Spend July and August 2025 as a volunteer at Plum Village Monastery near Bordeaux, France, supporting the Summer Opening retreat. Volunteers join the daily schedule of meditation, Dharma talks and mindful work while camping on site and sharing vegetarian meals with an international Buddhist community. In exchange for a modest weekly contribution, you help with logistics, kitchen, children’s activities and other tasks, and deepen your practice in Thich Nhat Hanh’s tradition of engaged Buddhism.
The people in the photo are wearing simple brown Buddhist monastic robes, typical of the Plum Village tradition founded by Thich Nhat Hanh. The brown color symbolizes simplicity, humility and a close connection with the earth. The robes are loose and layered so they are comfortable for sitting meditation, walking meditation and daily mindful work. Many of them also wear matching brown caps or head coverings, which help keep the head warm and create a uniform, modest appearance.
In Plum Village monastics usually have shaved heads under the caps, which represents letting go of vanity and starting fresh as a practitioner. Lay volunteers sometimes wear similar brown garments while serving during retreats so that the whole community looks and feels like one practice family, with fewer distractions from fashion, social status or body image.
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Center Plum Village, in France, is looking for volunteers to assist a famous Zen Master
