Pema Chödrön: The best from the pages of
the Shambhala Sun, plus resources and links
 Pema Chödrön is one of the most prominent women teachers of Buddhism. She is
resident director at Gampo Abbey monastery in Nova Scotia and the
author of several books, including The Wisdom of No Escape, When Things Fall Apart, The Places That Scare You, and No Time to Lose, a commentary on the classic text, Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life.
The Shambhala Sun offers the best selection of Pema Chödrön's teachings available on the web.
In
the difficulties of your life, says Pema Chödrön, you will discover the
your natural love and warmth. An excerpt from our November 2009 issue.
Andrea Miller on the life and spiritual journey of one Deirdre Blomfield-Brown. An excerpt from our November 2009 issue.
Pema Chödrön on four ways that meditation helps us deal with difficulty.
Throughout
our day we can pause, take a break from our usual thoughts, and wake up
to the magic and vastness of the world around us. Pema Chödrön says
this easy and spacious type of mindfulness practice is the most
important thing we can do with our lives.
There is a key moment, says Pema Chodron, when we make the choice between peace and conflict. In this new teaching from her program Practicing Peace in Times of War, she describes the practice we can do at that very moment to bring peace for ourselves, for others, and for the world.
Pema Chodron and Dzigar Kongtrül—a student and her teacher—talk straight about honesty, self-deception, and why the difference is the key to the dharma.
Bodhicitta
is our means to tap into the awakened energy of compassion, says Pema Chodron. "Love and compassion are like the weak spots in the walls of
ego. If we connect with even one moment of the good heart of bodhicitta
and cherish it, our ability to open will gradually expand."
Pema Chodron says the most straightforward advice on how to discover your
true nature is this: practice not causing harm to anyone neither
yourself nor others and every day, do what you can to help.
"We
might think that knowing ourselves is a very ego-centered thing, says
Pema Chodron, but by beginning to look clearly and honestly at
ourselves, we begin to dissolve the walls that separate us from
others."
Rather
than feeling discouraged by laziness, we could get to know laziness
profoundly. This very moment of laziness becomes our personal teacher,
suggests Pema Chodron.
To be without a reference point is the ultimate loneliness. It is also called enlightenment.
Pema Chodron on how to awaken bodhichitta—enlightened heart and mind—the essence of all Buddhist practice.
Pema Chodron offers a method for generating love and compassion for all human beings.
We
can suppress anger and aggression or act it out, either way making
things worse for ourselves and others. Or we can practice patience:
wait, experience the anger and investigate its nature. Pema Chodron
takes us step by step through this powerful practice.
More: • Turn Your Thinking Upside Down, by Pema Chodron
• Cultivating Openness When Things Fall Apart, by Pema Chodron and bell hooks
• The Threefold Purity, by Pema Chodron
• Good Medicine for This World, by Pema Chodron and Alice Walker
• Signs of Spiritual Progress, by Pema Chodron
• It Starts with Uncertainty, by Pema Chodron and Margaret Wheatley
• Buddhist Meditation is Relaxing with the Truth, by Pema Chodron
• The Key to Knowing Ourselves is Meditation, by Pema Chodron
• How We Get Hooked and How We Get Unhooked, by Pema Chodron
• Lojong: How to Awaken Your Heart, by Pema Chodron
• Three Methods for Working with Chaos, by Pema Chodron
Links:
• Shambhala
• Gampo Abbey
• The Pema Chodron Foundation
To browse more of the best
material from the pages of the Shambhala Sun and Buddhadharma, visit
our "Special Sections" menu, which includes complete articles on
subjects ranging from How to Meditate to tradition-specific teachings
to Buddhist Art, Green Living, and more. Click here to view the Special Sections menu page.
Edited
by the Shambhala Sun's Barry Boyce and being released to coincide with
the Urban Retreat, this new book features the greatest contemporary
Buddhist teachers and writers—people
renowned for addressing precisely the problems we’re facing
today—including the Dalai Lama, Pema Chödrön, Thich Nhat Hanh, Chögyam
Trungpa, Sylvia Boorstein, Jack Kornfield, Norman Fischer, Jon
Kabat-Zinn, Sharon Salzberg, and many others.
Click to order In the Face of Fear
|
In the Face of Fear: Buddhist Wisdom for Challenging Times