings, we are already on the path of a bodhisattva. Knowing we are on that path, we are not lost in confusion about our life in the present or in fears about the future.
The Five Mindfulness Trainings
The Five Mindfulness Trainings represent the Buddhist vision for a global spirituality and ethic. They are a concrete expression of the Buddha’s teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, the path of right understanding and true love, leading to healing, transformation, and happiness for ourselves and for the world. To practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings is to cultivate the insight of interbeing, or Right View, which can remove all discrimination, intolerance, anger, fear, and despair. If we live according to the Five Mindfulness Trainings, we are already on the path of a bodhisattva. Knowing we are on that path, we are not lost in confusion about our life in the present or in fears about the future.
The Five Mindfulness Trainings
The Five Mindfulness Trainings represent the Buddhist vision for a global spirituality and ethic. They are a concrete expression of the Buddha’s teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, the path of right understanding and true love, leading to healing, transformation, and happiness for ourselves and for the world. To practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings is to cultivate the insight of interbeing, or Right View, which can remove all discrimination, intolerance, anger, fear, and despair. If we live according to the Five Mindfulness Trainings, we are already on the path of a bodhisattva. Knowing we are on that path, we are not lost in confusion about our life in the present or in fears about the future.
The Five Mindfulness Trainings
The Five Mindfulness Trainings represent the Buddhist vision for a global spirituality and ethic. They are a concrete expression of the Buddha’s teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, the path of right understanding and true love, leading to healing, transformation, and happiness for ourselves and for the world. To practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings is to cultivate the insight of interbeing, or Right View, which can remove all discrimination, intolerance, anger, fear, and despair. If we live according to the Five Mindfulness Trainings, we are already on the path of a bodhisattva. Knowing we are on that path, we are not lost in confusion about our life in the present or in fears about the future.
The Five Mindfulness Trainings
The Five Mindfulness Trainings represent the Buddhist vision for a global spirituality and ethic. They are a concrete expression of the Buddha’s teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, the path of right understanding and true love, leading to healing, transformation, and happiness for ourselves and for the world. To practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings is to cultivate the insight of interbeing, or Right View, which can remove all discrimination, intolerance, anger, fear, and despair. If we live according to the Five Mindfulness Trainings, we are already on the path of a bodhisattva. Knowing we are on that path, we are not lost in confusion about our life in the present or in fears about the future.
The Five Mindfulness Trainings represent the Buddhist vision for a global spirituality and ethic. They are a concrete expression of the Buddha’s teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, the path of right understanding and true love, leading to healing, transformation, and happiness for ourselves and for the world. To practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings is to cultivate the insight of interbeing, or Right View, which can remove all discrimination, intolerance, anger, fear, and despair. If we live according to the Five Mindfulness Trainings, we are already on the path of a bodhisattva. Knowing we are on that path, we are not lost in confusion about our life in the present or in fears about the future.
"The Five Mindfulness Trainings are one of the most concrete
ways to practice mindfulness. They are nonsectarian, and their
nature is universal. They are true practices of compassion and
understanding. All spiritual traditions have their equivalent to
the Five Mindfulness Trainings.
The first training is to protect life, to decrease violence in
ones self, in the family and in society. The second training
is to practice social justice, generosity, not stealing and not
exploiting other living beings. The third is the practice of
responsible sexual behavior in order to protect individuals,
couples, families and children. The fourth is the practice of
Deep listening and Loving Speech to restore communication
and reconcile. The fifth is the practice of Mindful Consumption,
to help us not bring toxins and poisons into our body or mind.
"The Five Mindfulness Trainings are one of the most concrete
ways to practice mindfulness. They are nonsectarian, and their
nature is universal. They are true practices of compassion and
understanding. All spiritual traditions have their equivalent to
the Five Mindfulness Trainings.
