Sister True Dedication is a former journalist and monastic Dharma Teacher ordained by Thich Nhat Hanh. The editor and author of the commentary in Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet, Sister True Dedication has been a Zen Buddhist nun since 2008. Before entering the monastery, Sister True Dedication studied History and Political Thought at Cambridge University and worked as a journalist for BBC News in London. In the early years of her monastic training, she assisted Thich Nhat Hanh and Sister Chan Khong in their engaged Buddhist actions for human rights, religious freedom, applied ethics, and ecology. She is co-founder of the international Wake Up Movement, a community of young meditators who are finding new ways to combine mindfulness and engaged Buddhism. Today, she contributes her time and energy to guiding a new generation of young monastics and to editing Thich Nhat Hanh’s writings, in particular his recent books on Buddhism and ecology, including Love Letter to the Earth (2013), The Art of Living (2017), and Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet (2021). At home in the monastery she enjoys taking care of trees, listening to the Earth, and (when it’s appropriate) acting in comedy skits.

photo credit: Wouter Verhoeven