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Healing: A Woman's Journey from Doctor to Nun
This extraordinary story takes the reader from the rice fields of Vietnam to the peaceful surrounding of Thich Nhat Hanh’s monastery in Plum Village where Sister Dang Nghiem took refuge. There she gained a deep understanding of the Buddhist teachings of mindfulness forged in the fire of her own life experience. Ordained as a nun by Thich Nhat Hanh, who gave her the name "Dang Nghiem," (adornment with nondiscrimination) Healing shows how the insights gained by her personal experiences now enable Sister Dang Nghiem to become a support and resource for others. With humor, insight, and an irrepressible sense of joy, Sister Dang Nghiem story demonstrates how one woman’s unique path can provide clarity and guidance for everyone.
Foreword by Thich Nhat Hanh
Foreword by Thich Nhat Hanh
152 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2010
28 people are currently reading
337 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
June 15, 2013
I have had the distinct honor of meeting Sister Dang Nghiem when she was at Deer Park Monastery. She is such a delightful, happy, and peaceful person, one would never suspect the terrible suffering that she has encountered in her life. Now that I know, I wish she were near so I could practice hugging meditation with her and tell her that I will always be her for her.
All the myriad books that comment on and analyze the sutras are fine and they are a necessary part of the practice, but if you want to see it's pure essence and it's transformative power over one life, then please read this book.
All the myriad books that comment on and analyze the sutras are fine and they are a necessary part of the practice, but if you want to see it's pure essence and it's transformative power over one life, then please read this book.
January 11, 2014
excellent. made me want to pack my bags and go to plum village. you feel peaceful just reading her story and insights. she has had quite a journey from wartime viet nam to medical school to buddhist nun.
it shows you that anyone can heal for past experience if you allow yourself.
it shows you that anyone can heal for past experience if you allow yourself.
January 4, 2014
I learned about Sister Dang Nghiem in a recent Prevention magazine article. Nghiem and her brother came to the United States from Vietnam. Enduring a painful childhood of abuse in Vietnam and rejection in the US, she graduated college, Medical school, and found a wonderful boyfriend. She was unable to escape the horrific memories that haunted her mind. When her boyfriend was unexpectedly killed in an accident, she found solace and healing in a monastery. She became a Buddhist nun with a healing touch.
Question: Is possible to gain personal healing outside of the monastic society? I wonder if Sister Dang will ever return to society outside of the Monastery?
It was a great story that has my stirred my interest in how meditation can heal pain. Sister Nghiem displayed a tremendous amount of courage to seek change and peace in her life.
Question: Is possible to gain personal healing outside of the monastic society? I wonder if Sister Dang will ever return to society outside of the Monastery?
It was a great story that has my stirred my interest in how meditation can heal pain. Sister Nghiem displayed a tremendous amount of courage to seek change and peace in her life.
November 27, 2014
Sister Dang Nghiem's story really touched me. It taught me that we're all always improving and healing ourselves, and that there isn't a singular "point" we need to start from or achieve in order to be "okay." We can start from wherever we are, and as long as we keep working to improve ourselves, that's all that matters. There's so much more to this memoir than just that, but this is just what I've found as the most important lesson offered here. =)
May 16, 2022
Healing: A Woman’s Journey from Doctor to Nun
by Sister Dang Nghiem
Highly recommend this book to everyone! I think it is an especially great book for grievers. This book was gifted to me while I was grieving the loss of my partner and it was one of the most special gifts I have ever received.
Summary of Sister Dang Nghiem’s life:
Sister Dang Nghiem (formerly Huong Huynh) is a Buddhist nun, ordained by Thich Nhat Hanh. She was born in Vietnam in 1968 during the Tet Offensive and raised in Vietnam, mainly by her grandmother after her mother disappeared when she was around 10 years old. She suffered a lot in her life: she was raped by a local man as a child with her mother watching and not intervening; she was repeatedly raped by her uncle; she lost a partner suddenly to drowning in 1999; etc. She came to the United States in 1985, learned English, and eventually graduated from UCSF as a medical doctor. After her partner died from disappearing/drowning in the ocean, she decided to become a Buddhist nun, a dream her grandmother had for her since she was born. This book is about her life and her healing journey. Her main beliefs are around the healing power of mindful awareness and nondiscrimination. It is a short book (146 pages) and engaging to read.
Personal response to the book:
For me, this book was full of fascinating insights. In speaking about her relationship with her partner, she says, “I held on to my suffering tightly, and I was convinced no one could understand it. As a result, even though we loved each other tremendously, I hung on to my own ignorance and I let our happiness be burdened by the past-- and all my fears, worries, and prejudices.” I think this is beautifully stated. Every person comes with baggage and issues and suffering arise in all types of relationships from people holding onto their past and what has happened to them. Often, conflict arises not because of an issue at hand, but because of a past being held in a person’s body and mind. When she says she holds onto her suffering tightly, it reminds me of Peter Levine’s description of unresolved trauma symptoms in Waking The Tiger. Levine says, “as they become chronic, hyperarousal, constriction, helplessness, and dissociation produce an anxiety so intense it can become unbearable. Eventually, the symptoms can coalesce into traumatic anxiety, a state that pervades the trauma sufferer’s every waking (and sleeping) moment.” When Levine says that trauma pervades every waking/sleeping moment, it reminds me of when Sister Nghiem says she held onto her suffering tightly.
I have empathy for the author’s experience of bringing her baggage to moments of happiness and as a reader, I’m inspired by her self-awareness. She says, “suffering shadowed my whole life, but I did not acknowledge it as an entity that affected my life. Instead, it was me and it was my life.” Throughout the memoir, she speaks about how we are the source of our own suffering, describing the sentiment that, “pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.” We intensify our pain because of our own perceptions. She says, “I may suffer, but I am no longer romanticizing or clinging to my suffering. For as long as I live, I do not want to choose darkness over light anymore.” I really enjoy this insight of not clinging/romanticizing suffering. I struggle with not wanting to cling to my own suffering sometimes. I lost my partner to a traumatic death and clinging to my suffering about this death is sometimes wrapped up with grief and love for Brian. Letting it go sometimes feels like letting go of Brian which is uncomfortable and not what I want. It makes me feel like I am abandoning Brian. In The Body Keeps the Score, one of Van Der Kolk’s soldier patients refuses to take medicine for his nightmares and says, “I realized that if I take the pills and the nightmares go away…I will have abandoned my friends, and their deaths will have been in vain. I need to be a living memorial to my friends who died in Vietnam.” This quotation speaks to how sometimes traumatic experiences can make a person feel their own life is irrelevant and futile. For me, the “shadow” that Sister Nghiem describes reminds me of that feeling of being a living memorial and my own life being consumed by that but in a traumatic way, rather than a loving and healing way. Van Der Kolk goes on to describe that posttraumatic stress isn’t all in one’s head but has a physiological basis. This feels relevant for me to describe because I initially read Sister Nghiem’s “suffering is optional,” as being dismissive of my own suffering, but the reality is that there is a biological processing that can happen in which the memory and pain is still there, but the physiological/sympathetic response is no longer activated. I think calming the nervous system can be a way that suffering becomes optional for me. I can think of the pain of losing Brian and notice it and not let it take the driver’s seat.
I enjoyed the author’s wisdom in speaking about losing her partner at a young age and her healing journey in grief specifically. She speaks a lot about her suffering and sadness and also how it transformed into healing. She says after being a nun for a year, “there was a gradual transformation in my way of thinking and in my behaviors. I had slowly begun to embrace my sadness without siding with it or thinking that it is permanent. When I missed the physical body of my partner, I meditated on its parts, tossed by the waves, torn, dispersed, and deteriorated. When memories of our lives together became acute and intense, I breathed. I breathed through each wave of ‘yearning,’ of regret, of guilt, of what-could-have-been. Every time I asked him, “where are you?” A quiet voice immediately responded, “I am here. I have never left you.” I did not only lose a partner. I lost my childhood all over again. I lost my soul mate. I lost the accepting father and the gentle mother that he was to me. I lost the dream of a “normal life,” which I had tried so hard to achieve. Now I had to face my own mind. With the practice of mindfulness, I saw more clearly the workings of my mind, and I had new respect for it.”
