Thubten Chodron

Thubten Chodron

Ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist nun in 1977, Venerable Thubten Chodron is an author, teacher, and the founder and abbess of Sravasti Abbey. Sravasti Abbey is the only Tibetan Buddhist training monastery for Westerners in the US and holds gender equality, social engagement, and care for the environment amongst its core values. Ven. Chodron teaches worldwide and is known for her practical (and humorous!) explanations of how to apply Buddhist teachings in daily life. She is also actively involved in prison outreach and interfaith dialogue. She has published many books on Buddhist philosophy and meditation, and has coauthored a book—Buddhism: One Teacher, Many Traditions—with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, with whom she has studied for nearly forty years.

Thubten Chodron

Ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist nun in 1977, Venerable Thubten Chodron is an author, teacher, and the founder and abbess of Sravasti Abbey. Sravasti Abbey is the only Tibetan Buddhist training monastery for Westerners in the US and holds gender equality, social engagement, and care for the environment amongst its core values. Ven. Chodron teaches worldwide and is known for her practical (and humorous!) explanations of how to apply Buddhist teachings in daily life. She is also actively involved in prison outreach and interfaith dialogue. She has published many books on Buddhist philosophy and meditation, and has coauthored a book—Buddhism: One Teacher, Many Traditions—with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, with whom she has studied for nearly forty years.

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GUIDES

Women in Buddhism

Women in Buddhism

Throughout history women have played a vital role in the preservation and presentation of Buddhism. The Buddha himself expressed deep respect for his mother and as several contemporary Buddhist scholars have pointed out, women have played a significant role in helping to shape and preserve Buddhism. That is certainly true for Buddhism in today's world.

Today, contemporary Buddhism is largely shaped by a number of women who play vital roles from translation to teaching, to holding highly influential seats in Buddhist sanghas around the world. We are happy to publish a wide range of Buddhist authors from diverse traditions. This guide is certainly not complete in the sense of presenting each and every example of women in Buddhism today, but hopefully it will give readers a place to begin learning from and celebrating the many women who make Buddhism possible today.

Recent and Upcoming Releases

$24.95 - Paperback

Lifting as They Climb
Black Women Buddhists and Collective Liberation

By Toni Pressley-Sanon

The lives and writings of six leading Black Buddhist women—Jan Willis, bell hooks, Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, angel Kyodo williams, Spring Washam, and Faith Adiele—reveal new expressions of Buddhism rooted in ancestry, love, and collective liberation.

Lifting as They Climb is a love letter of freedom and self-expression from six Black women Buddhist teachers, conveyed through the voice of author Toni Pressley-Sanon, one of the innumerable people who have benefitted from their wisdom. She explores their remarkable lives and undertakes deep readings of their work, weaving them into the broader tapestry of the African diaspora and the historical struggle for Black liberation.

Dr. Toni Pressley-Sanon is an associate professor in the Department of Africology & African American Studies at Eastern Michigan University, having previously held positions at the University of Buffalo and Pennsylvania State University. Her work dwells on the intersections of memory, history, and culture in both Africa and the African diaspora. She is the author of four books and numerous journal articles and book chapters on these subjects. Toni has practiced Buddhist meditation and mindfulness for the past ten years.

Available 05/21/2024

$26.95 - Paperback

A Dakini's Counsel
Sera Khandro's Spiritual Advice and Dzogchen Instructions

By Sera Khandro
Translated by Christina Monson

Sera Khandro Dewai Dorje was a modern Tibetan Buddhist teacher who single-pointedly pursued a life of Dharma while balancing family life and public teaching. This collection of her advice, prayers, dreams, prophecies, and treasures (terma) is both biographical and instructional. It comes from within the tradition of Dzogchen, replete with practices for resting in the nature of mind. This lineage forms the bedrock of Christina Monson’s own spiritual path, lending a deep intimacy to the translations, which serve as a window into Sera Khandro’s life, teachings, and rich inner experience.

Sera Khandro (1892–1940) was one of the most prolific Tibetan female authors of the past several centuries. At the age of fifteen, she left her home in Lhasa for eastern Tibet, embarking on a lifetime devoted to her spiritual path—she became a spiritual master, a revealer of ancient hidden teachings, a mystic, a visionary, a writer, a mother, and a vagabond. Her written works and spiritual lineage have been preserved and are now cherished worldwide.

Christina Monson (1969–2023) was a Buddhist practitioner and teacher and Tibetan language translator and interpreter. She had over thirty years of study, translation, and practice experience in Buddhism beginning with an interest in Asian philosophy as an undergraduate student at Brown University.

embodying tara

$22.95 - Paperback

Embodying Tara
Twenty-One Manifestations to Awaken Your Innate Wisdom

By Chandra Easton

Tara, the Buddhist goddess of compassion, can manifest within all of us. In this illustrated introduction to Tara's twenty-one forms, respected female Buddhist teacher and practitioner Dorje Lopön Chandra Easton shows you how to invite Tara’s awakened energy to come alive in yourself through:

  • insight into core Buddhist concepts and teachings;
  • meditations;
  • mantra recitations; and
  • journal exercises.

The relatable stories from Buddhist history and the author’s personal reflections will give you the tools to live a more compassionate life, befriend your fears, and overcome everyday challenges.

