Who Is Pema Chodron

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Pema Chodron

 

She's funny, she has kids and grandkids, she has an opinion about how Cher looks after all the plastic surgery.  She's not your parents' Buddhist nun, in other words. 

 I'll put Pema Chodron up as the greatest Buddhist teacher today (who speaks English, anyway), including the admittedly wonderful Thich Nhat Hanh and the certainly famous and charismatic Dalai Lama.

You don't have to be a Buddhist to learn more about compassion and fearlessness from Pema Chodron.  She has Christian students, Jewish students, athiest students, and any other flavor of belief or non-belief that you can think of.  She does not show any interest in converting anyone to Buddhism, just in teaching us how to be gentler and to suffer less.

P.S. If you buy something from this page... 

. . . you'll automatically be making a donation to The Acumen Fund, working to solve global poverty.

I don't know about you, but I think that is pretty cool.

Pema Chodron at a Glance 

Pema Chödrön (formerly known as Deirdre Blomfield-Brown) is an ordained Buddhist nun in the Tibetan vajrayana tradition, and a teacher in the lineage of Chögyam Trungpa. The goal of her work is the ability to apply Buddhist teachings in everyday life.

A prolific author, she has conducted workshops, seminars, and meditation retreats in Europe, Australia, and throughout North America. She is resident teacher of Gampo Abbey, a monastery in rural Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada.Cahill (1996) p. 377

Selected Pema quote 

From time to time I'll refresh these for your reading pleasure

Recently I was talking with a man I've known for a long time. I've always considered him to be a shy, good-hearted person who spends more time than most helping other people. On this day he was completely despondent and feeling like a hopeless case. Intending to be facetious, I asked him, "Well, don't you think that somewhere on this planet there might be someone worse than you?" He answered with heartbreaking honesty, "No. If you want to know what I really feel, it's that there's no one as bad as me."

It made me think of a Gary Larson cartoon I once saw. Two women are standing behind their locked door peeking out the window at a monster standing on their doorstep. One of the ladies is saying, "Calm down, Edna. Yes, it is a giant hideous insect, but it may be a giant hideous insect in need of help."

The most difficult times for many of us are the ones we give ourselves. Yet it's never too late or too early to practice loving-kindness. It's as if we had a terminal disease but might live for quite a while. Not knowing how much time we have left, we might begin to think it was important to make friends with ourselves and others in the remaining hours, months, or years.

When Things Fall Apart

It's like lying in bed before dawn and . . .

hearing rain on the roof. This simple sound can be disappointing because we were planning a picnic. It can be pleasing because our garden is so dry. But the flexible mind of prajna doesn't draw conclusions of good or bad. It perceives the sound without adding anything extra, without judgments of happy or sad. (From Comfortable with Uncertainty)

Four fine Pema Chodron books from Amazon 

The Wisdom of No Escape, which sounds like it would be depressing and isn't at all, is my favorite of these. All of them are transformative; each hits different people differently.

Pema's article on transforming confusion into wisdom (the practice of Tonglen) 

from www.shambhala.org

In order to have compassion for others, we have to have compassion for ourselves.

In particular, to care about other people who are fearful, angry, jealous, overpowered by addictions of all kinds, arrogant, proud, miserly, selfish, mean—you name it—to have compassion and to care for these people, means not to run from the pain of finding these things in ourselves. In fact, one's whole attitude toward pain can change. Instead of fending it off and hiding from it, one could open one's heart and allow oneself to feel that pain, feel it as something that will soften and purify us and make us far more . . . more >>

Buddhism is not separate from reality 

Here's a recent blog post Sonia made on how the kind of everyday wisdom I've learned (ok, tried to learn) from Pema can be highly relevant in daily life. It includes my very favorite Pema quote.

You are perfectly normal. Those other people are way messed up.

Pema Chodron audio on Amazon 

One of Pema's great gifts is a warm voice that conveys her great sense of humor. She has a number of audio books and recordings available--I would encourage you to check any of them out. Her speaking voice has the ability to touch your heart very directly.

Getting Unstuck: Breaking Your Habitual Patterns & Encountering Naked Reality

Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 07/09/2008)

The Pema Chodron Collection: Pure Meditation:Good Medicine:From Fear to Fearlessness

Amazon Price: $26.37 (as of 07/09/2008)

True Happiness

Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 07/09/2008)

An article by Pema Chodron on the "hooked" feeling 

from www.shambhalasun.com

Someone criticizes you. They criticize your work or your appearance or your child. At moments like that, what is it you feel? It has a familiar taste in your mouth, it has a familiar smell. Once you begin to notice it, you feel like this experience has been happening forever.

