Adornment with Insight
Sister Tuệ Nghiêm (“Sr. Insight”) ordained as a novice nun on December 11th 1993 at Plum Village France as a member of the “Fish” family. She received full bhikshuni ordination on December 2nd 1996, and the Lamp Transmission from Thầy to become a Dharma Teacher on February 19th, 1999. As a “baby” of the then small community, Sr. Tuệ Nghiêm was cherished by Thầy and the elders, but also firmly guided.
Sr. Tuệ Nghiêm was born in Vietnam, and grew up in California, USA. Influenced by her loving and spiritual mother, she joined the Vietnamese Youth Buddhist Society as a teen. She studied psychology at university, with a strong interest in the mind and the aspiration to alleviate the mental pain she saw around her. The same interest and aspiration then brought her to Plum Village France, where her elder brother (Brother Pháp Đang, “Br. Dharma Lamp”) had already ordained under Thầy. After the sojourn at Plum Village, she returned to California. The contrast between the malaise of a fast-paced living and the simple, fulfilling life at Plum Village helped set her life direction.
Sr. Tuệ Nghiêm balances her time in administrative roles with growing organic vegetables on the New Hamlet “Happy Farm”. She firmly believes in taking care of the body to sustain the practice, thus shares her experience in holistic medicine, yoga, Qi Gong, and nutrition with the community. Her favourite practices are breathing, walking, and reflecting on the sutras. She also enjoys learning neuroscience, Chinese, and loves to knit socks, swing in a hammock, listen to Mozart, and make samosas for the community.
Sister Tuệ Nghiêm regularly leads retreats in Europe, Asia, and North America. While at home in New Hamlet, she finds many ways to be with her younger sisters: hiking, mentoring, teaching the precepts, Buddhist psychology, and Vietnamese/English classes, driving and car maintenance.
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Dharma Talks
On Grief and Loss
In Zen, we often say that the moment of death is the moment that reveals how we have been practicing. Indeed, the fear of dying is the base for all other fears. As practitioners, death should be an object of our contemplation. Sister Insight shares her experience of practicing…
Sr Tuệ Nghiêm
Breathe, Smile and Accept
What do you truly want for your life? Knowing this becomes a source of energy on our path. When we see our path clearly, we are no longer afraid. Mindfulness is the energy of awareness that enables us to apply the practice in our daily life. This allows us…
Sr Tuệ Nghiêm
The face of Manas revealed: understanding a hidden aspect of our consciousness
Sister Tuệ Nghiêm offered a Live Dharma Talk on Sunday, 29 November, the second-to-last of our 3-month Autumn Rains Retreat, 2020.
Sr Tuệ Nghiêm
Practices to Find and Dwell in Our True Home| New Year’s Eve Talk
Sr Tue Nghiem gives the New Year’s eve talk on looking for our true home. A true home is a place where there is true love, spaciousness and peace. With the approaching new year, she asks us to examine our lives and see if we are looking and going…
Sr Tuệ Nghiêm
Mindfulness, concentration and insight in the context of Sangha building
Sr Tue Nghiem gives the final talk of the 2019 rains retreat. Mindfulness, concentration and insight are powerful energies that we generate from within. They are the essence of the Plum Village practice. They enable us to cultivate joy and manage our suffering. We can cultivate mindfulness, concentrate and…
Sr Tuệ Nghiêm
Openness, Non-Attachment to Views & Freedom of Thought
The moment we step into Plum Village we want to cultivate the energies of mindfulness, concentration and insight. The Buddha originally taught these three trainings as precepts, concentration and insight. It was Thầy who showed us that precepts are essentially mindfulness. Every precept is a Dharma door. They are…
Sr Tuệ Nghiêm
The Power of Understanding – Transformation of Manas
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Sr Tuệ Nghiêm
The Three Dharma Seals | Dharma Talk by Sr Tue Nghiem
Download the retreat booklet Help us caption & translate this video! https://amara.org/v/kGp0/
Sr Tuệ Nghiêm
Path of Beauty, Goodness, and Truth
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Sr Tuệ Nghiêm
Questions & Answers
In the last Q&A of Winter Retreat 2017-18, the following questions are answered: – 0:03:38 How to use telephone, email and social media mindfully? – 0:10:37 How do I deal with not feeling able to help my loved ones? – 0:23:52 How can I embrace ancestral suffering and not…
Sr Diệu Nghiêm, Sr Tuệ Nghiêm, Br Pháp Dung, Br Pháp Hữu
Insight Through Investigation
When we understand ourselves we can understand other people. But we often look at reality with tinted glasses on, not able to look beyond ideas, perceptions and prejudices. That’s why we need to wake up. (2:34) The second Factor of Awakening is “investigation of phenomena” (or dharmas). Investigation of…
Sr Tuệ Nghiêm
The Four Establishments Of Mindfulness
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Sr Tuệ Nghiêm
Guarding the Six Senses
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Sr Tuệ Nghiêm
Why is Suffering Holy?
During the retreat at Magnolia Grove Monastery (September 23, 2015), Sister Tue Nghiem teaches us why suffering is holy, even though it’s so uncomfortable. Coming back to our suffering helps us cultivate our compassion, our joy, and our happiness. In addition to the retreats at Deer Park Monastery next…
Sr Tuệ Nghiêm
The Holiness of Suffering
The First Talk from our retreat at Magnolia Grove Monastery during “The Time is Now Retreat”, part of the Miracle of Mindfulness US tour. Help us caption & translate this video! http://amara.org/v/HIFY/
Sr Tuệ Nghiêm
Introduction to the Miracle of Mindfulness
This is the Orientation to open the “Miracle of Mindfulness ” 5-day Retreat at Blue Cliff Monastery, New York, as part of the Plum Village International 2015 Miracle of Mindfulness Tour of the USA. Help us caption & translate this video! http://amara.org/v/HCQV/
Sr Tuệ Nghiêm, Br Pháp Dung
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Articles
- Meet the Monastics: Sister Tue Nghiem – tnhtour.org, Aug 11, 2015
- Touching Peace and Pain – Mindfulness Bell #15, Winter 1995