Chandra Easton is a Dharma teacher, author, and translator of Tibetan Buddhist texts. She has taught Buddhism and Hatha Yoga since 2001. In 2015, she was given the title of Vajra Teacher, Dorje Lopön, for Tara Mandala Retreat Center by Lama Tsultrim Allione and H. E. Gochen Sang Ngag Rinpoche. Lopön Chandra studied Buddhism and Tibetan language in Dharamsala, India, and at UCSB’s religious studies department. During her studies, she cotranslated with her mentor, B. Alan Wallace, Sublime Dharma: A Compilation of Two Texts on the Great Perfection (Vimala Publishing, 2012).

$21.95 - Paperback

The Buddhist and the Ethicist
Conversations on Effective Altruism, Engaged Buddhism, and How to Build a Better World

By Peter Singer
By Shih Chao-Hwei

An unlikely duo—Professor Peter Singer, a preeminent philosopher and professor of bioethics, and Venerable Shih Chao-Hwei, a Taiwanese Buddhist monastic and social activist—join forces to talk ethics in lively conversations that cross oceans, overcome language barriers, and bridge philosophies. The eye-opening dialogues collected here share unique perspectives on contemporary issues like animal welfare, gender equality, the death penalty, and more. Together, these two deep thinkers explore the foundation of ethics and key Buddhist concepts, and ultimately reveal how we can all move toward making the world a better place.

Shih Chao-Hwei is a Buddhist monastic, social activist, scholar, and recent winner of the Niwano Peace Prize. A leading advocate for animal rights, a vocal supporter of same-sex marriage, and a key figure in the Buddhist gender equality movement, she is also a professor at Hsuan Chuang University and the founder of Hong Shih Buddhist College.
Peter Singer, the “father of the modern animal welfare movement,” was named one of the most influential people in the world by Time magazine. An Australian philosopher and professor of bioethics, he has contributed to more than 50 books in over 30 languages. Singer is founder of The Life You Can Save nonprofit and a professor of bioethics at Princeton University.
ShangpaV2

$49.95 - Hardcover

Shangpa Kagyu: The Tradition of Khyungpo Naljor, Part Two
Essential Teachings of the Eight Practice Lineages of Tibet, Volume 12 (The Treasury of Precious Instructions)

By Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye
Translated by Sarah Harding

This is the second of two volumes that present teachings and practices from the Shangpa Kagyu practice lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. This tradition derives from two Indian yoginīs, the dākinīs Niguma and Sukhasiddhi, and their disciple, the eleventh-century Tibetan yogi Khyungpo Naljor Tsultrim Gönpo of the Shang region of Tibet. There are forty texts in this volume, beginning with Jonang Tāranātha’s classic commentary and its supplement expounding the Six Dharmas of Niguma. It includes the definitive collection of the tantric bases of the Shangpa Kagyu—the five principal deities of the new translation (sarma) traditions and the Five-Deity Cakrasamvara practice. The source scriptures, liturgies, supplications, empowerment texts, instructions, and practice manuals were composed by Tangtong Gyalpo, Tāranātha, Jamgön Kongtrul, and others.

The first part of this series is also available now.

Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye (1813–1900) was a versatile and prolific scholar and one of the most outstanding writers and teachers of his time in Tibet. He was a pivotal figure in eastern Tibet’s nonsectarian movement and made major contributions to education, politics, and medicine.
Sarah Harding has been a Buddhist practitioner since 1974 and has been teaching and translating since completing a three year retreat in 1980 under the guidance of Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche. Her publications include Zhije and Chöd, respectively the thirteenth and fourteenth volumes of The Treasury of Precious Instructions series. She was an associate professor at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, starting in 1992, and has been a fellow of the Tsadra Foundation since 2000.

Women in Buddhist Research & Academia

The Woman Who Raised the Buddha
The Extraordinary Life of Mahaprajapati

By Wendy Garling

Mahaprajapati was the only mother the Buddha ever knew. His birth mother, Maya, died shortly after childbirth, and her sister Mahaprajapati took the infant to her breast, nurturing and raising him into adulthood. In this first full biography of Mahaprajapati, Wendy Garling presents her life story, with attention to her early years as sister, queen, matriarch, and mother, as well as her later years as a nun. Garling reveals just how exceptional Mahaprajapati’s role was as leader of the first generation of Buddhist women, helping the Buddha establish an equal community of lay and monastic women and men. Mother to the Buddha, mother to early Buddhist women, mother to the Buddhist faith, Mahaprajapati’s journey is finally presented as one interwoven with the founding of Buddhism.

$18.95 - Paperback

Wendy Garling is a writer, mother, gardener, independent scholar, and authorized dharma teacher with a BA from Wellesley College and MA in Sanskrit language and literature from the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of Stars at Dawn: Forgotten Stories of Women in the Buddha’s Life (2016, Shambhala Publications), a groundbreaking new biography of the Buddha that relates his journey to awakening through the stories of Buddhism’s first women.

Illumination
A Guide to the Buddhist Method of No-Method

By Rebecca Li

A modern guide to the transformative practice of silent illumination from Chan Buddhist teacher Rebecca Li.

Silent illumination, a way of penetrating the mind through curious inquiry, is an especially potent, accessible, and portable meditation practice perfectly suited for a time when there is so much fear, upheaval, and sorrow in our world. It is a method of reconnecting with our true nature, which encompasses all that exists and where suffering cannot touch us.

$21.95 - Paperback

Rebecca Li, PhD, is a meditation and Dharma teacher in the lineage of Chan Master Sheng Yen and founder and guiding teacher of Chan Dharma Community. She gives Dharma talks and leads Chan retreats in North America and Europe. She is also a sociology professor and lives with her husband in New Jersey. Her talks, writings, and schedule can be found at rebeccali.org.