This quotation really moved me. I related to it a lot and it also gave me some hope. It gave me hope that all of the trauma from my partner’s death that also triggered all the trauma of my past could be observed and transformed by me. It inspired me to also want to just notice and label sadness without taking its side or letting it drive. It reminds me of how Peter Levine in Waking the Tiger talks about “uniting the two polarities,” which is part of the process of helping people to transform their trauma. I can hold sadness without falling into it and I can hold it alongside other feelings rather than just being consumed by it. Like Sister Nghiem, I have dreams and experiences in which my partner also tells me that he hasn’t left and is with me. I also feel like I lost a soul mate and the person that nurtured me like a mother and father. I think this passage is brilliant in how she describes that the loss of a loving partner is a loss of all the love she felt like she had in the world (layers of neglect/trauma in her life revealed), but there was also a gradual recognition that he was still there and the love had not left.
Sister Nghiem gives me hope and inspiration. She writes, “[i]t was not my time to die. I must live to become liberated from my own wrong perceptions and habit energies. I must live to know life for what it truly is. I had a deep wish to love my partner unconditionally, and I must live to carry out his love. His body may cease, but he continues on through me. Each day I take stable steps for him…I walk with the awareness that my loved ones step with me into stability and freedom.” I think about this passage almost every day. Everyday I try to slow down and feel Brian’s love and carry him and that love with me in every step. I live for us both. Sister Nghiem gave me that insight and freedom to live with the memory and love of Brian, and to hold that love and pain together, recognizing but not falling into my suffering.
by Sister Dang Nghiem
Highly recommend this book to everyone! I think it is an especially great book for grievers. This book was gifted to me while I was grieving the loss of my partner and it was one of the most special gifts I have ever received.
Summary of Sister Dang Nghiem’s life:
Sister Dang Nghiem (formerly Huong Huynh) is a Buddhist nun, ordained by Thich Nhat Hanh. She was born in Vietnam in 1968 during the Tet Offensive and raised in Vietnam, mainly by her grandmother after her mother disappeared when she was around 10 years old. She suffered a lot in her life: she was raped by a local man as a child with her mother watching and not intervening; she was repeatedly raped by her uncle; she lost a partner suddenly to drowning in 1999; etc. She came to the United States in 1985, learned English, and eventually graduated from UCSF as a medical doctor. After her partner died from disappearing/drowning in the ocean, she decided to become a Buddhist nun, a dream her grandmother had for her since she was born. This book is about her life and her healing journey. Her main beliefs are around the healing power of mindful awareness and nondiscrimination. It is a short book (146 pages) and engaging to read.
Personal response to the book:
For me, this book was full of fascinating insights. In speaking about her relationship with her partner, she says, “I held on to my suffering tightly, and I was convinced no one could understand it. As a result, even though we loved each other tremendously, I hung on to my own ignorance and I let our happiness be burdened by the past-- and all my fears, worries, and prejudices.” I think this is beautifully stated. Every person comes with baggage and issues and suffering arise in all types of relationships from people holding onto their past and what has happened to them. Often, conflict arises not because of an issue at hand, but because of a past being held in a person’s body and mind. When she says she holds onto her suffering tightly, it reminds me of Peter Levine’s description of unresolved trauma symptoms in Waking The Tiger. Levine says, “as they become chronic, hyperarousal, constriction, helplessness, and dissociation produce an anxiety so intense it can become unbearable. Eventually, the symptoms can coalesce into traumatic anxiety, a state that pervades the trauma sufferer’s every waking (and sleeping) moment.” When Levine says that trauma pervades every waking/sleeping moment, it reminds me of when Sister Nghiem says she held onto her suffering tightly.
