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The Way Out Is In

In the Footsteps of the Buddha (6/6) | Loss and Transformation (Episode #107)

The Way Out Is In

Plum Village

Education, Religion & Spirituality, Self-improvement, Buddhism, Mental Health, Health & Fitness

0.00 Ratings

🗓️ 28 May 2026

⏱️ 95 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week’s show was recorded using an improvised audio recording setup while the podcast team was on pilgrimage through India. Thank you for your understanding. 🙏 If you wish to support our podcast, please visit this link. Thank you! Welcome to a new episode of The Way Out Is In: The Zen Art of Living, a podcast series mirroring Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s deep teachings of Buddhist philosophy: a simple yet profound methodology for dealing with our suffering, and for creating more happiness and joy in our lives. The final in a series of six episodes recorded during the In the Footsteps of the Buddha pilgrimage, this instalment was made in Sravasti, India, in February 2026. In it, leadership coach Jo Confino is joined by Zen Buddhist nun Sister Tam Muoi and Dharma teacher Shantum Seth to share their experiences and reflections as they visit Sravasti and Jeta Grove. They discuss the power of community, and how the sangha held space for grief when co-host Brother Phap Huu received news of his father’s passing.  They further explore themes of impermanence, non-attachment, transformation, the balance between the ultimate and historical dimensions in Buddhist teachings, and the importance of insight and practice. All three share personal stories illustrating these themes and the ways the pilgrimage has deepened their understanding of and connection to the Buddha’s legacy.The episode concludes with the group singing a song composed by a fellow pilgrim, capturing the essence of the ‘way out is in’ teachings. About the pilgrimage: In 1988, Shantum Seth was invited by Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) to organize a pilgrimage to the sacred sites associated with the Buddha’s life across India. Subsequently, Thay encouraged Shantum to continue guiding such journeys each year, offering pilgrimage itself as a mindfulness practice – one that the Buddha had suggested.  Shantum has been leading these transformative journeys ever since, offering people from around the world the opportunity to follow In the Footsteps of the Buddha with awareness and insight. After 15 years at the United Nations, Shantum left to volunteer with the Ahimsa Trust, which represents Thay’s work in India and promotes the practice of “peace in oneself and peace in the world”. Through Buddhapath, his expression of Right Livelihood, Shantum continues to guide pilgrimages and share the wisdom and culture of the places he visits in India and across Buddhist Asia, cultivating community through these deeply meaningful journeys.To learn more about upcoming pilgrimages, visit www.buddhapath.com, or follow Shantum on Facebook and Instagram at @eleven_directions.  Shantum Seth, an ordained Dharmacharya (Dharma teacher) in the Buddhist Mindfulness lineage of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, teaches in India and across the world. A co-founder of Ahimsa Trust, he has been a student of Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings for the past 35 years, and, since 1988, has led pilgrimages and other multi-faith, educational, cultural, spiritual, and transformative journeys across diverse regions of India and Asia.  He is actively involved in educational, social, and ecological programmes, including work on cultivating mindfulness in society, including with educators, the Indian Central Reserve Police Force, and the corporate sector. Across various Indian sanghas, Dharmacharya Shantum is the primary teacher of different practices of mindfulness from Thich Nhat Hanh’s tradition. Sister Tam Muoi (Sister Samadhi) is from the UK and was ordained in 2012, becoming a Dharma teacher in 2022. Having encountered the practice whilst living in France, she became engaged in the French lay sangha and was ordained into the Order of Interbeing in 2004. She is actively supporting the recently created Being Peace Practice Centre in the UK and is deeply committed to the work of healing ancestral harm, and to participation in trainings and retreats exploring White

Transcript

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0:00.0

Dear friends, welcome to the sixth and final episode of this special series of the podcast, The Way Out is In.

0:31.9

I am Joe Confino. I'm a leadership coach and spiritual mentor working at the intersection of personal transformation and systems change. And I am Sister Tamoy, Zem Buddhist nun, in the Ticknatan tradition.

0:38.3

And I'm Shantam, a teacher in the tradition of Plum Village, and organized retreats on wheels

0:45.3

and pilgrimages in India and across Asia to the Buddhist sites.

0:50.3

We are on the final leg of our 14-day pilgrimage in the footsteps of the Buddha.

0:57.0

And we have arrived in Jetta Grove and Savasti on the final day of our retreat on wheels.

1:06.0

And dear listeners, we've got a rather extraordinary episode today because we had a day yesterday where the

1:12.1

teachings collided with reality.

1:17.9

The way out is in. Hello, dear listeners, I am Joe Confino, and we were in Jetta Grove, where the Buddha ordained many, many hundreds of monks and nuns.

1:41.5

And we were there for a transmission of the five mindfulness trainings. So

1:46.8

we have more than 50 participants who are joining us on this retreat. And more than 20 of them

1:54.6

decided to take the five mindfulness trainings, which are the sort of ethical heart of Buddhism and Ticknatan's tradition.

2:03.4

And we were sitting in Jetta Grove and Brother Faphu, my partner in crime on this podcast, was

2:11.1

performing the ceremony.

2:14.4

And it was an extraordinary joyous moment because this is the heart of, in a sense, Thai's teaching was to spread the Dharma and to encourage other people to bring the teachings deep into their heart and into their lives.

2:30.3

And we had just completed the ceremony and it was a sort of, everyone was happy.

2:37.3

Brother Fapu and the other monastics, you know, had performed a beautiful job of chanting and the

2:45.6

transmission when all of a sudden we got news that Brother Fapu's father was passing away and had had a major stroke in Vietnam and was on the point of passing.

2:58.6

And what was extraordinary was this sort of almost this moment of whiplash from a real celebration to great grief.

3:08.3

And we had been, if you've been listening to this series,

3:12.3

we just had an episode where we were talking about death

3:16.3

and about the fact that death is certain,

...

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