Happy Family Program

Modern life and rapid technological change can quietly widen the distance between family members. Shared meals are often rushed or missed altogether, and parents and children may no longer have enough time to exchange the joys, worries, successes, and challenges of everyday life. Over time, this can make family happiness feel fragile.

Created to help families reconnect and renew their love, this retreat was first offered at the sacred Yen Tu Mountain under the theme “Joyful Family.” Guided by respected monks and nuns, participants are invited to learn and practice together, generating peaceful energy to face difficulties, heal wounds, nurture happiness, and move through life with greater confidence.

The program also includes age-appropriate practice groups for children aged 6–12 and for teenagers under 18. Just as importantly, the schedule is designed so that every family member has space to understand, share, and connect, while discovering ways to sustain family happiness over time.

Together, families will hold hands as they climb the mountain, walk along the legendary Pine Tree Road, sit quietly at the foot of King Buddha Tran Nhan Tong, and watch the sunrise over the sacred landscape of Yen Tu. In this setting, participants can reconnect with both their bloodline and spiritual roots, feel that connection deeply in the heart, sing meditation songs, and experience moments of stillness, simplicity, and peace.

A happy family is one of the deepest wishes in life. Home is meant to be a place of warmth, support, and encouragement, yet busy schedules and daily pressures can make it easy to lose touch with one another. Sometimes, even within the same home, we may feel lonely or disconnected. This program offers a chance to pause, return, and rediscover how to care for love in a way that is deep, spacious, and compassionate.

The Happy Family Program 2024 carries the theme “Opening the Path to Love.” Here, participants step away from the pressures of busy living and immerse themselves in nature, trees, flowers, morning sunlight, birdsong, and the gentle stream in the forest. In this simple and beautiful environment, the miracle of life becomes easier to see, and happiness can be felt through the most ordinary moments.

During the retreat, everyone will live together like one large family—walking, breathing, and laughing side by side. Under the guidance of monks and nuns from the Plum Village community, participants will practice creating joy and happiness, sit peacefully in the sacred mountains, and take calm, steady steps among centuries-old pine trees. The days are designed to nourish and heal body and mind while helping each person connect with the spiritual source that has flowed through generations of ancestors and Zen masters at Yen Tu Mountain.

In this sacred atmosphere, families will learn to listen more deeply to their own feelings and to one another. With the support of fellow practitioners, they will have the opportunity to face difficulties, embrace and heal inner wounds, and, above all, reopen the path of love with loved ones, friends, and colleagues.