The first training is to protect life, to decrease violence in
ones self, in the family and in society. The second training
is to practice social justice, generosity, not stealing and not
exploiting other living beings. The third is the practice of
responsible sexual behavior in order to protect individuals,
couples, families and children. The fourth is the practice of
Deep listening and Loving Speech to restore communication
and reconcile. The fifth is the practice of Mindful Consumption,
to help us not bring toxins and poisons into our body or mind.
OUR MISSION: The Loving Work Foundation was founded as a means to inspire personal interest in the cultural vibrancy, the spiritual practices, and every day lives of the people of Viet Nam. We do this by supporting humanitarian programs that improve the lives of disadvantaged Vietnamese children and families, and by organizing and leading mindfulness retreats within the country, providing friends around the world the opportunity to practice together in the spirit of global community-building and engaged service.
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Joyfully Together Loving Work Retreats in Viet Nam
These retreats focus on community-building through mindful work with, and visits to, local nonprofit organizations in Central Viet Nam. One or two work projects are selected each year by the director of the Foundation, in collaboration with our local non-profit partners, following an exploration with the directors of these projects about what is needed and what is achievable.
Funding for these projects comes in part from funds raised by the retreat participants (see Community Partnerships) and implemented by those who join us as part of the Loving Work Retreat team for that year.
Our primary focus in these retreats is witnessing and supporting the work of our local partners, while cultivating deeper relationships with the people of Viet Nam. We especially enjoy the opportunity to share mindful work side-by-side with local staff and volunteers, Examples from past retreats include meeting with village elders, building
playgrounds; weeding and planting an organic garden, installing indoor plumbing for rural families, and building goat barns for the goats we gifted. A real joy is our annual visit with young students who are in our rural Schoolchildren's Aid program; another is exercising with the children at Tam Binh Center for Children with Special Needs.
All retreats include days of mindfulness, daily sitting meditation, Qigong, Dharma Talks, and regular Dharma Sharing.
Maximum 20 registered friends.
Read more for details on how to register:
Joyfully Together Homeland
Retreats in Viet Nam
Going as a river, we travel as a Sangha, Joyfully Together, Discovering the Homeland of Our Teacher. We explore sites in and near Saigon (HCMC) in the south and Hue in the central, important in the early life of the Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, as well as places and projects that reflect the general history and contemporary culture of the country. Highlights include Days of Mindfulness in Plum Village nunneries, a visit to Phap Van Temple, the site of the ordination of the first members of the Order of Inter-being, paying respects at the ancestral altar at Temple Tu Hieu, and visiting the museum, that honors our teacher and gives his continuations insight into his daily life. We explore charming Hoi An Ancient Town, the 1000 year old streets of Hanoi, and sacred Yen Tu Mountain, the site of the hermitage of the first Patriarch of our Bamboo Forest School of Zen, a root of the Plum Village lineage.
Maximum 20 .registered friends
Read more for details on how to register:
All of our retreats are experienced as "Joyfully Together", in honor of the retreat by the same name offered when Thich Nhat Hanh returned to Viet Nam to practice with the Sangha in 2005. We continue this tradition.
Community
Partnerships
We are happy to partner with some of the many non-profit charitable organizations doing wonderful work in Viet Nam. We prefer this collaborative approach, rather than attempting to initiate and organize projects on our own. We are fortunate to have personal contact and experience with a number of fine groups, enough to be able to determine whose goals match our own and which ones are effective.
Our friends have the option, throughout the year, to choose to financially support the work of one or more of these organizations, based on the information provided on this website. Friends can become even more directly involved as retreat participants on either or both of the annual Retreats.
Those who attend our retreats are asked to raise a minimum of 400 USD from among families, friends, and other connections.These funds are distributed directly to our partners during your retreat. We, then, pool these funds to support local projects of our participating partners. The fund raising effort which we ask retreat participants to undertake in advance of their arrival serves to shine light on the wonderful work of local NGOs to bring education and self-sufficiency to families and children in underserved communities in Viet Nam. In this way, we continue to grow our Loving Work community.