I have empathy for the author’s experience of bringing her baggage to moments of happiness and as a reader, I’m inspired by her self-awareness. She says, “suffering shadowed my whole life, but I did not acknowledge it as an entity that affected my life. Instead, it was me and it was my life.” Throughout the memoir, she speaks about how we are the source of our own suffering, describing the sentiment that, “pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.” We intensify our pain because of our own perceptions. She says, “I may suffer, but I am no longer romanticizing or clinging to my suffering. For as long as I live, I do not want to choose darkness over light anymore.” I really enjoy this insight of not clinging/romanticizing suffering. I struggle with not wanting to cling to my own suffering sometimes. I lost my partner to a traumatic death and clinging to my suffering about this death is sometimes wrapped up with grief and love for Brian. Letting it go sometimes feels like letting go of Brian which is uncomfortable and not what I want. It makes me feel like I am abandoning Brian. In The Body Keeps the Score, one of Van Der Kolk’s soldier patients refuses to take medicine for his nightmares and says, “I realized that if I take the pills and the nightmares go away…I will have abandoned my friends, and their deaths will have been in vain. I need to be a living memorial to my friends who died in Vietnam.” This quotation speaks to how sometimes traumatic experiences can make a person feel their own life is irrelevant and futile. For me, the “shadow” that Sister Nghiem describes reminds me of that feeling of being a living memorial and my own life being consumed by that but in a traumatic way, rather than a loving and healing way. Van Der Kolk goes on to describe that posttraumatic stress isn’t all in one’s head but has a physiological basis. This feels relevant for me to describe because I initially read Sister Nghiem’s “suffering is optional,” as being dismissive of my own suffering, but the reality is that there is a biological processing that can happen in which the memory and pain is still there, but the physiological/sympathetic response is no longer activated. I think calming the nervous system can be a way that suffering becomes optional for me. I can think of the pain of losing Brian and notice it and not let it take the driver’s seat.
I enjoyed the author’s wisdom in speaking about losing her partner at a young age and her healing journey in grief specifically. She speaks a lot about her suffering and sadness and also how it transformed into healing. She says after being a nun for a year, “there was a gradual transformation in my way of thinking and in my behaviors. I had slowly begun to embrace my sadness without siding with it or thinking that it is permanent. When I missed the physical body of my partner, I meditated on its parts, tossed by the waves, torn, dispersed, and deteriorated. When memories of our lives together became acute and intense, I breathed. I breathed through each wave of ‘yearning,’ of regret, of guilt, of what-could-have-been. Every time I asked him, “where are you?” A quiet voice immediately responded, “I am here. I have never left you.” I did not only lose a partner. I lost my childhood all over again. I lost my soul mate. I lost the accepting father and the gentle mother that he was to me. I lost the dream of a “normal life,” which I had tried so hard to achieve. Now I had to face my own mind. With the practice of mindfulness, I saw more clearly the workings of my mind, and I had new respect for it.”
This quotation really moved me. I related to it a lot and it also gave me some hope. It gave me hope that all of the trauma from my partner’s death that also triggered all the trauma of my past could be observed and transformed by me. It inspired me to also want to just notice and label sadness without taking its side or letting it drive. It reminds me of how Peter Levine in Waking the Tiger talks about “uniting the two polarities,” which is part of the process of helping people to transform their trauma. I can hold sadness without falling into it and I can hold it alongside other feelings rather than just being consumed by it. Like Sister Nghiem, I have dreams and experiences in which my partner also tells me that he hasn’t left and is with me. I also feel like I lost a soul mate and the person that nurtured me like a mother and father. I think this passage is brilliant in how she describes that the loss of a loving partner is a loss of all the love she felt like she had in the world (layers of neglect/trauma in her life revealed), but there was also a gradual recognition that he was still there and the love had not left.
Sister Nghiem gives me hope and inspiration. She writes, “[i]t was not my time to die. I must live to become liberated from my own wrong perceptions and habit energies. I must live to know life for what it truly is. I had a deep wish to love my partner unconditionally, and I must live to carry out his love. His body may cease, but he continues on through me. Each day I take stable steps for him…I walk with the awareness that my loved ones step with me into stability and freedom.” I think about this passage almost every day. Everyday I try to slow down and feel Brian’s love and carry him and that love with me in every step. I live for us both. Sister Nghiem gave me that insight and freedom to live with the memory and love of Brian, and to hold that love and pain together, recognizing but not falling into my suffering.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 12, 2025
should i quit medicine to become a nun? or maybe i just want to shave my head and move a little more slowly
October 23, 2024
Pole ammu biograafiat lugenud ja sattusin kohe loo otsa, mis Lugu suure algustähega!
