Book Excerpts / Moments of Joy

In celebration of Women’s History Month, we would like to offer you a few poems, ‘Moments of Joy’ read by Sr Dieu Nghiem (also known as Sr Jina), a senior disciple of Thay, and a much loved Dutch-Irish nun of the Plum Village tradition. Those who have encountered her while on retreat will remember her light presence and deep wisdom. What many may not know is that Sr Dieu Nghiem often likes to write short poems to capture her moments of being fully present to life.

Book Moments of Joy

Moments of Joy
The Poetry of Sister Jina, Chan Dieu Nghiem
(Parallax Press, Berkeley)

This morning
the wind carried away
all the white plum blossoms
revealing tender green leaves.

Lying down to nap
High up on the mountain
a young pine offers her shade
a gentle breeze a lullaby

The sound of the rain
on my window
turns my little cottage
into a cozy refuge
this morning

Among the red tulips
Two bright yellow
Dandelions
Not intimidated at all!

This morning
It looks so quiet
Outside
I open my window
To hear the silence
Better

In the blue sky
One lone little white cloud
Drifts leisurely
Nowhere to go
Nothing to do

— Discover more...

True Joy, Peace and Love

Sr Dieu Nghiem gives the Christmas Eve talk at Plum Village. She begins the talk by giving a history of the rains retreat during the Buddha’s time and how we have conducted the yearly rains retreat at Plum Village. In the past, the Plum Village rains retreat always encompassed...

Sr Diệu Nghiêm

December 30, 2018

Signlessness and Impermanence

This Dharma Talk is the teaching given on Saturday 5th September, the final day of the 2015 Miracle of Mindfulness Retreat at Blue Cliff Monastery, New York, as part of the 2015 Miracle of Mindfulness Tour of the USA. Sr Dieu Nghiem presents the final four exercises of the...

Sr Diệu Nghiêm

September 5, 2015

Truthful and Loving Speech

Sister Lang Nghiem teaches on the 8th, 9th and 10th Mindfulness Training, True Community and Communication, Truthful and Loving Speech, Protecting and Nourishing the Sangha respectively. Transformation of our speech and speech patterns is possible. Communication, kindness and loving speech are all trainable and we can learn to speak...

Sr Lăng Nghiêm

November 18, 2018

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