Monks and Nuns From a Mountain Monastery Will Lead a Day of Silence in Pasadena

For one Saturday this summer, the Gothic Revival nave of All Saints Church will trade its hymns for silence.

Monastics from Deer Park Monastery in Escondido — monks and nuns who live on a 400-acre Buddhist sanctuary in the chaparral mountains of Southern California — will travel to downtown Pasadena on July 25 for the L.A. Day of Mindfulness, a free, daylong gathering of walking meditation, Dharma teachings, mindful eating, and quiet reflection. The event runs from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the church, 132 North Euclid Avenue.

The day is organized by the Los Angeles Maha Sangha, a collective of Southern California mindfulness practice communities in the tradition of the late Zen Master Thích Nhat Hanh, who founded Deer Park Monastery in July 2000 and died at age 95 in January 2022 at his root temple in Vietnam. Sanghas — small, local groups that gather regularly to meditate and support one another — are the connective tissue of the Plum Village tradition, a global network of Buddhist practice centers that Thích Nhat Hanh built over six decades. His approach to what he called “engaged Buddhism” emphasized applying mindfulness not as a stress-reduction technique but as a way of life, practiced through sitting, walking, eating, and even washing dishes.

The Pasadena event is part of a pattern. Deer Park monastics led a similar day at All Saints in August 2025, billed then as the “L.A. Day of Mindfulness and Healing.” Thomas Diaz was listed as the contact for that event on the church’s event page. The 2026 gathering follows the same format — check-in begins at 8:00 a.m. alongside a bookshop and Maha Sangha community tables, walking meditation starts at 9:00 a.m., and a morning program of songs, chanting, sitting meditation, and a Dharma talk follows at 10:00 a.m. — but it is organized through the Los Angeles Maha Sangha’s Eventbrite page rather than the church’s own registration system.

Deer Park Monastery sits about 110 miles southeast of Pasadena, near Escondido. It is one of the largest Buddhist monastic communities in the West, according to the Plum Village organization, and a sister site to Plum Village Monastery in southern France, Blue Cliff Monastery in New York, and Magnolia Grove Monastery in Mississippi. The monastery hosts regular “Days of Mindfulness” on its own grounds, open to the public, but the L.A. event brings its monastics into an urban setting — a downtown Pasadena church just east of City Hall — that is more accessible to the sprawling population of the Los Angeles basin.

The event is free and open to all, according to both the All Saints Church event page and the Eventbrite listing, but advance registration is required and space is limited. A children’s program for those 9 and younger had already reached capacity as of the Eventbrite posting, though a waiting list is available. Children 5 and younger require caregiver supervision at all times, the listing states.

Organizers are asking those who are able to make a voluntary donation to cover the cost of the venue rental and the monastics’ travel. Donations can be made through the Deer Park Monastery website with “LADOM” written in the comment section, or via Venmo to Sangha House LA, one of the event’s organizing groups, according to the Eventbrite page. Sangha House LA is an intentional community in the Plum Village tradition based in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Parking in the All Saints Church lot is limited. Additional street parking and area lots are available nearby in the Pasadena Civic Center area, according to the event listing.

Volunteers are also needed for the day, the organizers said.

The L.A. Day of Mindfulness 2026 takes place Saturday, July 25, from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at All Saints Episcopal Church, 132 North Euclid Avenue. The event is free, but advance registration is required and space is limited; register at eventbrite.com by searching “L.A. Day of Mindfulness 2026.” Voluntary donations to cover venue and travel costs are welcomed. For more information, call (626) 796-1172 or visit allsaints-pas.org.