Healing: A Woman's Journey from Doctor to Nun

Suffering has no beginning and no end. It has no single cause. It has been transmitted to us from our ancestors, from our parents, from our environment, and from the way in which we have lived these past many years. Peace, stability, and freedom also work in the same way. They have no beginning, no end, and no single cause. We can choose the path o

When sadness or restlessness arises, I can sit still or lie down and remain still in order to be present for it. I recognize the old tendency to grab a book or to look for someone to talk to, in order to fill up that void or to distract the buzzing of my mind. But I practice to be still because I no longer wish to run away from myself.

I saw that I needed diligent awareness to slowly develop the capacity to not grasp or have aversion towards anything that I recognize inside or around me.

“This space is very important. This is the ground, where everything will grow—the flowers, the grass, and the animals. You need to accept that this space exists inside you. Do not run away from it. Sometimes when the suffering is not in balance with the joy, you may feel this space as a vacuum. You may feel lifeless. Be there to embrace it.” Thus,

had slowly begun to embrace my sadness without siding with it or thinking that it is permanent.

When feelings of irritation or sadness arose, I didn’t dwell on them so as to not waste my energy on them. I did my best to be mindful, calm, peaceful, and joyful.

Peace, happiness, and freedom are the delicious fruits of the Beginner’s Mind, and they are also the essential nutriments for the Beginner’s Mind. Thus, if we fail to nourish peace, happiness, and freedom in ourselves daily, our Mind of Love can become eroded. Status, power, stress, frustration, worry, hope, aspiration, expectation, and disappointm

I had to patiently hold on to my breaths and footsteps; they are the reins that can restrain and keep my thinking at a steady and reasonable speed, so that I can recognize the wrong views and wrong thinking that are arising in my mind.

I saw for the first time that my mind was actually the main perpetrator of all the havoc in my life.