Order of Interbeing

The Order of Interbeing (Vietnamese: Tiếp Hiện, anglicised Tiep Hien, French: Ordre de l'Interêtre) is an international Buddhist community of monks, nuns and laypeople in the Plum Village Tradition founded between 1964 and 1966 by Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thích Nhất Hạnh.

Initially, Nhất Hạnh established the Order of Interbeing from a selection of six board members of the School for Youth and Social Services, three men and three women. The first members were ordained in February 1966 and vowed to study and practice the Fourteen Precepts of Engaged Buddhism. In 1981, Nguyen Anh Huong, a microbiologist and lay meditation teacher, became the seventh member of the Order. As of 2020, the Order of Interbeing had more than one thousand core members.

Tiếp Hiện (接現) is a Sino-Vietnamese term. The term did predate the Order of Interbeing's use in other contexts in Vietnamese, but was and remains uncommon. Tiếp means "being in touch with" and "continuing." Hiện means "realizing" and "making it here and now." The translation "Interbeing" (French: Interêtre) is a word coined by Nhất Hạnh to represent the Buddhist principles of anatta, pratītyasamutpāda, and the Madhyamaka understanding of śūnyatā. The order contains members of the "Fourfold Sangha" (male and female monastics and male and female laypersons) and is guided by the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings.