A Buddhist doctor/nun on how we’re all addicted to something—and how to reduce craving.
Sister Dang Nghiem, MD, (“Sister D”) was born in 1968 in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive, the daughter of a Vietnamese mother and an American soldier. She lost her mother at the age of twelve and immigrated to the United States at the age of seventeen with her brother. Living in various foster homes, she learned English and went on to earn a medical degree from the University of California – San Francisco. After suffering further tragedy and loss, she quit her practice as a doctor to travel to Plum Village monastery in France founded by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, where she was ordained a nun in 2000, and given the name Dang Nghiem, which means adornment with nondiscrimination. She is the author of a memoir, Healing: A Woman’s Journey from Doctor to Nun (2010), and Mindfulness as Medicine: A Story of Healing and Spirit (2015).
This episode is part of our monthlong Do Life Better series.
We talk about:
- Sister D’s Buddhist version of the 12 step program, which is a combination of two canonical buddhist lists: the 4 Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path
- How willpower doesn’t fit into the Buddhist path of understanding and working with addiction
- How to change addiction at its root
- Practical applications of mindfulness
- Self-compassion
- The importance of social support
- Her thoughts on our relationships to our phones
- And more
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