Read about our various partners and how you can become a part of our community of people dedicated to improving the lives of disadvantaged children and families in Viet Nam.
What We Do
Our Team
TRISH THOMPSON
Founder & Managing Director
DHARMA NAME:
True Concentration on Peace (Chân An Định)
Trish has lived and built community in Viet Nam for 20 years, drawing on a lifetime of dedicated engagement in diverse cultures around the globe. Her spiritual quest led her to India in the mid-1990’s where, for six months, as a student of the Dalai Lama and mentee of Rinchen Khandro, she became the first western retreatant at Dolma Ling Nunnery. In 1997, Trish met her teacher, the Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay). She accompanied Thay and the Sangha on his triumphant 2005 Tour (after 39 years in exile), and surprised herself by staying. She soon founded the first practicing Sangha in Viet Nam, the Hanoi Community of Mindful Living. Thay ordained Trish as a Dharma Teacher in 2011. Knowing of her love for Viet Nam, he encouraged her to continue to build community by organizing Mindfulness Retreats in Viet Nam. She continues the practice of Engaged Buddhism, as modeled by her teacher.
FROM:
Charleston, South Carolina USA / Ha Noi, Việt Nam
LYNNE KAUFMAN
President
DHARMA NAME:
True Unfolding Dharma Bridge (Chân Khai Pháp Cầu)
Lynne is an active member of the Desert Cactus Sangha in Phoenix, the Joyfully Together online Sangha, and the Deep Listening/Deep Looking online Sangha. Her dedication to the practice was fully awakened when receiving the Five Mindfulness Trainings on Yen Tu Mt, on her first retreat in Viet Nam with LWF. Lynne soon felt called to organize The Deepening Practice Study Group in the Phoenix area which continued to meet monthly for seven years. She writes songs and sings bedside with the Phoenix West Threshold Choir and Hospice of the Valley. Lynne loves sharing the Dharma and contributes her voice and meditations in numerous Sangha settings and retreats. She recently founded an interfaith meditation group in Phoenix, 'Meditation in the Tradition of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh' which meets weekly. Lynne is a mother, grandmother, and the partner of David, her greatest cheerleader.
FROM:
Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
JEFF NIELSEN
Vice President
DHARMA NAME:
True Pure Peace
Jeff Nielsen was ordained into the core community of Plum Village by our teacher, Thay Thich Nhat Hanh. He accompanied our teacher as a delegate to Viet Nam in 2005 and in 2008. Jeff is a long-time supporter of the Loving Work Foundation and the work of the foundation in Viet Nam, in particular in Quang Tri where he was stationed as a young US Marine during the war. His passion continues to be as a volunteer with the Loving Work Foundation and with Peace Trees Viet Nam, both devoted to improving the lives of Vietnamese children and families. Jeff is a retired Clinical Social Worker and active member of Heart of the Valley Sangha in Norwich, Vermont, USA where he enjoys gardening and writing.
FROM:
Norwich, Vermont, USA
HEATHER YOUNG
Secretary
LINEAGE NAME:
Loving Acceptance of the Heart
Heather is a student of the Buddha and of Thich Nhat Hanh, proud mother of two beautiful adult sons, partner to Alain, daughter of Yvonne, and a public health nurse. She was introduced to Thay through his book The Miracle of Mindfulness in 1991, and to the joy of practicing with a Sangha while on retreat in Viet Nam with the Loving Work Foundation in 2017. On that retreat, she received the Five Mindfulness Trainings at Dieu Tram Nunnery (Temple Tu Hieu) in Hue. Heather practices regularly with the Stillwater Sangha and several online sanghas, including the weekly Joyfully Together Loving Work Sangha. She is currently an aspirant to receive the 14 Mindfulness Trainings of the Order of Interbeing. Heather loves knitting, reading, long walks, and coffee.