Tales of a Mad Yogi
The Life and Wild Wisdom of Dukpa Kunley

By Elizabeth L Monson

The fifteenth-century Himalayan saint Drukpa Kunley is a beloved figure throughout Tibet, Bhutan, and Nepal, known both for his profound mastery of Buddhist practice as well as his highly unconventional and often humorous behavior. Ever the proverbial trickster and “crazy wisdom” yogi, his outward appearance and conduct of carousing, philandering, and breaking social norms is understood to be a means to rouse ordinary people out of habitual ways of thinking that leads them toward spiritual awakening.

Elizabeth Monson has spent decades traveling throughout the Himalayas, retracing Drukpa Kunley’s steps and translating his works. In this creative telling, she has reimagined his life based on historical accounts, autobiographical sketches, folktales, and first-hand ethnographic research. The result, with flourishes of magical encounters and references to his superhuman capacities, is a poignant narrative of Kunley’s life, revealing to the reader the quintessential example of the capacity of Buddhism to skillfully bring people to liberation.

$19.95 - Paperback

Elizabeth Monson, PhD, is the spiritual codirector of Natural Dharma Fellowship and the managing teacher at Wonderwell Mountain Refuge. She is a Dharma teacher of Tibetan Buddhism, has lectured at the Harvard Divinity School, and teaches meditation throughout New England.

living theravadaLiving Theravada
Demystifying the People, Places, and Practices of a Buddhist Tradition

By Brooke Schedneck

An illuminating introduction to the contemporary world of Theravada Buddhism and its rich culture and practices in modern mainland Southeast Asia.

Theravada translates as “the way of the Elders,” indicating that this Buddhist tradition considers itself to be the most authoritative and pure. Tracing all the way back to the time of the Buddha, Theravada Buddhism is distinguished by canonical literature preserved in the Pali language, beliefs, and practices—and this literature is often specialized and academic in tone. By contrast, this book will serve as a foundational and accessible resource on Theravada Buddhism and the contemporary, lived world of its enduring tradition.

$24.95 - Paperback

Brooke Schedneck, PhD, is an assistant professor in the department of religious studies at Rhodes College. Her work focuses on contemporary Buddhism in Thailand, and she spent years teaching and conducting research in Chiang Mai. She has presented her research internationally, and her work has been featured in academic journals and publications such as TricycleAeon, and The Conversation.

An inspiring and intimate tale set against the turmoil of recent Tibetan history, Inseparable across Lifetimes offers for the first time the translations of love letters between two modern Buddhist visionaries. The letters are poetic, affectionate, and prophetic, articulating a hopeful vision of renewal that drew on their past lives together and led to their twenty-year partnership. This couple played a significant role in restoring Buddhism in the region of Golok once China’s revolutionary fervor gave way to reform. Holly Gayley, who was given their correspondence by Namtrul Rinpoche himself, has translated their lives and letters in order to share their remarkable story with the world.

$24.95 - Paperback

Holly Gayley, Associate Professor of Buddhist Studies, is a scholar and translator of contemporary Buddhist literature in Tibet. She is author of Love Letters from Golok: A Tantric Couple in Modern Tibet, co-editor of A Gathering of Brilliant Moons: Practice Advice from the Rime Masters of Tibet, and translator of Inseparable Across Lifetimes: The Lives and Love Letters of Namtrul Rinpoche and Khandro Tāre Lhamo.

Black and Buddhist
What Buddhism Can Teach Us about Race, Resilience, Transformation, and Freedom

Edited by Cheryl A. Giles and Pamela Ayo Yetunde

Leading African American Buddhist teachers offer lessons on racism, resilience, spiritual freedom, and the possibility of a truly representative American Buddhism.

What does it mean to be Black and Buddhist? In this powerful collection of writings, African American teachers from all the major Buddhist traditions tell their stories of how race and Buddhist practice have intersected in their lives. The resulting explorations display not only the promise of Buddhist teachings to empower those facing racial discrimination but also the way that Black Buddhist voices are enriching the Dharma for all practitioners. As the first anthology comprised solely of writings by African-descended Buddhist practitioners, this book is an important contribution to the development of the Dharma in the West.

With contributions by Acharya Gaylon Ferguson, Cheryl A. Giles, Gyōzan Royce Andrew Johnson, Ruth King, Kamilah Majied, Lama Rod Owens, Lama Dawa Tarchin Phillips, Sebene Selassie, and Pamela Ayo Yetunde.

$19.95 - Paperback

Cheryl A. Giles, Psy.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist and the Francis Greenwood Peabody Senior Lecturer on Pastoral Care and Counseling at the Harvard Divinity School. Giles is the author of several articles and co-editor of The Arts of Contemplative Care (Wisdom, 2012).
Pamela Ayo Yetunde, J.D., Th.D. is a Community Dharma Leader in the Insight Meditation tradition. She teaches pastoral care and counseling and has taught at University of the West, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, and Upaya Institute and Zen Center. Ayo has written for BuddhadharmaLion’s RoarReligions, and Buddhist-Christian Studies. She is the author of Object Relations, Buddhism and Relationality in Womanist Practical Theology and Buddhist-Christian Dialogue, U.S. Law, and Womanist Theology for Transgender Spiritual Care.

