90 Day Rains Retreat Application for Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, France 2024

The Rains Retreat is an annual retreat whose origins date back to the time of the Buddha. It is a time for Buddhist monastics to deepen their studies, practice, healing, and transformation. In Plum Village, we also welcome lay practitioners to join us and participate in this focused period of practice alongside the monastics. This creates a joyful, community experience, and a time for collective healing and transformation.

This year, we can offer a slightly shorter option of a 10-week stay or the full option for 90 day stay. Each stay will offer the same program and activities. 

A unique experience:
The Rains Retreat is a great chance to stay longer in Plum Village, with a full and stable program of practice. It’s an opportunity to get to know the Plum Village community and our way of life better, and it’s a good way to explore whether you may like to extend your stay as a long term practitioner in 2025.

The Rains Retreat is a wonderful way to deepen your personal practice of mindfulness in the context of community. The emphasis is on practicing as a community as we live, practice, study, and serve. 

This year we will have a special opportunity to create a strong collective energy as we host only long-term retreatants until the start of the holiday season. In Upper Hamlet, we will have an international core group of around 40-60 Rains Retreatants, and together you will have a chance to cultivate siblinghood and form the heart of the Upper Hamlet lay community for a period of 10-weeks or 90-days. 

As a Rains retreatant, Upper Hamlet will be your home. In that spirit, we request that all retreatants join the monastics to joyfully contribute to sangha service in and around the hamlet during the retreat (during the daily service meditation time), such as mindfully pot-washing & mopping floors; helping outdoors in the gardens; cleaning bathrooms; sorting recycling; composting, translating, and so on. Those who are more experienced in Plum Village practice will also have an opportunity to facilitate practices on weekly days of mindfulness with the lay community. 

Requirements:
Registration for the Rains Retreat is open to those who have attended a Plum Village retreat before, either in France or another centre. The Upper Hamlet hosts mainly men and some non-binary individuals, and some space for long-term couples. Some places will be prioritised for those who have a real intention of moving forward towards the life of a monk either by applying for our 5 year program (for males aged 18 - 35 yrs), or a life time commitment (for males aged 50 years and under). You will have to fulfill certain requirements, as described in these pages about our monastic path, if you wish to go on this journey:
https://plumvillage.org/about/becoming-a-monastic/ & https://plumvillage.org/about/five-year-monastic-training/.

You may like to read these articles from our community about the experiences of Rains Retreatants in past years: 

Boundaries: 
During the Rains Retreat, each monastic and lay practitioner will observe physical boundaries in order to practice dwelling peacefully in the monastery. These physical boundaries will be declared in the Counting Sticks ceremony in the hamlet (8th October). 

Mental health:
Many friends have experienced lessened anxiety, a lifting of depression and improvements in general wellbeing through mindfulness practice. However, we urge all friends to continue any medication or treatment prescribed by your health care practitioner during your stay.

If you suffer from any chronic long term mental or physical illnesses, please let us know in this form, and ask your doctor if it is advisable for you to attend a retreat of this length with us. We may deem it necessary to ask for an approval letter from your doctor along with safety measures to know about, in case a challenging situation may occur. Please be aware that we cannot provide any professional care onsite. 

How much will it cost?:
The contribution towards the Rains Retreat is 2050 Euros per person for a 10-week stay or 2850 Euros for a 90-day stay, which is a 50% reduction towards the full price of a dormitory stay for this length of time. This contribution goes towards your full participation of the Rains Retreat schedule, and includes your accommodation and food. The contribution can be paid in full as one payment before you arrive or can be arranged into installments. If installments are preferred, then an initial 20% deposit will be required within 4 weeks of receiving your acceptance email. This can be arranged directly with the registration office team using this email: UH-office@plumvillage.org.

Financial reduction: 
The costs of the 10 week stay or 90 day stay is already significantly reduced and we are mindful that further reducing the prices would barely cover the expenses for each person we host in the monastery. In this light, we can offer a very limited number of reductions only for up to 20%-25% which you can apply for during the application process, however please note that applying for a reduction may take more time for us to consider and not all requests for reductions may be granted. 

Dates: 
Arrival day: Monday 7th October 2024 
Opening Ceremony: 10th October 2024
Closing Ceremony: 7th January 2024
Departure Day: 20th December 2023 for 10-week stay or 9th January 2025 for 90-day stay

Couples applying for the same hamlet:
We can offer 1 or 2 rooms for a long-term couple. 

There will be rules observed for couples:
  • All hamlets have a no-physical intimacy/affection policy in common areas (dining halls, center of hamlet, public spaces etc) - kissing, etc.
  • No sexual activity in the monastery

Part of a couple applying in different hamlets: 
If you are in a couple and applying to do the Rains Retreat in different hamlets, then please know that spirit and the boundaries of the Rains Retreat will still apply, and so the time that you can see each other will be limited to the Days of Mindfulness taking place on Thursdays and Sundays from 9am to 5pm. 

Staying in France:
Please fully check visa requirements needed for your stay in France and also any requirements needed by checking with your embassy or https://www.gouvernement.fr/.

Accommodation:
Bed in shared rooms for single males and a room for non-binary individuals. For couples, we have very limited double rooms. 

Language: 
English will be the main language during this Rains Retreat, with some French translation provided at times. We do recommend, that for those whose main language is French, that you also have a good grasp of the English language. 

Safeguarding:
The Plum Village community is committed to making our practice center a safe and nurturing environment where we can open up and feel safe with others, touching joy, healing and understanding in ourselves and in the community. Here are some ways to contribute to this:
  • We can do our best to practice the 5 Mindfulness Trainings
  • We can refrain from sexual activity
  • We respect people's personal boundaries and ask for consent where appropriate. For example, we can ask before offering a hug, or to check if the person is ok to have a conversation. Additionally, we should consider whether being flirtatious is appropriate and respectful in the monastery.
  • We can be mindful of taking photos and filming in Plum Village, and check with the individuals if it's ok for them to be in your photos/film. 
  • We offer respect to each other: We do not discriminate against any gender identity, sexual orientation, body ability and ethnic and social backgrounds. 
  • We take care of ourselves: During any mindfulness sessions, if you find yourself struggling, please know it is always okay to open your eyes, and enjoy listening or feeling the weight of your body or you can quietly change posture. You can always quietly stand up and walk out. Meditation should be enjoyable and not a battle. 
  • We can contact the Safeguarding Team: We take any kind of abuse very seriously. If, during your stay in Upper Hamlet, you are subjected to any kind of harmful or abusive behavior or actions, have witnessed anything of this kind, or notice any worrying behaviour, you can contact the Safeguarding Team (details are on the poster outside Registration Office). 
Please apply if you are able to carry out the above requirements for staying, and also can commit to:
 - Practicing whole-heartedly with the monastic and lay community of Plum Village, by following the daily schedule and attending sangha activities 
- Offering your time and energy to serve voluntarily to support the daily functions and tasks of the community
- Practicing to live in harmony and respect towards each other through practicing the 5 Mindfulness Trainings
- Doing your best to contributing to a safe and nurturing environment for all

Photo
After submitting this form, please send a recent photo of yourself to UH-office@plumvillage.org. 

Extra documents:
If accepted, please send a copy of your health insurance and ID.

Closing date:
We will open this application process until all of our spaces are filled.


If you have any questions, please email UH-office@plumvillage.org 

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