Enjoying an Apple of Mindfulness in the Big Apple
THÍCH NHẤT HẠNH FOUNDATION
Stephen Pradarelli encounters Thầy while supporting the
naming of Thích Nhất Hạnh Way in New York.
Enjoying an
Apple of Mindfulness
in the Big Apple
“Hey,” a man riding his bike past West 109th Street
and Broadway in Manhattan asked, smiling, “Y’all
making a movie?”
Two large, tripod-mounted video cameras
were trained on a podium bearing New York City’s
official seal, and a couple of other videographers
with large cameras on their shoulders roamed the
area. A growing crowd of lay friends, city officials,
plus monks and nuns from Blue Cliff and Deer
Park Monasteries, cheerful and expectant despite
chilly temperatures and an occasional sprinkle of
rain, was gathering around the cordoned area.
They weren’t there to be in a film, but to
celebrate the naming of Thích Nhất Hạnh Way.
The street isn’t far from Columbia University and
Union Theological Seminary, where Thầy taught
in the early 1960s, sowing the seeds of Buddhism
and mindfulness practice in the West.
As the communications director for the Thích
Nhất Hạnh Foundation, I had the privilege of
THÍCH NHẤT HẠNH FOUNDATION
being a part of this historic moment on April 11,
2025. Sitting on my rain jacket on the wet pavement in front of the podium, I felt uplifted by the
energy of the gathering as I live streamed the
remarks made by our monastics and others over
social media.
I smiled to myself as speaker after speaker
recognized Thầy’s ceaseless work for peace
and calm, while morning traffic rumbled along
Broadway—horns honking, police sirens whooping—just beyond the gathering. The irony wasn’t
lost on Shaun Abreu, District 7 representative on
the New York City Council and an early advocate
for the street co-naming: “New Yorkers are not
necessarily known for peace and stillness, but
Thích Nhất Hạnh had a message for people like
us. He knew that we can’t build a better world if
we’re angry all the time, if we lose sight of each
other’s humanity. By putting his name right here
in the heart of it all, we’re creating a moment of
pause, a breath, a reminder that peace isn’t found
in retreating from the world—it’s found in how we
choose to walk through it.”
The presence of two people added to the
joy of the moment for me: my daughter, Emma,
who lives in Brooklyn and works at Columbia
University-affiliated Barnard College, and a
colleague, Bình Hà, the foundation’s giving
engagement manager. Bình had traveled from
her home in Michigan to take part in the day’s
events.
I’ve worked at the foundation for a little more
than three years, and this was the first time
Emma could get a glimpse into her dad’s job and
meet some of the monks and nuns with whom
I work. After the ceremony and the street sign
unveiling, Emma and I joined the walking meditation to Union Theological Seminary, passing
through a beautiful exhibit of Thầy’s calligraphy
in the Burke Library.
The day was scheduled to conclude with
eating meditation, a short program of remarks,
chanting, and singing in Union’s James Chapel.
But Emma had to step outside to take a call,
and by the time we arrived, all of the vegan box
lunches were gone, most of the seats were taken,
and the monastics on stage had already begun
the meditation.
We managed to find a couple of seats up front
and sat quietly—and hungrily (we hadn’t eaten
anything since early that morning)—while everyone ate their lunches. Then someone tapped me
lightly on the shoulder. I turned to see an older
woman with a beautiful smile offering me the
apple from her lunch. (I later learned she was
a good lay friend of Deer Park Monastery who
had traveled from California to attend the street
co-naming ceremony.) I bowed, smiled, and
accepted her beautiful, and welcome, gift.
For the next fifteen minutes or so, Emma and
I took turns taking a bite from the apple, passing
it back and forth, chewing slowly and mindfully,
sharing sips from my water bottle, and smiling at
the beauty of this practice handed down by Thầy.
“The practice of Zen is to eat, breathe, cook, carry
water, and scrub the toilet—to infuse every act
of body, speech, and mind—with mindfulness, to
illuminate every leaf and pebble, every heap of
garbage, every path that leads to our mind’s return
home,” he writes in The Miracle of Mindfulness.
It was incredibly touching to be surrounded
by so many people who are carrying on Thầy’s
work in one of the busiest cities of the world, to
sit in a building where Thầy once taught (and
perhaps meditated, perhaps began dreaming up
his plans for what would become Plum Village),
to receive the gift of a delicious apple and be
able to share it mindfully with my daughter, and
to listen, later, to the monks and nuns sing Namo
Avalokiteshvaraya, the Chant of Compassion, and
hear their voices rise like incense smoke to the
vaulted ceilings of the chapel.
In that place, in that moment between the
historic and ultimate dimensions Thầy often
talked about, I couldn’t help but remember
something Anh-Huong Nguyen, Thầy’s niece and
a lay Dharma teacher, had said at the street
co-naming ceremony: “My heart is so full, it’s
hard to put what I’m feeling into words. I hear Thầy
saying ‘This is a happy moment.’ And I deeply and
strongly feel Thầy is here with us.”
THÍCH NHẤT HẠNH FOUNDATION
Stephen Pradarelli/Deep Integration of the Source
(he/him) is the communications director for the Thích
Nhất Hạnh Foundation and an Order of Interbeing
aspirant who loves communing with nature, reading,
flying, and writing haiku. Stephen, pictured with
his daughter, Emma, founded and co-facilitates the
Winding Path Sangha where he lives in Iowa City, Iowa,
US.
Blue Cliff Monastery, New York, US
bluecliffmonastery.org
Deer Park Monastery, California, US
deerparkmonastery.org
Magnolia Grove Monastery, Mississippi,
US
magnoliagrovemonastery.org
Plum Village, France
plumvillage.org
Healing Spring Monastery, France
healingspringmonastery.org
Maison de l’Inspir, France
maisondelinspir.over-blog.com
European Institute of Applied Buddhism,
Germany
eiab.eu
Stream Entering Monastery, Australia
nhapluu.org
Mountain Spring Monastery, Australia
mountainspringmonastery.org
Asian Institute of Applied Buddhism,
Hong Kong
pvfhk.org
Plum Village Thailand
thaiplumvillage.org
mindfulnessbell.org
Parallax Press
parallax.org
The Plum Village App
plumvillage.app
The Way Out Is In Podcast
plumvillage.org/podcasts/the-way-out-is-in
The Raft
thichnhathanhfoundation.org/the-raft
Thích Nhất Hạnh Dharma Talks
tnhaudio.org
ARISE Sangha
arisesangha.org
Happy Farm
thehappyfarm.org
Earth Holder Community
earthholder.training
Wake Up
wkup.org
Wake Up Schools
wakeupschools.org
Thích Nhất Hạnh Foundation
thichnhathanhfoundation.org
Plum Village
Practice Centers & Resources
The practice centers and monasteries listed here all practice in the Plum Village tradition of
Thích Nhất Hạnh. The centers are generally open throughout the year, for short or long stays, to
help us learn the art of mindful living. In addition to in-person and online retreats, the practice
centers offer regular Days of Mindfulness and other events. Please visit their websites for
information and resources.
We can deepen our practice with the many resources in the Plum Village tradition available
online: the sangha directory, community initiatives, guided meditations, Dharma talks, books,
articles, news, songs, and much more.
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IN THE PLUM VILLAGE TRADITION OF THÍCH NHẤT HẠNH
Building Community in Divisive Times
Issue 96 - 2025
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Errata: In Issue 95 (2025), on the inside back cover page, credit for the cover photo was incorrect.
The Issue 95 cover photo was taken by David Nelson.