Red Tara
The Female Buddha of Power and Magnetism

By Rachael Stevens

Tara is one of the most celebrated goddesses in the Buddhist world, representing enlightened activity in the form of the divine feminine. She protects, nurtures, and helps practitioners on the path to enlightenment. Manifesting in many forms and in many colors to help beings, Tara’s red form represents her powers of magnetization, subjugation, and the transformation of desire into enlightened activity. She is considered to be particularly powerful in times of plague and disharmony.

This comprehensive overview focuses on the origins, forms, and practices of Tara, providing the reader with insightful information and inspirations relating to the goddess. Its second part focuses on Red Tara, a powerful and liberating form of Tara that is particularly important to connect with in a time of crisis. These chapters cover various forms of Red Tara found throughout the Tibetan Buddhist world, the particular qualities she represents, and how through prayers and meditation we can embody her principles and truly benefit beings.

$29.95 - Paperback

Rachael Stevens holds a doctorate from Oxford University, is an early education teacher, and is a long-term Buddhist practitioner. Rachael’s research focuses on Red Tara, and she has studied and practiced with Buddhist communities in Europe, Asia, North America, and Brazil.

Dakini's Warm Breath
The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism

by Judith Simmer-Brown

The primary emblem of the feminine in Tibetan Buddhism is the dakini, or "sky-dancer," a semi-wrathful spirit-woman who manifests in visions, dreams, and meditation experiences. Western scholars and interpreters of the dakini, influenced by Jungian psychology and feminist goddess theology, have shaped a contemporary critique of Tibetan Buddhism in which the dakini is seen as a psychological "shadow," a feminine savior, or an objectified product of patriarchal fantasy. According to Judith Simmer-Brown—who writes from the point of view of an experienced practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism—such interpretations are inadequate.

$39.95 - Paperback

Judith Simmer-Brown, Ph.D., is professor and chair of the religious studies department at Naropa University (formerly the Naropa Institute), where she has taught since 1978. She has authored numerous articles on Tibetan Buddhism, Buddhist-Christian dialogue, and Buddhism in America. She is an Acharya (senior teacher) in the lineage of Chögyam Trungpa. A practicing Buddhist since 1971, she lives in Boulder, Colorado.

Art of ListeningThe Art of Listening
A Guide to the Early Teachings of Buddhism

by Sarah Shaw

The Dīghanikāya or Long Discourses of the Buddha is one of the four major collections of teachings from the early period of Buddhism. Its thirty-four suttas (in Sanskrit, sutras) demonstrate remarkable breadth in both content and style, forming a comprehensive collection. The Art of Listening gives an introduction to the Dīghanikāya and demonstrates the historical, cultural, and spiritual insights that emerge when we view the Buddhist suttas as oral literature.

Each sutta of the Dīghanikāya is a paced, rhythmic composition that evolved and passed intergenerationally through chanting. For hundreds of years, these timeless teachings were never written down. Examining twelve suttas of the Dīghanikāya, scholar Sarah Shaw combines a literary approach and a personal one, based on her experiences carefully studying, hearing, and chanting the texts. At once sophisticated and companionable, The Art of Listening will introduce you to the diversity and beauty of the early Buddhist suttas.

$18.95 - Paperback

Sarah Shaw is a faculty member and lecturer at the University of Oxford. She has published numerous works on the history and practices of Buddhism, including Mindfulness and The Art of Listening.

Women in Tibetan Buddhism

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo was raised in London and became a Buddhist while still in her teens. At the age of twenty she traveled to India, becoming one of the first Westerners to be ordained as a Buddhist nun. The international bestseller Cave in the Snow chronicles her twelve years of seclusion in a remote cave. Deeply concerned with the plight of Buddhist nuns, she established Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery in India. In 2008 His Holiness the Twelfth Gyalwang Drukpa, head of the Drukpa Kagyu lineage, gave her the rare title of Jetsunma (Venerable Master).
reflections mt lake cover

$21.95 - Paperback

Khandro RinpocheKhandro Rinpoche - Born in India in 1967, Khandro Rinpoche is the daughter of Tibetan meditation master His Holiness Mindrolling Trichen and is herself a renowned teacher in the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. She is the head of a Tibetan Buddhist nunnery in India and divides her time between teaching in the West, running the nunnery, and supporting charity projects for Tibetan refugees in India.

$22.95 - Paperback

Pema Chödron served as the director of Karma Dzong in Boulder, Colorado, until moving in 1984 to rural Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, to be the director of Gampo Abbey. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche gave her explicit instructions on establishing this monastery for Western monks and nuns. She currently teaches in the United States and Canada and plans for an increased amount of time in solitary retreat under the guidance of Venerable Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. She is interested in helping to establish Tibetan Buddhist monasticism in the West, as well as continuing her work with Western Buddhists of all traditions, sharing ideas and teachings.

$24.95 - Hardcover

Thubten Chodron - Ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist nun in 1977, Venerable Thubten Chodron is an author, teacher, and the founder and abbess of Sravasti Abbey. Sravasti Abbey is the only Tibetan Buddhist training monastery for Westerners in the US and holds gender equality, social engagement, and care for the environment amongst its core values. Ven. Chodron teaches worldwide and is known for her practical (and humorous!) explanations of how to apply Buddhist teachings in daily life.

$19.95 - Paperback

Lama Tsultrim Allione is an author, internationally known Buddhist teacher, and the founder and resident lama of Tara Mandala Retreat Center. She is the author of Women of Wisdom, the national best-seller Feeding Your Demons: Ancient Wisdom for Resolving Inner Conflict, which has been translated into seventeen languages, and Wisdom Rising: Journey into the Mandala of the Empowered Feminine.

