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. 🙏
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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 Awareness. Read more here.
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🔔 The Way Out Is In: The Zen Art of Living is 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.
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🎙️ The podcast is co-produced by the Plum Village App and Global Optimism with support from the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation.
🎙️ Recordist: Ann Nguyen; Sound editor: Joe Holtaway; Publisher: Anca Rusu; Producer: Clay Carnill; Executive Producer: Catalin Zorzini
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Resources
The Way Out Is In: 'In the Footsteps of the Buddha (5/6) | The River of Life (Episode #106)'
The Way Out Is In: ‘In the Footsteps of the Buddha (4/6) | Fourfold Sangha: The Living Community (Episode #105)’
The Way Out Is In: 'In the Footsteps of the Buddha (3/6) | The Heart of the Buddha's Teachings (Episode #104)’
The Way Out Is In: ‘In the Footsteps of the Buddha (2/6) | Enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree (Episode #103)’
The Way Out Is In: ‘In the Footsteps of the Buddha (1/6) | The Buddha: Down to Earth (Episode #102)’
Interbeing
Plum Village Tradition
Jeta Grove
Mangala Sutta
Avalokiteshvara
Song: ‘No Coming, No Going’
Anathapindika
Anuruddha
Tathagata
Shravasti
Sarnath
Kushinagar
Dharma Talks: ‘The Noble Eightfold Path’
Anapanasati Sutta
Angulimala
Dharma Talks: ‘Redefining the Four Noble Truths’
Poem: ‘Please Call Me by My True Names’
Laurie Anderson