Pema Chodron
Pema Chödrön is an American Buddhist nun, philosopher, and writer, born in New York City on July 14, 1936.
She was educated at Miss Porter's School and later at the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Education. In the course of her religious life, she became a teacher in the lineage of Chögyam Trungpa, a connection that placed her within a particular transmission of Buddhist practice and thought. She went on to serve as principal teacher at Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia, a role that established her as a significant figure within that institutional setting.
As both a nun and a writer working in the English language, Chödrön has pursued her vocation across two complementary registers — the formal life of ordination and the work of composition. Her identity as a philosopher alongside her role as a religious teacher reflects the dual nature of her engagement with Buddhist thought. Her position as principal teacher at Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia, within the lineage of Chögyam Trungpa, remains the concrete institutional anchor of her career.
Quotes by Pema Chodron
Pema Chodron's insights on:
Dharma is the study of what is, and the only way you can find out what is true is through studying yourself.
Until we stop clinging to the concept of good and evil, the world will continue to manifest as friendly goddesses and harmful demons
Surrendering, letting go of possessiveness, and complete non-attachment all are synonyms for accumulating merit. Pema Chodron
The essence of generosity is letting go. Pain is always a sign that we are holding on to something usually ourselves.
A small pepperoni pizza on a tortilla is healthier than salmon teriyaki with rice and carrots.
Simply be present with your own shifting energies and with the unpredictability of life as it unfolds.
We don't sit in meditation to become good meditators. We sit in meditation so that we'll become more awake in our lives.
When we protect ourselves so we won't feel pain, that protection becomes armor, like armor that imprisons the softness of the heart.
When we resist change, it's called suffering. But when we can completely let go and not struggle against it, when we can embrace the groundlessness of our situation and relax into its dynamic quality, that's called enlightenment, or awakening to our true nature, to our fundamental goodness.