$29.95 - Paperback

Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel has studied and practiced Mahayana Buddhism, as well as the Vajrayana tradition of the Longchen Nyingthik, for over 30 years under the guidance of her teacher and husband, Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. She has been intimately involved with Rinpoche’s work in bringing Buddhist wisdom to the West, in particular the development of Mangala Shri Bhuti, an organization dedicated to the study and practice of the Longchen Nyingthik lineage.
The Logic of Faith

$16.95 - Paperback

Anne Carolyn Klein is Professor and a former Chair of the Department of Religion at Rice University. She is also a cofounding director of the Dawn Mountain Tibetan Temple, Community Center, and Research Institute. Her publications include Path to the Middle (SUNY Press), Unbounded Wholeness, coauthored with Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche (Oxford University Press), and Knowledge and Liberation (Snow Lion Publications).

$29.95 - Paperback

Sangye Khandro is an American woman who studied Buddhist philosophy and Tibetan language with Tibetan masters in India and Nepal. She has studied and translated many important Tibetan Buddhist texts. She is a cofounder of Light of Berotsana, a nonprofit organization for translators of Tibetan texts.
Essence of Clear Light

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Carolyn Rose Gimian is a teacher of meditation, mindfulness, and Buddhism, as well as a writer, book editor, and archivist. She edited Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior in close cooperation with Chögyam Trungpa. After his death, she compiled and edited two additional books of his Shambhala teachings: Great Eastern Sun: The Wisdom of Shambhala and Smile at Fear: Awakening the True Heart of Bravery. She is also the editor of the ten-volume Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa, Mindfulness in Action, and many other volumes of his work.
Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Women in the Zen Tradition

"By being keen observers of our planet, we are more connected to the world around us and in a better position to prevent harm and improve the health of the earth."
Stephanie Kaza, Mindfully Green

Joanna Macy, PhD, teacher and author, is a scholar of Buddhism, systems thinking, and deep ecology. As the root teacher of the Work That Reconnects, Macy has created a groundbreaking framework for personal and social change that brings a new way of seeing the world as our larger body. Her many books include World as Lover, World as SelfWidening Circles, A MemoirActive Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in without Going Crazy; and Coming Back to Life: The Updated Guide to the Work That Reconnects.

$27.95 - Paperback

Stephanie Kaza is Professor Emerita of Environmental Studies at the University of Vermont. A leading voice in Buddhism and ecology, her most recent book is Green Buddhism: Practice and Compassionate Action in Uncertain Times.

$18.95 - Paperback

Joan Halifax, PhD, is a Zen priest and anthropologist who has served on the faculty of Columbia University and the University of Miami School of Medicine. For the past thirty years she has worked with dying people and has lectured on the subject of death and dying at Harvard Divinity School, Harvard Medical School, Georgetown Medical School, and many other academic institutions. In 1990, she founded Upaya Zen Center, a Buddhist study and social action center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In 1994, she founded the Project on Being with Dying, which has trained hundreds of healthcare professionals in the contemplative care of dying people.

$27.95 - MixedMedia

Natalie Goldbergis the author of fifteen books. Writing Down the Bones, her first, has been translated into nineteen languages. Three Simple Lines: A Writer’s Pilgrimage into the Heart and Homeland of Haiku is her latest book. For the last forty years she has practiced Zen and taught seminars in writing as a spiritual practice. She lives in northern New Mexico.
Writing Down the Bones

$16.95 - Paperback

Paula Arai was raised in Detroit by a Japanese mother and did Zen training in Japan. She obtained her Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from Harvard University in 1993 and is now the Eshinni & Kakushinni Professor of Women and Buddhist Studies at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, California. She is the author of Bringing Zen Home: The Healing Heart of Japanese Women’s RitualsWomen Living Zen: Japanese Soto Buddhist Nuns, and Painting Enlightenment: Healing Visions of the Heart Sutra.
little book of zen cover

$19.95 - Hardcover

Jan Chozen Bays, MD, is an ordained Zen teacher and a pediatrician who specializes in the evaluation of children for abuse and neglect. She has trained in Zen for forty-five years with Roshis Taizan Maezumi and Shodo Harada. With her husband she serves as co-abbot of Great Vow Zen Monastery, a residential center for intensive Zen training in Oregon.
Mindful Eating Left

$16.95 - Paperback

Zenju Earthlyn Manuel is an author, poet, and ordained Zen Buddhist priest. She is the author of Deepest PeaceSanctuaryThe Way of TendernessTell Me Something About Buddhism, and Black Angel Cards: 36 Oracles and Messages for Divining Your Life. She compiled and edited Seeds for a Boundless Life: Zen Teachings from the Heart by Zenkei Blanche Hartmann and is a contributing author in Dharma, Color, Culture and The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women.

