Peace is Every Bite Course & Webinar + School Starts Next Week
August 2026 Issue of Coyote Tracks from Deer Park Monastery
Dear Beloved Sangha,
As summer unfolds, we are grateful for the many ways our Sangha continues to practice, learn, and come together—across monasteries, retreat centers, classrooms, and our homes.
Many of our monastics are currently in Estes Park, Colorado, where they are gathering with friends for The Sun, My Heart Retreat at the YMCA of the Rockies. A delegation of monastics has also traveled to Oregon and will continue on to Alaska for mindfulness retreats this month.
We are happy to announce Sister Dang Nghiem’s new book, Live Beautifully, Die Beautifully, a memoir and spiritual guide about transforming suffering through mindfulness, compassion, and healing. Sister D shares her journey from trauma, loss, displacement, and grief to spiritual awakening as a Buddhist nun.
A new season of mindful education begins next week. We are especially happy to share that the Thích Nhất Hạnh School of Interbeing will officially open next week and welcome its first students. This is a beautiful milestone in our aspiration to cultivate a new generation grounded in mindfulness, compassion, and interbeing.
We warmly invite you to join us for the Thích Nhất Hạnh School of Interbeing Opening Ceremony and celebrate this meaningful beginning with us. Together, we will honor this new path of mindful education and the many hands and hearts that have helped bring the school to life.
From September 8–12, we will come together online for the True Love Heals Online Mindfulness Retreat, with Vietnamese translation available. Whether you are joining from near or far, we hope this retreat offers a space to pause, reconnect with yourself, and practice together with the Sangha.
This September, we also invite you to bring mindfulness into one of the most intimate parts of daily life: preparing and eating food. Our Peace is Every Bite Mindful Cooking Course begins September 13, inspired by the plant-based meals prepared in the Deer Park kitchen and by Thầy’s teachings on mindful eating. Through the course, we will explore how cooking, eating, and even washing the dishes can become opportunities to practice peace, gratitude, and joy.
To open this offering, we will gather for a special free online conversation on mindful eating, nutrition, and the health of our planet. Together, Dr. Walter Willett, one of the world's leading nutrition researchers, Dr. Cindy Leung, a Harvard nutrition scientist and educator, and Brother Pháp Lưu, a senior Dharma teacher in the Plum Village tradition, will explore how the food we choose each day can support both personal and planetary well-being.
And in October, the Buddha the Scientist Retreat (Oct 1-4) will take place at an off-site venue near Big Bear, California, while the Symposium will be held at UC San Diego on October 5. We warmly invite you to join us as we explore the meeting of contemplative practice and scientific inquiry.
We are seeking a Part-Time Bookshop Assistant to support the day-to-day operations of our in-person and online Bookshop. This is an on-site, part-time position (15-20 hours per week) with weekend working hours.
As we enter this new season, we invite you to continue nurturing your practice at home, with your family and friends, and in whatever ways help you stay connected with the Sangha. Every mindful breath, every peaceful meal, every step taken with awareness is part of our collective journey.
Enjoy your breathing as you read this month’s issue of Coyote Tracks.
With love and gratitude,
Your Brothers and Sisters at Deer Park Monastery
Sister D Publishes New Book: Live Beautifully, Die Beautifully
Live Beautifully, Die Beautifully is a memoir and spiritual guide about transforming suffering through mindfulness, compassion, and healing. In this tender, deeply insightful book, beloved five-time author Sister Đẳng Nghiêm, MD (“Sister D”) writes from the heart of her own story: a childhood marked by war and disappearance, a young adulthood shaped by displacement, and a turning point of grief that led her to leave medicine and follow the socially engaged Buddhist teachings of peace activist Thích Nhất Hạnh.
Grounded in the core Zen teaching of the Five Remembrances and supported by guided meditations, this book offers practical guidance to help readers meet fear, grief, and uncertainty with clarity, courage, and peace. It is an invitation to live beautifully—and to die beautifully—one breath at a time.
Memorial Gathering For Dr. Larry Ward
On Wednesday, August 19, The Lotus Institute will be hosting a memorial gathering to honor the life and light of Dr. Larry Ward, True Great Sound, a Plum Village Dharma teacher, who passed away on August 19, 2025. This online gathering will include traditional Plum Village ceremony, as well as personal shares and stories from Plum Village teachers, including Dr. Peggy Rowe Ward, Kaira Jewel Lingo, Sister Peace, Joe Reilly, Valerie Brown, and Marisela Gomez. The event is offered freely, with donations deeply appreciated. Visit the Lotus Institute website to register.
