In every generation, the Dharma finds new ways to reveal itself. In our time, the recently released Living Gems project has opened such a door.

In our tradition and community, the release of Living Gems feels as significant as the moment when Xuanzang brought Buddhist scriptures back from India to China. He risked his life on a long and difficult journey to receive the teachings at their source and bring these Dharma treasures home for future generations.

—Brother Pháp Dung

Living Gems is the world’s largest collection of teachings by Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh, a searchable online platform offering more than 3,000 Dharma talks, question-and-response sessions, guided meditations, and rare recordings. Many of these, including teachings originally offered in Vietnamese, are available for the first time, now carefully preserved, translated, and shared.

As AI-generated material becomes more widespread and it’s harder to tell what is authentic, Living Gems preserves and shares Thầy’s teachings exactly as they were recorded, offering a reliable and trustworthy resource you can return to whenever you want to listen, read, or explore more deeply.

This vast collection is curated into smaller collections, allowing you to discover and explore. 

I cannot help but feel like a child who has discovered the hidden attic in their grandparents’ house … and finds many hidden gems. They are very much alive with a fresh and living warmth, as I get to hear, for the first time, so many of Thầy’s teachings.

They speak to me directly and awaken deep feelings of gratitude and aspiration … These talks, along with my life in the sangha, truly provide me with the conditions I need to practice, grow, and be of service.

—Brother Nhất Lâm

Finding the teaching, not just the talk

If I’m struggling with a specific topic, I just use the search feature to see what Thầy had to say about it.

—Brother Bao Tích

One of the most remarkable innovations of Living Gems is the search feature. In the past, if you were curious about a topic or needed support with a particular struggle, you may have found it difficult to find a specific talk, or a moment within a talk, where Thầy offered a teaching about that topic. With Living Gems, you can begin by searching for what is alive in you. For example, you can ask questions like:

• How do I care for anger?
• How can I come back to myself?
• How to deal with the death of a family member?

Within instants, Living Gems will find not just talks, but specific moments within them.

I find it very helpful in finding the right teachings to nourish the sangha. Often we have themed retreats that require a specific talk that touch on a certain topic. Living Gems offers the chance for me to find it.

—Brother Rương Hiếu

Sharing the teachings across languages

A significant part of this work is translation. Many of Thầy’s teachings, especially in Vietnamese, were not easily accessible to the wider international community. Living Gems includes subtitles and transcripts in multiple languages.

This way the language barrier is slowly lifted for many friends to enjoy the teachings of Thầy.

 —Brother Rương Hiếu

For Brother Bao Tích, this is deeply meaningful:

Since many [teachings] were originally offered in Vietnamese, having the English subtitles and transcripts now is a huge gift.

Because the transcripts are searchable, Thầy’s teachings can be engaged in new ways, read, listened to, and explored across languages.

A companion for daily life

These features—search, collections, digitization, and translation—come together in a very simple way: they support practice.

Most mornings, I start my day by lighting a candle, making a cup of tea, and spending twenty or thirty minutes with Thầy on Living Gems. It feels so nourishing … I never know exactly what my day will bring, but these teachings help guide me. Living Gems has let me access many teachings for the first time … having the English subtitles and transcripts now is a huge gift.

 —Brother Bao Tích

Or, in the words of Sister Bội Nghiêm:

Living Gems brings Thầy's profound teachings within reach, held gently in the cloud, ever-present and alive. I simply share openly my feelings, my wonderings, my quiet curiosity, and Thầy is there to guide me home, so I am not afraid I will be lost. From understanding the vastness of global suffering to the tender work of compassion—for myself, for others—Living Gems makes it all possible. There is deep comfort in knowing: “A cloud never dies.”