$18.95 - Paperback

Laura Burges(Ryuko Eitai) is a lay entrusted Buddhist teacher in the Soto Zen tradition. She lectures, offers classes, and leads retreats at the San Francisco Zen Center and at other practice places in Northern California. She is the abiding teacher at Lenox House Meditation Group in Oakland. Laura taught children for 35 years and now mentors other teachers.
Zen Way of Recovery

$21.95 - Paperback

Susan Moon is a writer, editor, and Buddhist teacher in the Soto Zen tradition. For many years she has taught and led Zen retreats nationally and internationally. Her books include This Is Getting Old: Zen Thoughts on Aging with Humor and Dignity; the groundbreaking collection, The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women, with Florence Caplow; and What Is Zen? with Norman Fischer.
alive dead

$17.95 - Paperback

Women in the Insight and Theravada Tradition

Ven. Ayya Khema was born into a Jewish family in Berlin in 1923 and escaped the Nazi regime in 1938. She was ordained a Theravadin Buddhist nun in 1979 and established a forest monastery near Sidney, Australia; a training center for nuns in Colombo, Sri Lanka; and, later, Buddha-Haus, a meditation center in the Allgäu, Germany. Among her books are When the Iron Eagle FliesBeing Nobody, Going NowhereWho Is My Self?; and an autobiography, I Give You My Life. She passed away in 1997.
Path to Peace

$18.95 - Paperback

Sharon Salzberg is one of America's leading spiritual teachers and authors. A practitioner of Buddhist meditation for over thirty years, she is a co-founder of the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies and the Insight Meditation Society, and she directs meditation retreats throughout the United States and abroad.

Lovingkindness

$16.95 - Paperback

Christina Feldman - In the early 1970s, Christina Feldman spent several years in Asia, studying and training in the Buddhist meditation tradition. She has led insight meditation retreats in the West since 1974. A cofounder of Gaia House, in Devon, England, she is a regular teacher at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts and at Spirit Rock in Woodacre, California. In addition, she leads retreats in Europe.
Boundless Heart The Buddha’s Path of Kindness, Compassion, Joy, and Equanimity By Christina Feldman

$16.95 - Paperback

Additional Resources on Women in Buddhism

Sera Khandro: A Reader’s Guide

Sera Khandro (1892 - 1940), also known as Kunzang Dekyong Wagmo,  was one of the great masters of the early 20th century and the English speaking world is fortunate now that both her story and her writings have been emerging more and more over the past few years. Her story is at once fascinating, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting. Tulku Thondup Rinpoche, in his remarkable Incarnation: The History and Mysticism of the Tulku Tradition of Tibet gives a superb overview: "This...

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Mandarava Reader’s Guide

This series of blog posts are meant to be resources guides to complement the biographies of the great masters and scholars on the Treasury of Lives site. Mandarava Mandarava Mandarava was one of the great 8th century adepts and was one of the main consorts of Guru Rinpoche. As such a central figure at the time of Guru Rinpoche, she is a focus of many works. A wonderful complete biography was published by our friends at Wisdom Publications as The...

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On Translation: Sarah Harding and Larry MermelsteinIn our second On Translation video series cosponsored with the Tsadra Foundation, we are pleased to share this recording of Sarah Harding (Naropa University and the Tsadra Foundation) & Larry Mermelstein (Nalanda Translation Committee).   This session is for any student, practitioner, or translator of Tibetan Buddhism and is an opportunity to enter the world of translators of the Buddhadharma with two of the most experienced Tibetan translators. Most people encounter the Buddhist teachings through translations of texts, so like...

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The Teachers of Pema Chodron: A Reader's Guide

Pema ChodronPema Chödrön refers to many of her teachers and friends in her latest book Welcoming the Unwelcome. For fans of Ani Pema who might be less familiar with some of these figures but want to hear more from her main inspirations, teachers, and role models, this is for you! For those who listened to the audiobook of Welcoming, hearing the narrator and actress Claire Foy pronounce so many masters of Buddhism was a thrill.

Buddhist Teachers of Pema Chodron from Long Ago

Some of the most beloved figures and their writings come from the early history of Buddhism in India and Tibet.

Shantideva

Shantideva Nalanda, celestial bodhisattva Manjushri, Bodhicharyavatara.Other than the Buddha himself, the eighth-century Indian master Shantideva must be the most quoted figure in Buddhist history, appearing in over a thousand Shambhala books alone. In fact, he only has two extant works: the Compendium of Training and his magnum opus The Way of the Bodhisattva, or Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life. Pema’s Becoming Bodhisattvas, her longest book, is an exploration of this work.

She writes, “I often quote Shantideva, a great Buddhist sage from the eighth century whose writings are widely taught to this day. His advice to keep ourselves from escalating is to ‘remain like a log of wood.’ He lists many provocative situations and then recommends that we don’t act or speak when they come up. Often people interpret this advice as repression. But the point is that remaining like a log interrupts the momentum of our habitual reactions, which usually make things worse. Instead of reacting, we rest with the moving, heightened energy that has arisen. We let ourselves just ex­perience what we’re experiencing. This slows down the process and allows some space to open up. It gives us a chance to discern our inner process and then do something different.”

The best way to explore this is reading the original, then Pema’s commentary Becoming Bodhisattvas, and then looking into it further through our Reader’s Guide on The Way of the Bodhisattva.

Machik Labdron

buddhaMachik Labdron was one of the most famous women in pre-modern Tibet, establishing her own tradition based on the unique practice of Chod, a ritual and visualization practice based on the teaching of perfecting wisdom. Ani Pema says of her,

“Machik Labdron, a great Tibetan practitioner who lived in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, had a list of radical suggestions for getting unstuck from our ego-clinging. The first of these is ‘Reveal your hidden faults.’ Instead of concealing our flaws and being defensive when they are exposed, she counseled us to be open about them.”

We have a dedicated page on Chod that presents the dozens of books, articles, and videos on Machik and the practice of Chod.  Some of these are pretty advanced, but two great places to start are Machig Labdron and the Foundations of Chod and Tsultrim Allione’s Women of Wisdom

Women of Wisdom

$29.95 - Paperback

By: Tsultrim Allione

Thogme Zangpo

Thogme Zangpo, the beloved fourteenth-century Tibetan master is mentioned a dozen times in Welcoming the Unwelcome (and mentioned in over 120 other Shambhala books), and Ani Pema devotes an entire online course to his classic work called The Heart of the Matter.