Online Retreat: True Love Heals
We invite you to join us September 8–12, 2026 for our Online Mindfulness Retreat, True Love Heals. Throughout the retreat, we will explore loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity as qualities of true love and as practices we can bring into our daily lives. We will also explore teachings from Thích Nhất Hạnh’s book How to Love.
Peace is Every Bite: Mindful Cooking Course Starts September 13
Peace is Every Bite, a Mindful Cooking Course taught by monastics and inspired by Thầy’s teachings on mindful eating begins September 13th. This 4-week course contains plant-based recipes and mindful cooking lessons from the Deer Park dining halls. The course will be held September 13 - October 11, 2026.
Sep 1: Peace is Every Bite Webinar
Join Dr. Walter Willett, Cindy Leung, and Brother Pháp Lưu for a free global online conversation on mindful eating, personal health & planetary well-being. Together they will explore how the food we choose each day can support both personal and planetary well-being.
The Buddha the Scientist Retreat (New Location) & Symposium
The Buddha the Scientist Retreat & Symposium brings together a remarkable community of researchers, educators, healthcare professionals, neuroscientists, and Dharma teachers who are exploring the meeting place of contemplative wisdom and modern science.
Drawing from leading universities, medical centers, and the Plum Village tradition, our speakers investigate topics such as mindfulness, compassion, neuroscience, emotional intelligence, social and emotional learning, education, medicine, and human flourishing. Together, they offer both rigorous scientific insight and decades of personal mindfulness practice, illuminating how the Buddha's teachings continue to inspire research, healing, and compassionate action in today's world. View the full speaker lineup here.
Hiring Bookshop Assistant
We are seeking a Part-Time Bookshop Assistant to support the day-to-day operations of our in-person and online Bookshop. This is an on-site, part-time position (15-20 hours per week) with weekend working hours.
Who is Thích Nhất Hạnh? Online Course
Join us for the third round of the Who is Thích Nhất Hạnh? course, a 15-week online course inviting you on a transformative journey into the life, teachings, and legacy of Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh. This online course offers a deep dive into the wisdom and insights of one of the most influential spiritual leaders of our time. The course will run from October 11, 2026 – January 31, 2027. Registration opens in early September.
Reflections on the LA Day of Mindfulness
Our resident photographer/cinematographer, Song Lu, shares his unique reflections on the Los Angeles Day of Mindfulness, which took place in Pasadena, CA on July 25, 2026. View the photo gallery here.
A Day in the Life of Students at the Thích Nhất Hạnh School of Interbeing
“the kids hold the apricot and they look at it and they're invited to see the earth in it, the sun, the rain. And then they see the farmer….”
As the Thích Nhất Hạnh School of Interbeing welcomes its first students next week, we invite you to discover what a typical day is like for a student at the school.
Deepen Your Practice: Letting Go of Ideas, Feelings, Desires, or Beliefs
Learn how to begin letting go of ideas, feelings, worrying, and stress in this short mindfulness practice.
Love Letter to Deer Park: Backpacking Home
A practitioner reflects on how cultivating mindfulness in nature through backpacking retreats with the Deer Park community opened a path toward healing, helping her move from confusion and perfectionism toward greater ease, acceptance, and peace.
Looking Ahead:
Aug 23, 2026 - Colorado Day of Mindfulness
Aug 27 - 30, 2026 - Alaska Mindfulness Retreat (Registration is closed)
Aug 28, 2026 - Community Opening Ceremony for the Thích Nhất Hạnh School of Interbeing
Sep 1, 2026 - Peace is Every Bite: How Food Choices Shape Personal & Planetary Health (Webinar)
Sep 6, 2026 - Day of Mindfulness
Sep 8 - 12, 2026 - Khoá tu online (trực tuyến): Thương Yêu Là Trị Liệu
Sep 8 - 12, 2026 - Online Retreat: True Love Heals
Sep 13 - Oct 11, 2026 - Peace is Every Bite Mindful Cooking Course
Sep 20, 2026 - Day of Mindfulness
Sep 27, 2026 - Day of Mindfulness
Oct 1 - 4, 2026 - The Buddha the Scientist Retreat (off campus)
Oct 5, 2026 - The Buddha the Scientist Symposium @ UCSD
Oct 9, 2026 - Jan 18, 2027 - 90 Day Rains Retreat
Oct 11, 2026 - Day of Mindfulness & Ordination Ceremony
Oct 11, 2026 - Jan 31, 2027 - Who is Thích Nhất Hạnh? Online Course [Cohort 3]