Sister Dang Nghiem, a Buddhist nun and medical doctor, shares profound insights on overcoming everyday addictions. She introduces a Buddhist twist on the 12-step program, combining the 4 Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. Sister D emphasizes self-compassion and social support in tackling cravings. She also discusses how to change addiction at its root through mindfulness practices. Listeners will discover strategies for cultivating right mindfulness and transforming their perceptions to break free from dependencies, all while fostering a supportive community.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
Internalized Beliefs
Sister Dang Nghiem recounted a story about a young woman who believed she was ugly and worthless.
This stemmed from childhood abuse where her cousin's cruel words became internalized beliefs.
insights INSIGHT
Suffering and Addiction
In Buddhism, suffering (Dukkha) encompasses various forms of unease, stress, and trauma.
Addiction often involves clinging to repetitive, intrusive, and uncontrollable thoughts or behaviors.
insights INSIGHT
Right View vs. Willpower
The Buddhist approach to addiction doesn't emphasize willpower but rather understanding (Right View).
This involves recognizing the causes and conditions, including interbeing, that contribute to addiction.
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This extraordinary story takes the reader from the rice fields of Vietnam to the peaceful surroundings of Thich Nhat Hanh’s monastery in Plum Village. Sister Dang Nghiem shares her life experiences, including childhood trauma, her career as a doctor, and her eventual ordination as a Buddhist nun. The book demonstrates how her personal experiences and the insights gained from Buddhist teachings have enabled her to become a support and resource for others. With humor, insight, and an irrepressible sense of joy, Sister Dang Nghiem’s story provides clarity and guidance for everyone facing similar challenges.
Mindfulness as Medicine
A Story of Healing Body and Spirit
Sister Dang Nghiem
In *Mindfulness as Medicine,* Sister Dang Nghiem shares her profound journey of healing from the devastating diagnosis and symptoms of Lyme disease, which also triggered unresolved traumas from her past. Combining her medical knowledge with advanced mindfulness practices, she guides readers through step-by-step techniques to embrace and transform suffering. The book emphasizes that suffering can be transformed and mastered, leading to deep appreciation for life, peace, joy, and love for oneself and others.
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
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