She says, “In the fourteenth century, the Tibetan sage Thogme Zangpo wrote The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, which is still one of the most quoted and beloved poems in Buddhist literature. Each of its stanzas gives advice on how to live like a bodhisattva, a person whose highest aspiration in life is to wake up for the benefit of all living beings. In one verse, he poignantly describes why a comfort-oriented lifestyle is unsatisfactory. Happiness ‘disappears in a moment,’ he says, ‘like a dewdrop on a blade of grass.’ Basing your comfort on things that don’t last is a futile strategy for living. Even when you get something you’ve always wanted, the pleasure you get lasts for such a short time.”

Thogme Zangpo’s Thirty-Seven Practices is a classic and translations of it appear in all the contemporary explanations on it. In addition to Ken McLeod’s translation that she mentions, there is an extraordinary explanation of this work by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (more on him below) called Heart of Compassion, available in both book and audio. There are also other excellent explorations of this work from Thubten Chodron and Geshe Sonam Rinchen.

For all the books, videos, and articles on this work, see our dedicated page to the 37 Practices of the Bodhisattva.

Longchenpa

The Life of LongchenpaThe fourteenth-century master Longchenpa, or Longchen Rabjam, is one of the pillars of Tibetan Buddhism.

“The great fourteenth-century yogi Longchenpa said that how we label things is how they appear to be. I decided to exper­iment with this teaching and see how it applied to my ob­session with cleanliness."

Here is the full story from the audiobook read by Claire Foy:

Much of Longchenpa’s writings are for those who have been immersed in Tibetan Buddhist practice and study for a long time, but two excellent starting places are his biography and the first volume of his “Trilogy of Rest”.

The Life of Longchenpa

$29.95 - Paperback

By: Longchenpa

The Direct Teachers of Pema Chodron

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Chogyam Trungpa RinpocheChögyam Trungpa Rinpoche was Pema Chödrön’s primary teacher, the one who she refers to again and again, over forty times in this book alone.

“Trungpa Rinpoche said that the way to arouse bodhichitta was to “begin with a broken heart.” Protecting ourselves from pain—our own and that of others—has never worked. Every­body wants to be free from their suffering, but the majority of us go about it in ways that only make things worse. Shield­ing ourselves from the vulnerability of all living beings—which includes our own vulnerability—cuts us off from the full experience of life. Our world shrinks. When our main goals are to gain comfort and avoid discomfort, we begin to feel disconnected from, and even threatened by, others. We enclose ourselves in a mesh of fear. And when many people and countries engage in this kind of approach, the result is a messy global situation with lots of pain and conflict.”

The best place to start exploring his teaching is our Reader’s Guide to his works, which include general introductions to meditation, mindfulness, the various traditions of Buddhism, art & poetry, the secular Shambhala teachings, death & dying, and more.

Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche

Dzigar Kongtrul

Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche is Ani Pema’s current teacher, and she spends much of her time in retreat under his direction. He is based in Colorado, but teaches all over the world.

Unsurprisingly he appears in many of her books, especially the more recent ones. In Welcoming, she writes, “if we get to a point where hardships bring out the best in us, we will be of great help to those in whom hardships bring out the worst. If even a small number of people become peaceful warriors in this way, that group will be able to help many others just by their example. Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche is an advocate of this kind of courageous and practical realism. He urges people to train in becoming ‘modern-day bodhisattvas,’ or simply ‘MDBs.’ His students have even designed an MDB baseball cap to inspire themselves and others to move through the world with an altruistic, resilient heart. This work is based on getting to know how things really are and conducting ourselves bravely and creatively within that framework.”

Here she is discussing his recent book, Training in Tenderness.

Peaceful Heart

$16.95 - Paperback

By: Dzigar Kongtrul & Joseph Waxman

Training in Tenderness

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By: Dzigar Kongtrul

The Intelligent Heart

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By: Dzigar Kongtrul & Joseph Waxman

Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche

Tibetan Buddhism, Khenchen Thrangu RinpocheThrangu Rinpoche is one of the great living masters of the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism and has been close to Ani Pema for many years—she in fact dedicates Welcoming the Unwelcome to him.

We recently published this Reader’s Guide to the works of Thrangu Rinpoche, which will give you great ideas on where to get started with this incredible teacher. Here is Pema Chödron telling a story about him in Welcoming the Unwelcome (audiobook read by Claire Foy):

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, who passed away in 1991, was a teacher to an entire generation of lamas, monastics, and lay people from His Holiness the Dalai Lama to nomads in the wilds of Tibet. He was a very important teacher to both Trungpa Rinpoche and Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche.

Ani Pema relates, “Trungpa Rinpoche told this story about how he once was sitting in a garden with Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, one of his most important teachers. They were just enjoying their time together in the beautiful setting, hardly saying anything, simply happy to be there with each other. Then Khyentse Rinpoche pointed and said, ‘They call that a “tree,”’ and both of them roared with laughter. For me this is a wonderful illustration of the freedom and enjoyment that await us when we stop being fooled by our labels. The two enlightened teachers thought it was a riot that this complex, changing phenomenon, with all its leaves and bark and fragrance, could be thought of merely as a ‘tree.’ As our labels loosen their grip on us, we too will start to experience our world in this lighter, more magical way.”

