Pema Chodron
Pema Chodron
Pema Chödrönis an American, Tibetan Buddhist. She is an ordained nun, acharya and disciple of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Chodron has written several books and is the director of the Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia, Canada...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionClergyman
Date of Birth14 July 1936
CountryUnited States of America
weather shifting mood
My moods are continuously shifting like the weather.
practice negativity aversion
To cultivate equanimity we practice catching ourselves when we feel attraction or aversion, before it hardens into grasping or negativity.
unlimited-potential down-and becoming
By becoming intimate with how we close down and how we open up, we awaken our unlimited potential.
practice burden
We practice to liberate ourselves from a burden
fall compassion mind
The trick is to keep exploring and not bail out, even when we find out that something is not what we thought. That's what we're going to discover again and again and again. Nothing is what we thought. I can say that with great confidence. Emptiness is not what we thought. Neither is mindfulness or fear. Compassion––not what we thought. Love. Buddha nature. Courage. These are code words for things we don't know in our minds, but any of us could experience them. These are words that point to what life really is when we let things fall apart and let ourselves be nailed to the present moment.
reality enlightenment spirituality
Enlightenment is a direct experience with reality.
attachment want sometimes
Sometimes we find that we like our thoughts so much that we don't want to let them go.
appreciation pain vulnerable
Each of us has a "soft spot": the place in our experience where we feel vulnerable and tender. This soft spot is inherent in appreciation and love, and it is equally inherent in pain.
suffering illusion
Tonglen practice begins to dissolve the illusion that each of us is alone with this personal suffering that no one else can understand.
knowing relax identity
In the most ordinary terms, egolessness is a flexible identity. It manifests as inquisitiveness , as adaptability, as humor, as playfulness. It is our capacity to relax with not knowing, not figuring everything out, with not being at all sure who we are, or who anyone else is, either.
kind situation
In the end, that's what we all need more than anything else: to be there for each other, in every kind of situation.
looks clarity slow-down
Clarity and decisiveness come from the willingness to slow down, to listen to and look at what’s happening.
heart compassion feelings
In tonglen practice, when we see or feel suffering, we breathe in with the notion of completely feeling it, accepting it, and owning it. Then we breathe out, radiating compassion, lovingkindness, freshness - anything that encourages relaxation and openness. So you're training in softening, rather than tightening, your heart. In this practice, it's not uncommon to find yourself blocked, because you come face to face with your own fear, resistance, or whatever your personal "stuckness" happens to be at that moment.
feelings irritated hopeless
Feeling irritated, restless, afraid, and hopeless is a reminder to listen more carefully.