Mountain Spring Monastery is one of two monastic centres of Plum Village,¹ the mindfulness practice tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh² (1926-2022), in Australia. The 40-hectare monastery sits on the historic Bells Line of Road in Bilpin, “Lands of the Mountain Apple”, on the land of the Dharug people in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales. Mountain Spring Monastery³ was established in 2015 through aspirations of lay Vietnamese and Australian practitioners who longed for a place to practise. Mountain Spring Monastery at Bilpin hosts the Happy Farm project, a permaculture project that allows the practitioners to integrate spiritual cultivation in the practice of gardening. 

Communities of practitioners in the Plum Village tradition were present in Australia before the monastery was built, including the Lotus Bud Sangha,⁴ a mindfulness meditative group in the Plum Village tradition established in the 1980s, that continues to hold regular meditation sessions at the ecumenical Buddhist Library in the Inner West. Another in-person group that meets at the Buddhist Library is the Sydney branch of the global Wake Up⁵ group that caters to young mindfulness practitioners aged between 18 and 35 years. The founder Thich Nhat Hanh recognises that young people face specific challenges at this stage of life and yearns a refuge and supportive community to sustain their spiritual practice. Wake Up Sydney⁶ meets regularly at the Buddhist Library⁷ in Camperdown, Inner West.  

The Plum Village tradition emphasises community building and supports self-initiated sangha building through Plumline, an online tool kit. The Compassionate Ocean Sangha⁸ based at Mountain Spring was initiated in 2020 to enable communal sitting/meditation practice to continue amidst lockdowns. The online and on-land communities provide complementary means for the practitioners to stay connected and feel supported and in the words of the practitioners, remain an essential spiritual refuge for those who share aspirations in engaged Buddhist activism.  

By: Sioh Yang Tan and Ruth Fitzpatrick 

References: 

¹ “Home,” Plum Village, accessed July 3, 2026, https://plumvillage.org. 

² “Thich Nhat Hanh,” Plum Village, accessed July 3, 2026, https://plumvillage.org/about/thich-nhat-hanh. 

³ “Home,” Mountain Spring Monastery, accessed July 3, 2026, https://www.mountainspringmonastery.org. 

⁴ “Wednesday Lotus Buds Mindfulness Meditation (IN PERSON),” Buddhist Library and Meditation Centre, last modified July 2, 2026, https://buddhistlibrary.org.au/events/weekly-wednesday-lotus-buds-mindfulness-meditation/. 

⁵ “Home,” Wake Up International, last modified March 7, 2023, https://wkup.org. 

⁶ “Wake Up Sydney,” Wake Up International, October 2014, https://wkup.org/sangha-of-the-month/wake-up-sydney/. 

⁷ “Home,” Buddhist Library and Meditation Centre, last modified June 9, 2026, https://buddhistlibrary.org.au. 

⁸ “Home,” Compassionate Ocean Sangha, accessed July 3, 2026, https://www.compassionateoceansangha.org.