FROM:
Eugene, Oregon, USA
LESLEY WARREN
Chief Financial Officer
Lesley Warren is a lifelong advocate for children and families, and is no stranger to Viet Nam and the work of the Loving Work Foundation. She is the daughter of the founder and has visited the country many times. She understands the needs of those we serve. She is a Mindfulness practitioner who had the good fortune to have personal contact with Thay Thich Nhat Hanh while on retreat in Plum Village France. Lesley has a Masters’ Degree in Education from The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. and works as a mental health therapist for children , families, and individuals of all ages.
FROM:
Charleston, South Carolina, USA
MONICA KINGSBURY
Director
DHARMA NAME:
True Sacred Mountain
Monica was ordained into the Order of Interbeing by Thich Nhat Hanh in 2009 and practices with the Mindfulness Community of Victoria. She is a somatically oriented psychotherapist and meditation teacher, grounded in Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness. Her work looks deeply into trauma-informed practice and its Interbeing with the Plum Village tradition of mindfulness and compassion. Monica has served as an Ambassador for the Loving Work Foundation and has recently joined its Board of Directors. She oversees the Special Education Teacher Training Program, a Loving Work Foundation initiative supporting teachers who work with children with special needs to receive further training, nourishment, and certification in their field. She has a deep love for the people and culture of Vietnam, and 2026 will be her fifth year of practicing and serving on retreat with the Loving Work Foundation.
FROM:
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
DONNA ROSEN
Director
DHARMA NAME:
True Powerful Transformation
Donna has practiced with the Open Heart Sangha since 2014 and ordained as a member of the Order of Interbeing in November 2024 at Deer Park Monastery. She first attended a Loving Work Retreat in 2022 and has been a regular and active participant ever since. Donna has a love for both immigrants and refugees and has been actively involved in her local refugee tutoring program for the past nine years. Donna is also thrilled to share that after regularly sharing qigong during past retreats, she is now returning as a certified qigong instructor. She is happy to be involved in the Loving Work Foundation’s effort to support children’s education in Vietnam.
FROM:
San Diego, California, USA
GEORGE WARREN
Director
LINEAGE NAME:
Deep Refuge of the Heart
George Warren received the Five Mindfulness Trainings in Plum Village France in 1998. Subsequent experiences as a delegate on Thay’s 2005 teaching tour in Viet Nam and during months as a retreatant at Deer Park Monastery led him to return to Viet Nam which has been his home for the past 18 years. He teaches English in the foreign language department of Da Nang University where he enjoys sharing aspects of American culture with his students. He continues to be of tremendous support to Trish, his mother and founder of the Loving Work Foundation. His passion is animals and animal rights.
FROM:
Columbia, South Carolina USA / Da Nang, Việt Nam
LINH PHAN KHANH
Assistant Managing Director
& Retreats Coordinator
DHARMA NAME:
True Beautiful Acceptance
Linh began her Mindfulness practice in the Plum Village tradition in 2006 when she joined the Hanoi Mindfulness Community founded and facilitated by Trish. On her first LWF retreat, she committed to practice the 5 Mindfulness Trainings in a ceremony at Dieu Tram Nunnery, and received the lineage name, Loving Care of the Heart. Linh loves to travel and has visited more than 40 countries. She is a former news reporter, and holds a Masters’ Degree in Public Policy from Indiana University, USA. Linh is a dedicated practitioner and an extremely capable and invaluable member of the LWF family. She is Trish’s spiritual daughter.
