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Before entering monastic life, Brother Ch芒n Ph谩p Dung gave away his worldly possessions. The last step was cutting up his credit, insurance, and store membership cards. All was left was his driver鈥檚 license and passport. 

鈥淭hat is the moment where you realize, actually this is all a prison,鈥� the Buddhist monk recalls. Fear may force us to seek security through money, a house, cell phone, and insurance, but he adds, 鈥淎re you secure inside?鈥�

Ph谩p Dung (the name he was given upon ordination) is among a unique set of people鈥攖hose whose spirituality has led them to eschew material consumption. As part of the University of Southern California Center for Religion and Civic Culture鈥檚 , a team of journalists and researchers have interviewed 80 exemplary individuals committed to making the world a better place. For a significant number of these people, living simply is more than enough, it is a source of freedom. 

From a who transferred his pension to charity every few months, to a who sold off her jewelry to help Cairo鈥檚 poor, their examples challenge our conception of 鈥渆nough.鈥� 

Wisdom traditions across the world privilege restraint over consumption and generosity over greed. This common thread points to simplicity not as a pietistic virtue for true believers, but an ethical path for those of us who feel the weight of the contradiction between our values and lifestyles.

Radical Poverty 

Cutting up his credit cards was not the first time Ph谩p Dung gave up his possessions. When he was 9 years old, he had to give away his toys and clothes with no explanation. Then, his parents woke him in the middle of the night. They were escaping Vietnam by boat. 

As an ethical way of life, simple living seeks not to romanticize poverty but to challenge society鈥檚 inequities. It鈥檚 about solidarity鈥斺�渓iving simply so that others may simply live,鈥� as the saying credited to Gandhi goes.

After escaping Vietnam, Ph谩p Dung and his family eventually settled in Los Angeles鈥� San Fernando Valley. He and his Asian and Latino friends were bullied on the playground, but he also had wealthy White friends with pools. He felt ashamed of being Vietnamese, of living in a 鈥減oor鈥� apartment, and even of his parents. 

He went on to study architecture at University of Southern California, and was there in 1992 when civil unrest erupted around the school following the acquittal of the Los Angeles police officers who beat Rodney King. Seeing armored vehicles protect the campus took him back to his childhood in Vietnam. 

After he graduated from college, Ph谩p Dung鈥檚 mother invited him to a mindfulness retreat for the Vietnamese community, led by Thich Nhat Hanh. The renowned Buddhist monk and peace activist had been exiled from Vietnam in 1966 for protesting the war. In the West, he taught mindfulness as a social ethic to both the Vietnamese diaspora and a wider audience. In 1982, Nhat Hanh co-founded , a global community of mindfulness practice centers in France. The centers are now in other European countries, as well as Asia, Australia, and the United States.

The practices of mindfulness helped Ph谩p Dung recognize the anger in himself and work on his relationship with his family. It also formed his budding social consciousness. 

In college, he had hoped to use his design skills for social good, but later found himself working on 鈥渁rchitecture for rich people,鈥� as he puts it. One Thanksgiving, he visited a factory for a project. He was struck that the largely Latino workforce had to work through the holiday while he got to go home. 鈥淚 started seeing my profession as quite exploitative,鈥� he says. 

Ph谩p Dung views his choice of monastic life as a response to modern urban society鈥攖he anger he saw in himself as well as on the streets of Los Angeles.

鈥淚f you really practice mindfulness, you start to look deeply at everything,鈥� Ph谩p Dung explains. 鈥淏uddhism鈥檚 core is that we teach people to be mindful so they can see what is really happening. And that could be a wonder of the universe, or that could be like, 鈥楾his shouldn鈥檛 be happening.鈥欌��

The latter is what , co-founder of Project HOME, sees in her work to end homelessness in Philadelphia. Catholic sisters take a vow of poverty when entering religious life, but their chosen poverty often provides comfort and the security of institutional support. Working with people experiencing homelessness, Scullion says, 鈥渁llowed me to accept my own radical poverty, my own incompleteness and areas for growth.鈥� 

鈥淧eople on the street are a prophetic presence calling our society to a radical transformation of values and spirituality,鈥� Scullion says. When she walks through Philadelphia, she sees the closed buildings and churches through their eyes. 

Interbeing

On his first retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh in the mid 鈥�90s, Ph谩p Dung had a 鈥渨onder of the universe鈥� moment when he mindfully ate a salad with no dressing. 鈥淲ow! Thank you,鈥� he recalls thinking, as he felt gratitude for nature in being able to really taste the lettuce and tomatoes for the first time.  

