Cultivating the 5 Powers

Faith, diligence, mindfulness, concentration, insight: these are faculties found within us all. It’s up to us, of course, to develop and bring them out. In this conversation with Buddhadharma, author, medical doctor, and Plum Village monastic Sister Dang Nghiem (a.k.a. “Sister D”) talks about how her teacher Thich Nhat Hanh taught the “five strengths,” and how we can transform and harness them into powers that drive and deepen our dharma practice.

PAINTINGS BY DON COOPER

Buddhadharma: Sister Dang Nghiem, thanks for speaking with us. Let’s lay the ground about how you came to the dharma and how you first encountered the five strengths. Sister Dang Nghiem: I came to the dharma in a desperate situation. I was born Buddhist. I took Grandma to the temple, that was the most I did. And when I came to the United States, I invested most of my time and energy in high school, college, and medical school, and then residency. So I really did not invest at all in the dharma. But my partner was a Buddhist practitioner. And on his bookshelf there was Peace Is Every Step, by Thich Nhat Hanh. That’s how I actually met Thay [an affectionate epithet; “teacher” in Vietnamese], through his book, but I never…

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Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly (Digital) - 1 Issue, Summer 2023

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