About Us

Mission

The mission of Boston Old Path Sangha (BOPS) is to nurture compassion and understanding both within the sangha and throughout the larger society. Working to relieve the suffering of all beings is an integral part of our practice. The community comes together regularly to meditate and deepen its practice. We seek to encourage and nourish each other through dharma discussion and mindful action. Our hope is to help one another celebrate the joys and wonders of life, while we work separately and together to relieve suffering throughout the world.

History

The Boston sangha began sitting together in 1989.

We are a lay Buddhist community inspired by the teaching of Vietnamese Zen monk, peace activist, and author, Thich Nhat Hanh, as well as by other teachers both within and outside the Buddhist tradition.  BOPS is part of the Community of Mindful Living, a loosely-knit international fellowship of Buddhist practitioners and social activists. At the core is the Order Of Interbeing, an order of lay practitioners and monastics founded by Thich Nhat Hanh in the 1960s, during the American-Vietnamese War.

Thay — or “teacher” —  lives in Plum Village along with a community of monastics in France.