Talks and events — 2026

EIAB Community Retreat

A community retreat at the EIAB connected to the Mindful Economy Network, exploring how mindfulness practice meets economic and community life. Held in German, in the Plum Village tradition, with the monastic community and the EIAB's applied approach to bringing Buddhist practice into everyday concerns. The European Institute of Applied Buddhism (EIAB) was founded by Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh in 2008 in Waldbröl, about an hour east of Cologne, amid rolling fields and pine forest. Unusually for a Buddhist institute, it is home to a large resident monastic community of over 40 monks and nuns, whose collective presence supports a program of more than 100 courses a year. Buddhism here is offered not as religion but as practical, applied training — concrete methods for easing suffering and cultivating peace. Guests live alongside the monastic community; meals are vegetarian, and mornings often begin with tai chi or qi gong before meditation.

The Art of Calligraphy as Living Meditation

with Plum Village Sisters, Sister Hội Nghiêm

A retreat exploring meditative calligraphy — brush, ink, and breath as a single gesture of presence — led by Sister Hội Nghiêm and Plum Village sisters at the EIAB. In the Plum Village tradition, calligraphy becomes a living meditation: the circle drawn in one breath, the word that carries the whole of one's mindfulness. Suitable for practitioners of all levels, held in English and German. The European Institute of Applied Buddhism (EIAB) was founded by Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh in 2008 in Waldbröl, about an hour east of Cologne, amid rolling fields and pine forest. Unusually for a Buddhist institute, it is home to a large resident monastic community of over 40 monks and nuns, whose collective presence supports a program of more than 100 courses a year. Buddhism here is offered not as religion but as practical, applied training — concrete methods for easing suffering and cultivating peace. Guests live alongside the monastic community; meals are vegetarian, and mornings often begin with tai chi or qi gong before meditation.