Ma küll teadsin seda ütlemist, et “pain is inevitable, suffering is optional”, kuid seda lugu lugedes on mõnele inimesele antud ikka ebainimlikult suur koorem kanda. Uskumatu, milline isiklik kasv!
Ma küll teadsin seda ütlemist, et “pain is inevitable, suffering is optional”, kuid seda lugu lugedes on mõnele inimesele antud ikka ebainimlikult suur koorem kanda. Uskumatu, milline isiklik kasv!
April 23, 2011
Just finished this. It is a very simple book with a very heavy premise. I think I loved it for it's ability to make Buddhism and Buddhist study...accessible. Sister Dang Nghiem's tone in the book seems at first very childlike, simple, yet the more I contemplated it, the more I think I loved it. It reminded me that we, most of humanity, have strayed so far from simple ideas, simple clear speech, even in my own world I make things more complicated than they need to be...this was a lovely little quick read that is drawing me back to the moment, of living with less, and back to my practice. I am yearning for practice.
September 6, 2014
This book is an excellent book about a women's journey from a doctor to a nun. Sister Dang Nghiem's story is so inspiring. I even got the honor to meet her when I was at Blue Cliff Monastery. When I was at blue cliff, I always knew her as one of the brothers and sisters who ran the teens program and is always graceful, happy, and loving. Being so loving and graceful, I would never think that she had so much suffering in her. I absolutely love Sister D and her book. I felt a deep connection with Sister D and her story. Having a similar past, this book taught me a lot and helped me with my struggles. This book is precious to me.
November 5, 2023
This is such a beautiful book. I read it as my daily dharma reading, slowly over a few months. It was hard to sit with the early chapters which speak of the traumas she was subjected to as a child and the difficulties they and new trauma created for her as a young woman. But sitting with the feelings these pages stirred up in me was rewarding on its own, and allowed me the calm to continue reading, and to be able to witness from afar the emotional intelligence of a dedicated woman, finding healing through her spiritual community, the principles they endeavour to live by, and her application of those principles in challenging times. I am so glad I read Sister Dang Nghiem’s words.
January 26, 2015
An insightful and inspiring book from sister Dang Nghiem. The letters and poetry she wrote and shared in the book were lovely. I happened to read this during a period of major change and anxiety in my life, and it served as a great reminder that nothing is permanent, and that coming back to the present moment is always a way in which you can help to calm and heal yourself and others around you. So grateful to my mom for giving me this book many years ago.
December 8, 2014
Reading sister Dang Nghiem’s Healing A Woman’s Journey from Doctor to Nun was such an honor! It filled my heart with love. I shall visit her words again and again. One time reading her touching words is not enough. I have cherished the story with in and feel so blessed to be able to read about her life. Thank you, for sharing Sister Dang!
September 2, 2020
I kept shedding tears throughout the first half of the book when reading Su Co Dang Nghiem’s sad stories. Her stories, as commented by the college admission person, are similar to those of many Vietnamese people during the war time but I “heard” them differently when reading her book. It was probably because the stories are full of both honest and childlike feelings and unbelievable emotional suppressions that the younger Su Co went through. The writing is not full of emotion provoking words but plain and factful instead. It’s the plainness and factfulness that made me feel like I was with Su Co when those horrible things happened. I felt so sorry for that girl child to endure so many emotional upheavals at such a young age, and shared with the grown-up Su Co the discontentment and turmoils even though she had already gotten everything that would make her life a “good and normal” one.
Honest feelings and compassion that humans share with each other have the power to move one’s heart. Su Co Dang Nghiem’s book just did that to me, and it made me feel grateful for my precious life and live everyday gratefully to its fullest.