FROM:
Hanoi, Việt Nam
TRANG VU
Executive Assistant
& Retreats Registrar
LINEAGE NAME:
Full Opening of the Heart
Trang feels she is the luckiest person on earth, for she has a family she loves, work she loves, hobbies and interests she loves, and a Mindfulness practice that sustains her. Trang comes from an art-loving family, so it’s only natural that she is the assistant to the director of Viet Nam’s prestigious, #1, Art Viet Nam Gallery, located in Hanoi. She is an accomplished calligrapher and a student of languages, having taught herself Han Chinese; she is one of a small, but dedicated, group of students of Nom, the ancient language of Viet Nam. Added to all that richness, Trang has this ‘extra’ job which places her at the heart of the LWF family, making her an integral part of everything we do. She derives great joy from the relationships that develop with our international retreatants and, often, participates in our retreats.
FROM:
Hanoi, Việt Nam
Our Ambassadors
ANNE WOODS
Ambassador & Former Director
DHARMA NAME:
True Collective Spring (Chân Đồng Xuân)
Anne lives and practices with the monastic community at Blue Cliff Monastery and the Budding Flower lay Sangha. She was ordained into the Order of Interbeing by Thẩy in 2011, and received Lamp Transmission in Plum Village in 2025. Her first trip to Vietnam in 2013 was transformative, and she eagerly returned in 2015 and 2017, when she also helped to register those attending the LWF retreats. Connecting with the people of Vietnam, the history of the country, and the roots of our Plum Village lineage has been a priceless gift. In the Plum Village Community, she has served on the working board of the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation, the Core (board) of the BIPOC-centered organization ARISE (Awakening to Racial, Intersectional and Social Equity), and the original organizing and development team of EMBRACE (Embodying Mindfulness Based Resilience and Community Empowerment).
FROM:
Hudson Valley, New York, USA
SUE REMPEL
Ambassador
DHARMA NAME:
True Garden of Concentration
Sue is an active member of Desert Rain Sangha in Santa Fe, and also practices with Morning Light online Sangha, the Joyfully Together online Sangha, the Chanting Sangha with Melina Bondy, and the Colorado-Wyoming Order of Interbeing Sangha. Sue is passionate about volunteering with immigrant groups in the US and abroad. She first visited Viet Nam soon after the American/Viet Nam War, as a member of a peace mission led by her parents. She has practiced in the Plum Village tradition for many years and feels a heart connection with the Vietnamese people. Sue works as a hospice nurse.
FROM:
Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
DANIEL SMITH
Ambassador
DHARMA NAME:
True Breath of Life
Daniel Smith has been a clinical educator, online facilitator and experienced teacher/practitioner of alternative complementary medicine, including meditation, wellness, and journey work, for over thirty years. He specializes in addiction recovery, gambling, and schizophrenia. Dan is an accomplished poet and writer, a former college professor, and a founding member of the Midwest Moon Sangha in St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
FROM:
St Louis, Missouri, USA
CATHY PARSA
Ambassador
LINEAGE NAME:
Boundless Faith of the Heart
Cathy came on her first retreat in Viet Nam in 2014 and fell in love with Viet Nam and the Sangha. She received her lineage name from Trish and the Sangha in a transmission ceremony at Yen Tu Mountain, and has returned every year since, with the exception of the pandemic years. Cathy is a recently retired nurse who enjoys volunteering locally in service to the homeless and in SE Asia to benefit children and families. She practices regularly with the Nameless Sangha of Orange County, as well as with the Wise Women Online Sangha.
FROM:
Long Beach, California, USA
SIMONE FERRO
Ambassador
DHARMA NAME:
Graceful Expression of the Heart
Simone Linhares Ferro practices with the Mindfulness Community of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A student of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, Simone integrates mindfulness with embodied practice, bridging movement and classical dance through a somatic lens. She is deeply committed to Engaged Buddhism, especially in service of social and environmental justice. Simone and her husband and research partner, Dr. Meredith W. Watts, have conducted ethnographic research on popular culture in Maranhão, Brazil since 2007. A native of São Paulo, Brazil, she is retired from the U. of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Dance faculty. She is an aspirant for the Order of Interbeing.
FROM:
Milwaukee,Wisconsin, USA
Past LWF Leadership
A reminder: Anyone can practice Mindfulness.