鈥淭hese things are experiential, and for me, that鈥檚 where I began to develop this kind of respect and reverence and love for material things,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou begin to not break little branches anymore. You avoid [stepping on] flowers.鈥�

It鈥檚 falling in love with Mother Earth, in a practical rather than a romantic sense, he says鈥斺�渘ot just like a force or as a concept, but right there on your plate.鈥� 

The standard assumption is that religious people disdain the material world in order to focus on the sacred. But for people whose spirituality leads them to be engaged with the world, the idea that we are interconnected with nature鈥攖hat sacredness imbues everyone and everything鈥攍eads to a profound respect for other living beings and the environment. 

鈥淚 think it would be accurate to say that all faiths are based in nature. Nature wasn鈥檛 a different entity,鈥� says , one of the world鈥檚 foremost Muslim environmentalists. People in industrialized capitalist societies 鈥渉ad to invent environmentalism鈥� he adds, because they lost their connection to nature.

According to Khalid, Islam does not distinguish between sacred and secular, and the Quran is a guide on how to live in relationship with creation. If just some Muslims lived as the Quran instructs鈥攚ith moderation and sharing of resources鈥斺�渨e could be a source of the solution, be an example to other people as well,鈥� he says.

Despite genocide and centuries of settler colonialism, Indigenous peoples have strived to maintain their alignment with nature, including other animals.

鈥淐aribou is our way of life, who we are,鈥� says, a Neets鈥檃ii Gwich鈥檌n elder. 鈥淲e take care of them, and in return, they take care of us. We鈥檙e in their heart, and they鈥檙e in our hearts.鈥�

James and the Gwich鈥檌n nation are fighting oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in order to protect the caribou. Colonization has forced the nomadic people to live in villages, but they still live simply and maintain the relationship that they have had with their environment for thousands of years. It鈥檚 about survival, James says. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 not only for me or my history, that goes for everybody.鈥�

Though rooted in Buddhism, the developed by Thich Nhat Hanh are nonsectarian鈥攁 global ethic, he wrote in Happiness: Essential Mindfulness Practices. Practicing them involves cultivating the insight of 鈥渋nterbeing,鈥� a term he coined to describe our interconnectedness. Interbeing is not just a spiritual concept. All humans are literally made of the same elements as one another, other animals, plants, and minerals. 

Contemplating , a practitioner seeks to protect life, practice generosity, love responsibly, speak lovingly, and listen deeply, as well as 鈥渃onsume in a way that preserves peace, joy, and well-being鈥� in oneself, others, and the Earth.  

As many as 250,000 people worldwide have committed to practicing the Five Mindfulness Trainings. Understanding how their own consumption鈥攐f a burger, a glass of wine, Facebook, or gossip鈥攃auses harm is what spurs them to give up such 鈥渢oxins鈥� and consume less.

Ph谩p Dung, who became ordained in 1998, emphasizes that the trainings are not rules, but practices. 鈥淭he Five Mindfulness Trainings is a way of looking at yourself; it鈥檚 like a mirror that you recite every two weeks,鈥� he explains. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e personally developing yourself.鈥� 

Communities of Resistance 

In a talk on Buddhist teachings, or , to young people in 2019, Ph谩p Dung explained how Thich Nhat Hanh created 鈥渃ommunities of resistance鈥� in the face of the Vietnam War. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a kind of war in the urban society, in ourselves as well,鈥� he said. 

Today, resistance involves creating change鈥攔edefining what is enough. 鈥淣ot to have a bank account, what do you rely on? You have to rely on people,鈥� Ph谩p Dung says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not that we do this alone, we do it together.鈥�

Retreats are Plum Village鈥檚 primary mechanism for making change in the world, Ph谩p Dung says. Like the monastics, who live four to one room, retreatants also share rooms. There are chores to be done, meetings to be held, and talks to attend, but the schedule is spacious, allowing monastics and retreatants enough time to focus on the task at hand. Breakfast is silent and before lunch, a monastic recites five contemplations鈥攔eminders of where food comes from and to eat with mindfulness and gratitude, in moderation, and in such a way that preserves the planet and nourishes community. 

Understanding how their own consumption鈥攐f a burger, a glass of wine, Facebook, or gossip鈥攃auses harm is what spurs them to give up such 鈥榯oxins鈥� and consume less.

The experience gives retreatants insights, inspiration, and practices they can take home to bring mindfulness into their daily lives. They see what it means to live the Five Mindfulness Trainings and can commit to them in a ceremony. They are encouraged to join a sangha, or community of practice, to support their practice back at home. 

The monastics know that maintaining a simple, mindful life is difficult outside of a retreat center. 鈥淲hen you practice, you learn sometimes you have to let go and don鈥檛 be so righteous,鈥� Ph谩p Dung says. 鈥淵ou have to live with contradiction. Like you vow not to kill but you kill all the time, if you鈥檙e aware of it.鈥�

With an architect鈥檚 eye for design he envisions a society in which more people could live together like the monastics. He no longer builds physical structures, but as a monk, he sees his role as building modern-day communities of resistance.