Honest feelings and compassion that humans share with each other have the power to move one’s heart. Su Co Dang Nghiem’s book just did that to me, and it made me feel grateful for my precious life and live everyday gratefully to its fullest.
July 14, 2019
This one was recommended to me by my father-in-law, and it was a short, inspiring read.
It always inspires me and excites me to see living proof of someone who has turned their life around, from suffering to peace, and who has found their path, and who openly and lovingly share of their journey and lessons.
More people should write books about their journeys and how they learned and struggled with the lessons and life, before they turned it into wisdom and found (more) peace.
I think that would help many students coming after to see that we are all on a journey, that struggle can be raw material for wisdom and peace, and to hold onto hope; knowing it IS possible to alchemize fear and pain. That others have walked that same path. Changed and made changes. Planted new seeds. Lived through and grown from hardships and pain.
And found a resting place in peace.
It always inspires me and excites me to see living proof of someone who has turned their life around, from suffering to peace, and who has found their path, and who openly and lovingly share of their journey and lessons.
More people should write books about their journeys and how they learned and struggled with the lessons and life, before they turned it into wisdom and found (more) peace.
I think that would help many students coming after to see that we are all on a journey, that struggle can be raw material for wisdom and peace, and to hold onto hope; knowing it IS possible to alchemize fear and pain. That others have walked that same path. Changed and made changes. Planted new seeds. Lived through and grown from hardships and pain.
And found a resting place in peace.
November 29, 2021
This book starts out very intense as it recounts Sr. Dang Nghiem’s childhood, from being born just before her village was bombed during the Vietnam War, to the poverty and exploitation she and her mother endured when they moved to Saigon. Thankfully Sr. Dang Nghiem doesn’t dwell on the details; just saying she lost her virginity before she was 10, waking up to find a man on top of her.
Things improve somewhat after she is able to leave Vietnam, but the prejudice she faced in the US was another kind of suffering. And finally, losing her boyfriend to drowning…suffering piled upon suffering.
But she did find her way to Plum Village, and I found her writing of how she has gradually learned how to heal her trauma very inspiring.
Things improve somewhat after she is able to leave Vietnam, but the prejudice she faced in the US was another kind of suffering. And finally, losing her boyfriend to drowning…suffering piled upon suffering.
But she did find her way to Plum Village, and I found her writing of how she has gradually learned how to heal her trauma very inspiring.
July 31, 2024
Sister D is a very wise human and it shows in this beautiful, kind, precise meandering of thoughts and experiences.
So many things will stay with me:
-- how real it is that Thay said "America is a monster, never satisfied," I agree and it made me curious about the spirit of Turtle Island. What is it's spirit?
-- shout out to the nun who missed being a gang leader, to be a nun or to be a gangster that is the question.
-- to healing so deeply we enjoy living in the present moment with a random bunch of rebels
Thank you for this offering
So many things will stay with me:
-- how real it is that Thay said "America is a monster, never satisfied," I agree and it made me curious about the spirit of Turtle Island. What is it's spirit?
-- shout out to the nun who missed being a gang leader, to be a nun or to be a gangster that is the question.
-- to healing so deeply we enjoy living in the present moment with a random bunch of rebels
Thank you for this offering
March 9, 2021
Whew. This was a tough read for me. Not because it's difficult to understand, but because I identify so closely with Sister D's internal life before she became a nun. The thoughts and trauma that tormented her could be mine. It took me longer to read this book than it should have because I knew I was going to cry every time and it was just hard. But it gave me a lot of hope that I will learn to heal myself as she has.
February 9, 2021
Sr. Dang Nghiem's book completely opened my heart, and prompted me to look deeply within my heart. I am so inspired by how she treated her traumatic past - what an incredible example she sets for us all, and a beacon of how I want to live my life. Thank you!
March 5, 2021
What an inspiring true story, that a woman with great trauma in her childhood and young adulthood could, with time and determination, come to a place of stability through her Buddhist practice. This will be a priceless gift to those whose path forward looks hopeless.
June 11, 2021
After I listened to a talk by Sister Dang Nghiem, MD recently, I searched out her first book. It is exactly what I needed to read at the top of the summer. I plan to pick up her most recent book next.
