August 15, 2026
This Very Moment
Episode 11: Finding Your Way Home with Cuong Lu
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Show Notes
In this episode of This Very Moment, we are joined by author and Zen teacher Cuong Lu for a deeply personal conversation about freedom, grief, spiritual practice, and finding one’s way home through it all.
Born in Vietnam, Cuong moved to the Netherlands at age twelve. After his father died just two years later, he found himself grieving, disoriented, and searching for a way to live peacefully in an unfamiliar country. At eighteen, he met Thich Nhat Hanh. What struck him first was not a particular teaching but Thich Nhat Hanh’s presence. Cuong saw a Vietnamese person who seemed truly at home, peaceful, and free.
That recognition set the direction of his life. Cuong was drawn to Plum Village, where he entered monastic life and spent 16 years studying and practicing under Thich Nhat Hanh. His teacher’s guidance was both tender and compassionate, like a father and, uncompromising like a true spiritual teacher.
The conversation follows Cuong through the painful decision to leave monastic life and the identity he had built around it. Though it felt like losing his teacher, his community, and his place in the world, he eventually discovered a freedom beyond the pursuit of happiness itself. In releasing the need to be happy, spiritually accomplished, or seen as a teacher, Cuong found a much deeper peace.
Today, Cuong’s work includes service as a Buddhist chaplain in Dutch prisons and his teaching through the Mind Only Institute. He continues to share the message that “suffering is not a problem at all. You don’t need to transform suffering; you just need to come home.”
About the Interviewee
Cuong Lu is a Zen teacher, scholar, and former monk ordained by Thich Nhat Hanh. He spent 16 years practicing and teaching at Plum Village before bringing Buddhist wisdom into wider society as a prison chaplain in the Netherlands. Cuong is the author of At Peace, Filled with Joy, Happiness Is Overrated, and Wait. He founded the Mind Only Institute in the Netherlands, where he teaches Buddhist philosophy, psychology, and a compassionate path to inner freedom.
Select Books by the Author
$18.95 - Paperback