The Tibetan word for this is shenpa. It is usually translated "attachment," but a more descriptive translation might be "hooked." When shenpa hooks us, we're likely to get stuck. We could call shenpa "that sticky feeling." It's an everyday experience. Even a spot on your new sweater can take you there. At the subtlest level, we feel a tightening, a tensing, a sense of closing down. Then we feel a sense of withdrawing, not wanting to be where we are. That's the hooked quality. That tight feeling has the power to hook us into self-denigration, blame, anger, jealousy and other emotions which lead to words and actions that end up poisoning us. Remember the fairy tale in which toads hop out of the princess's mouth whenever she starts to say mean words? That's how being hooked can feel. Yet we don't stop—we can't stop—because . . . more >>

Pema Chodron Vids 


Pema Chodron "Troublemakers"

Runtime: 3:41
39529 views
10 Comments:


Pema Chodron "Common Tactics of Aggression"

Runtime: 1:11
20103 views
10 Comments:


Pema Chodron on Bill Moyers Faith and Reason

Runtime: 2:22
12526 views
10 Comments:


Bill Moyers: On Faith & Reason - Pema Chödrön | PBS

Runtime: 3:02
16385 views
10 Comments:


"Memorial Day Tonglin" (Part 1) Pema Chodron & Richard Reoch

Runtime: 9:54
5917 views
5 Comments:


Who is Milarepa?

Runtime: 3:54
21234 views
8 Comments:

Do you know Pema Chodron's work? 

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Sit down, have a cup of tea, let me know what you're thinking 

ecovicki

Nice lens on a great person.

Posted June 30, 2008

Carolyn_Anderson

Thanks for the great lens!

Posted June 02, 2008

Starving_Artist

wonderful author, speaker and person glad to see a lens about her and that you support a good cause.

Posted May 20, 2008

Believer

Wonderful lens for a person who deserves the recognition. Pema's gentleness and down to earth wisdom draw you right in. I first saw her on Bill Moyers, then took an on-line course on Spirituality and Practice devoted to her books. Wonderful stuff.

Posted May 20, 2008

beeobrien

This is inspiring. Thank you for introducing me.

Posted April 17, 2008

Kislanya

I first heard of Pema in a book called 'Re-Enchantment'. Can't remember who wrote it but the author devoted a chapter to her. When I read that she had spent 13 years high up in a cave in the snowy mountains, I was immediately fascinated. Here was someone whose words I could respect as she lived them under incredible deprivation.
I am so pleased to find your lens here about her. She is hardly known and yet has managed to touch the world quietly.
Wonderful site....thank you.

Posted March 16, 2008

zoezuniga

What a lovely lens. I just finished listening to a pod cast by Eckhart Tolle this afternoon so I was "in the zone", so this was a nice way to end the afternnon.

Posted March 08, 2008

PatinKC

I love to listen to Pema and love the quote. Please join my Buddhism Group

Posted March 08, 2008

busyblogger

Nice to see a nice, simple, and Zen lens on Pema Chodron. "When Things Fall Apart" offers a straightforward introduction to fundamental Buddhist principles in a way that's open to any spiritual or religious approach. Sometimes life just needs to be broken down into its simplest units of truth. Pema Chodron does just that exceptionally well.

Posted February 26, 2008

thomasz

Nice lens. Great info.

Posted February 13, 2008

Graceonline

I especially love your quote of Pema telling the story of the Gary Larson insect cartoon. I hope I can remember always to look upon those I fear as someone in need of help. Excellent article on shenpa, too. Beautifully done lens. Most deserving of the lens of the day. A much belated congratulations.

Posted February 08, 2008

riverspirit

In reading "Awakening Loving-kindness", I really like the Meditation on Precision, Gentleness, and Letting Go. I love her suggestion to accept all the parts of oneself with gentleness to help us re-discover that we have everything we need. It reminds me of an article I read many years ago by Alan Watts called "The Myth of Self-improvement". I'm just beginning to learn more about Pema. Her wisdom speaks to me.

Posted January 21, 2008

ShortSaleRealtor

great lens 5 stars 4 u

Posted January 21, 2008

riverspirit

Really deriving much fruit from an abriged version of "The Wisdom of No Escape" (1991) called "Awakening Loving-Kindness" (Shambhala Publications). I'm looking forward to returning to learn more about Pema. I rated this as a five star sight. Fabulous Lens. Thank you so much for putting together all this wonderful information. Fabulous!!! With Loving-kindness, Robert

Posted January 21, 2008

meetyourgreensdating

Oh its so cool to see a lens about Pema Chodron. I recently read her book, 'The Places That Scare You'. Powerful stuff!

Posted January 18, 2008

RinchenChodron

I love everything Pema Chodron writes or says. I have never met her or taken a class but someday I will. thank you for this fine lens.

Posted December 30, 2007

susan

can anyone tell me which audio books are NOT read by Pema? I love her voice and want only her.

Posted December 05, 2007

MythRider

Now that I've wandered into this lens, I can see that it's a great resource. I hope I can find my way back, possibly with a trail of breadcrumbs.

Malcolm Campbell
"The Sun Singer"

Posted November 11, 2007

flicker

Wonderful lens about a wonderful human being. I have one of her books ("When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times") and have read it over and over. Gets better every time.

Posted November 07, 2007

spirituality

I love what she says about Compassion (tonglen)

Posted October 24, 2007

 
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