Breathing and Smiling, Mindfully Sitting and Walking,
Being in the Present Moment – these practices do not
require us to be a "This" or a 'That." Everyone who finds
our program appealing is welcome to join us.
Mindfulness is a Path, one to which we have been dedicated for the past 36 years. Every moment of our lives is an opportunity to practice being present for what is happening inside and around us. We do our best to stay in our bodies, in touch with our breath, with the thoughts in the mind, and with the feelings in the body while aware of the elements and energies in our immediate environment. This is a demanding practice. We simply do our best in whatever circumstances we find ourselves. Our best is good enough!
Our two primary teachers on this Path are the Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh (affectionately called "Thay", meaning Honored Teacher) and the most elder nun in our tradition of Budhhism, Sister Chân Không. Others have influenced us; others have been and continue to be exemplary teachers for us; however, Thay and Sister Chân Không have been the Lights shining most brightly on our Path, showing us the way to transform our suffering into happiness and joy. Their teachings are most evident in how they live. We aspire to do our best to continue their example..
Thay, a monk since the age of 16, began in the early 1960's to teach the importance of service to one's community. His was a compassionate response to the suffering of the people in his war-torn country. He coined the phrase, "Engaged Buddhism." Sister Chân Không began her social work as a teenager in the 1950's in the Mekong Delta of Viet Nam. Our Loving Work is an extension of their work. Most of what we do is in Central Viet Nam, an area in which they both worked extensively during the war.
The retreats we offer contain the basic practices that support our commitment to be free (of doubts and worries), to be truly alive in the present moment. Loving Work is Mindful Work. We give our time and resources, with the clear understanding that the giver and the receiver are One. Our Homeland Retreats are modeled after our teachers' 2005 three-month tour of Viet Nam, during which 200 of us - both monastic and lay friends - "went like a river," mindfully and joyfully together, experiencing the country and the people.
Mindfulness as a Path asks us to practice Love and Compassion for all of Life. We avoid doing harm - to ourselves or to others. Our retreats are therefore, alcohol and tobacco - free, featuring only the freshest, most delectible plant-based food.
Support the Children
Supporting a child is a wonderful way to water seeds of happiness in ourselves and in others. Through a relatively small annual contribution, we can transform the life of a disadvantaged child, providing access to education and opportunites for a bright, healthy future. Commitments with our partner organizations range from $50 - $720, annually.
Your gift can make all the difference.
Make a Donation
Give online
The Loving Work Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization. Our sole means of financial support comes through donations made by compassionate supporters of our work and any small profit made from our retreats. The majority of our operating budget is comprized of donations made by each retreat participant as part of the registration process. We gratefully receive support from friends around the world and welcome online contributions. Some of the funds we receive go directly to cover costs associated with the service projects in which we participate during the Loving Work Retreat or that we visit on the Homeland Retreat, including reasonable fees for our Retreat Coordinator and our Registrar. We endeavor to keep administrative costs as low as possible, on average only 10% - 15% of donations received are used for adminstrative purposes.Our practice leaders receive no fees. Any funds not spent on work projects or adminstrative costs are allocated to a Descretionary Relief Fund, from which we can offer additional financial assistance in circumstances of need brought to our attention by our partnering community agencies. Our aspiration is to make the greatest possible impact with the generous donations we receive.
Thank you for your support.
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For information on how to complete these transactions,
please email us at lovingworkdonations@gmail.com
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and let us know it's on the way. And, if you'd like to designate your gift for a specific purpose, or to honor
an individual, please note it in your email.
A Culture of Financial Transparency
The Loving Work Foundation is committed to sustainable resource management and community building, working through grass-roots community partnerships to ensure that donations we receive are unitilzed in the most impactful way possible.
We maintain a culture of financial transparency so that our donors can see how funds are allocated. Please contact us at lovingworkdonations@gmail.com if you would like to request a financial statement.