Sister Đẳng Nghiêm

Sister Đẳng Nghiêm, MD, (“Sister D”) immigrated to the United States at the age of seventeen with her brother. She earned a medical degree from the University of California – San Francisco. She was ordained as a nun in 2000 by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, 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). Her newest book, Flowers in the Dark, (2021) is a deeply thoughtful guidebook to healing trauma with mindfulness practice.

A Dharma teacher in the Plum Village tradition, originally from Vietnam and a U.S. citizen, born in 1968. She entered monastic training in 2000 at the age of 32 and received the novice precepts on May 18, 2000, at Từ Nghiêm Temple – Plum Village, with the Dharma name Tâm Phụng Hỷ and the Dharma title Chân Đẳng Nghiêm. She belongs to the Cây Bông Sứ (Frangipani Tree) ordination family.

She received full ordination on January 9, 2003, in the Đã Về Đã Tới (I Have Arrived, I Am Home) Great Ordination Ceremony.

She is the 106th disciple of Thầy in the Plum Village lineage. She belongs to the 43rd generation in the Lâm Tế (Linji) Zen tradition and the 9th generation of the Liễu Quán Dharma branch.