Blue Cliff Monastery

On a Sunday at Blue Cliff Monastery, the day is laid out in a few plain lines: a live Dharma talk at 9:30, walking meditation at 11:00, a recitation or sharing session at noon, and a mindful lunch at 1:00 that opens with the reading of the Five Contemplations. A Day of Mindfulness needs no registration. The monastery asks for a suggested minimum dana of $20 to help sustain it as a non-profit practice center.

Blue Cliff was founded by the Vietnamese Buddhist monk, author and peace activist Thích Nhất Hạnh, known to his community as Thay. It stands on 80 acres of woodland in the southern Catskill region, about two hours northwest of New York City, at 3 Mindfulness Road in Pine Bush. It belongs to a larger family of monasteries that includes Plum Village, the root monastery in France, and every monastic member of the community is a direct disciple of Thay. On Sundays and during themed retreats, the Great Togetherness Meditation Hall can seat up to 800 people.

The monastery's longest commitment is its Winter Retreat, which this year runs from October 30, 2026 to January 31, 2027. The site traces it to the time of the Buddha, when monastics stayed within their monastery boundaries through the rainy season; it is also called the Rains Retreat. At Blue Cliff, lay practitioners join the monastics for the three months. The full retreat is open to those who have already attended a retreat at a Plum Village practice center and can stay the whole time. Shorter Seasonal Retreats run alongside it for newcomers.

Throughout the year, Seasonal Retreats begin on Fridays and run from two nights to two weeks, following the monastery's daily schedule. Five-day Themed Retreats, with roughly 100 to 250 participants, are built around a holiday or a particular community. Volunteers can apply to the Mindful Living Exchange Program. Out at Moon Lake, the Sisters have recently moved into their new residence, with about $1 million of the cost still to be repaid.