What Jimmy Nguyen has said about Ego and attachment
6 quotes · 1 episode · Apr 10, 2025
Jimmy Nguyen, Vietnamese-American former banker and registered nurse turned college counselor who spent about a year at a Buddhist monastery (first half of the conversation), has been quoted on Ego and attachment 6 times in 1 episode of Ctrl-Alt-Reset, most recently on April 10, 2025. Each quote below is verbatim and links to the moment it was said.
In their words
Nguyen offered his maxim that happiness must be deliberately engineered rather than left to chance.
“You know, there's a saying, I think I've shared this with you, just like great engineering, happiness doesn't happen by accident”
Ctrl-Alt-Reset: Episode 3: From Chaos to Clarity: Jimmy’s Journey of Awakening (Apr 10, 2025) · Listen from 36:46
Nguyen said he deliberately sat behind the Zen master each morning so that his own ego would force him to be present.
“I used my ego against itself by being around other people, especially sitting right behind the Zen teacher”
Ctrl-Alt-Reset: Episode 3: From Chaos to Clarity: Jimmy’s Journey of Awakening (Apr 10, 2025) · Listen from 1:01:07
Nguyen said he quit his corporate banking job after the retreat because it did not align with what made him happy.
“I actually turned that three day weekend to quitting my corporate job at a bank”
Ctrl-Alt-Reset: Episode 3: From Chaos to Clarity: Jimmy’s Journey of Awakening (Apr 10, 2025) · Listen from 1:20:52
Nguyen said people often hurt those they love because they love them according to their own pain rather than the other person's.
“But we're loving them based off our own pain and our own suffering, not their pain and their suffering”
Ctrl-Alt-Reset: Episode 3: From Chaos to Clarity: Jimmy’s Journey of Awakening (Apr 10, 2025) · Listen from 1:25:02
Nguyen relayed the Dalai Lama's teaching that wise selfishness means caring for oneself while knowing one is connected to everything.
“There's two types of selfishness in the world. There's wise and unwise selfishness. Our goal is to be wise selfishness”
Ctrl-Alt-Reset: Episode 3: From Chaos to Clarity: Jimmy’s Journey of Awakening (Apr 10, 2025) · Listen from 2:04:28
Nguyen recommended acknowledging what one appreciates about a person before raising a grievance, so both egos become less defensive.
“there's a practice of watering flowers before you, you know, compost, right?”
Ctrl-Alt-Reset: Episode 3: From Chaos to Clarity: Jimmy’s Journey of Awakening (Apr 10, 2025) · Listen from 2:06:39
Episodes
Episode 3: From Chaos to Clarity: Jimmy’s Journey of AwakeningCtrl-Alt-Reset · Apr 10, 2025 · 2 h 15 min
Jimmy Nguyen tells host Matt how ADHD, childhood abuse, the rave scene and near-fatal pancreatitis led him to a year in a Buddhist monastery.
Jimmy Nguyen on other topics
- Mindfulness practice · 5 quotes
- Deer Park Monastery · 3 quotes
- Meditation · 2 quotes
- Composting · 1 quote
- Child abuse · 1 quote
- Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames · 1 quote
- Pancreatitis · 1 quote
- Rave culture · 1 quote