September 6, 2019
Oh my goodness. Even reading this book was healing for me!
June 3, 2021
Rich, deep, beautiful gut honest book filled with relatable stories and amazing insights into what it means to be human, happy, and loved. I have a lot to learn.
July 10, 2021
Early life of a Vietnamese nun in Thich Nhat Hanh's Order of Interbeing. She had a hard early life but learned to heal her wounds and help others heal their through the practice of Buddhism.
December 16, 2025
Absolutely loved reading this book. Grateful that it crossed my path. Guiding me back to my heart, my body and the present moment. Planning my visit to Plum Village!
November 29, 2014
"Pain is inevitable but suffering is optional"
Taking care of the present moment is taking care of the past. A beautiful present moment becomes a beautiful past.
When we encounter a situation in which our mind is strongly stimulated - such as when we are experiencing fear, anger, provocation, or excitement - the brain will release a large quantity of neurotransmitters and hormones related to emotions. The sense organs become extremely sensitive; the skeletal muscles contract; the heart and lungs work at a faster rate. When we practice mindfulness, our heart and lungs slow down, and we are able to truly experience the present moment, without getting stuck in the strong emotions.
What is most important to you? My awareness. Without awareness I would not know what I have and what I need to transform and heal.
My sincere hope has always been that my life experiences and insights can benefit others, so they may realize that "pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional." I hope that we all may find ways to take even better care of ourselves, so that each of us might choose light over darkness in every precious moment of our life.
Taking care of the present moment is taking care of the past. A beautiful present moment becomes a beautiful past.
When we encounter a situation in which our mind is strongly stimulated - such as when we are experiencing fear, anger, provocation, or excitement - the brain will release a large quantity of neurotransmitters and hormones related to emotions. The sense organs become extremely sensitive; the skeletal muscles contract; the heart and lungs work at a faster rate. When we practice mindfulness, our heart and lungs slow down, and we are able to truly experience the present moment, without getting stuck in the strong emotions.
What is most important to you? My awareness. Without awareness I would not know what I have and what I need to transform and heal.
My sincere hope has always been that my life experiences and insights can benefit others, so they may realize that "pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional." I hope that we all may find ways to take even better care of ourselves, so that each of us might choose light over darkness in every precious moment of our life.
January 12, 2012
"I don't want to grow into an old woman whose nightmares and losses are her sole companions."(81) A book for anyone who would like to claim this line as their own intention.
I interviewed Sister Dang Nghiem several years ago after hearing her recount part of her story. I asked her to use her story to help explain the concept of a "Hungry Ghost". What I feel is missing from the short video is the knowledge that her mother died while Sister Dang Nghiem was a child.
http://vimeo.com/100549
I interviewed Sister Dang Nghiem several years ago after hearing her recount part of her story. I asked her to use her story to help explain the concept of a "Hungry Ghost". What I feel is missing from the short video is the knowledge that her mother died while Sister Dang Nghiem was a child.
http://vimeo.com/100549
May 20, 2020
A lovely book by Sr. Dang, one of Thich Nhat Hanh's monastics. Her story is compelling as she survived conflict, cultural and familial, and abuse growing up. Coming to the US, she adjusted to life here, but carried with her the traumas. Her decision to enter monastic life provided her with the means to heal. She describes this process honestly and with clarity. I thought it was a wonderful reminder of the ways we need to be mindful and to be with ourselves and others compassionately, whether in or out of a monastery.
September 22, 2011
I just loved this frank account of one woman's journey to becoming a nun. It inspires me to think that someone from such a rough background can find healing and peace. As with most auto-biographies, I find wisdom in being able to put myself in the shoes of another and understand their lives, their pain, and their healing.
June 29, 2012
Good addition to biographies (in this case, an autobiography) of contemporary Buddhist women. Born in Vietnam during the American war, Dang Nghiem is sent to the USA where she earns two medical degrees--only to leave medicine in order to become a Buddhist nun.
August 12, 2013
I met her at Blue Cliff Monastery in 2012. She is delightful, a joy to hear speak.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews