When Thich Nhat Hanh was establishing his Buddhist center in the French countryside now known as Plum Village, an American family – Wendy Johnson, her farmer husband Peter and ten year old son – spent five weeks there helping clear the land and restore some of the older buildings. One area which presented an issue was a functioning vineyard located on the property owned by Plum Village. Asked what to do with it, Thich Nhat Hand said “tear it down”. Here is Wendy Johnson’s recollection of the conversation:
“From years of living in the West, Thay was aware of the dangers of alcoholism and unwilling to support the local wine “industry of suffering” so dominant in his region of France. He asked Peter to organize a team of practitioners to remove a fully bearing small vineyard within the Plum Village property. We worked for days in sweltering heat, an international team wielding heavy French mattocks and grubbing out gnarled vines.”
“From years of living in the West, Thay was aware of the dangers of alcoholism and unwilling to support the local wine “industry of suffering” so dominant in his region of France. He asked Peter to organize a team of practitioners to remove a fully bearing small vineyard within the Plum Village property. We worked for days in sweltering heat, an international team wielding heavy French mattocks and grubbing out gnarled vines.”
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