The story of Khyentse Rinpoche’s life is an amazing tale of dedication, disciple, and devotion and is beautifully told in Brilliant Moon, a combined autobiography and biography, with accounts of him from across the Buddhist world including, Her Majesty the Royal Grandmother of Bhutan, and many of the great masters of the last century. We also have a Reader’s Guide to his works, which are some of the most beloved works we have in print.

Here is Richard Gere, the Dalai Lama, and Mattheu Ricard reflecting on this extraordinary teacher:

More Teachers and Friends

Tulku Thondup

tulku thonduopTulku Thondup Rinpoche is one of the living greats, and while he keeps a very low profile, his books are all treasures.  Ani Pema asks the reader a question and then goes on to answer it:

“How do we adopt this counterintuitive attitude when our emotions and neuroses hit us hard, in the painful, nontheoretical way that they do? I have learned a few effective methods, two of which I will share here.

The first method is based on a teaching by Tulku Thondup Rinpoche. When any unwanted feeling comes up, the first step is to feel it as fully as you can at the present moment. In other words, hold the rawness of vulnerability in your heart. Breathe with it, allow it to touch you, to inhabit you—open to it as fully as you currently can. Then make that feeling even stronger, even more intense. Do this in any way that works for you—in any way that makes the feeling stronger and more solid. Do this until the feeling becomes so heavy you could hold it in your hand. At that point, grab the feeling. And then just let it go. Let it float where it will, like a balloon, anywhere in the vast realm of empty space. Let it float out and out into the universe, dispersing into smaller and smaller particles, which become inconceivably tiny and distant.”

Tulku Thondup’s The Heart of Unconditional Loveand The Healing Power of Mind are two excellent starting places to explore Tulku Rinpoche’s extraordinary gift for opening our hearts.

The Heart of Unconditional Love

$18.95 - Paperback

By: Tulku Thondup

The Healing Power of Mind

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By: Tulku Thondup

Anam Thubten

Anam ThubtenAnam Thubten is an extraordinary teacher based in the the San Francisco Bay Area.

Ani Pema writes, “Anam Thubten emphasizes that this brave acknowledgment of our ‘flaws’ is not about indulging in feelings of shame or guilt. It is, instead, about ‘not hiding anything from one’s awareness.’ Instead of reacting in one way or another, we can simply choose not to hide anything from our own mind. We can regard all that we observe simply as karmic seeds ripening. Whatever arises in our mind and heart is just our current experience, nothing more or less. Even our good and bad qualities are temporary and insubstantial, not ulti­mate proofs of our worthiness or unworthiness. They are not inherent to our fundamental nature of basic goodness; they are simply what is. If we learn to work with our experiences in this way, then instead of succumbing to the pull of our old habits, we can stay present with them until they calm down of their own accord.”

His books include No Self, No Problem, Embracing Each Moment, and his latest, Choosing Compassion.

Choosing Compassion

$16.95 - Paperback

By: Anam Thubten & Sharon Roe

No Self, No Problem

$17.95 - Paperback

By: Anam Thubten & Sharon Roe

Suzuki Roshi

Suzuki Roshi was instrumental in establishing Zen and bringing it to mainstream consciousness in the US.

Ani Pema shares this in Welcoming: “As the Zen teacher Suzuki Roshi famously said, ‘In the beginner’s mind, there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s, there are few.’”

This quote comes from the best selling Zen book of all time, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. Many other anecdotes and sayings of this remarkable teacher can be found in Zen is Right Here.

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

$16.95 - Paperback

By: David Chadwick & Shunryu Suzuki

Zen Is Right Here

$12.95 - Paperback

By: David Chadwick & Shunryu Suzuki

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Dalai Lama, Tibetan BuddhismHis Holiness the Dalai Lama does not really need an introduction.

“When His Holiness the Dalai Lama started meeting with Buddhist teachers from the West, they would tell him how their students often expressed self-denigration. Even the teachers often had negative views of themselves. For the Dalai Lama, at first, these words just didn’t compute. Having a bad self-image was completely alien to how he saw himself and others. It was so far away from the open-ended and basi­cally good nature that he knew everyone possessed. It didn’t make sense that people could be so hard on themselves, so judgmental—even to the point of self-hatred.”

Ani Pema goes on to unpack this and show the path forward to the reader.

Here is a Reader’s Guide to over two dozen of the Dalai Lama’s works, including The Core Teachings of the Dalai Lama series.

Bernie Glassman

From Kanzeon Zen Center via Wikipedia

Pema writes, “Roshi Bernie Glassman, who spent decades working with homeless people in Yonkers, New York, said ‘I don’t really believe there’s going to be an end to homelessness, but I go in every day as if it’s possible. And then I work individual by individual.’”

Glassman, who passed away in 2019. was a huge figure in the American Buddhist world.  He was known for his iconoclastic style and enormous heart, dedicating his life to helping others with cigar perched firmly in his mouth, whether in his collaboration with Jeff Bridges or helping homeless on the streets.

Here are two of his books

Instructions to the Cook describes the innovative business model Roshi Bernie Glassman developed to revitalize a poverty-stricken section of Yonkers, New York. Using his own story as a base, Glassman shows how social engagement can be used as a spiritual practice to promote both personal and societal transformation.

His book Infinite Circle covers three core Zen concepts and how they relate to his community development organizations and the Zen Peacemaker Order.

Infinite Circle

$17.95 - Paperback

By: Bernie Glassman

Matthieu Ricard

Matthieu Ricard is a renowned Buddhist monk from France who spent much of his life with Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

Ani Pema, when discussing the practice of tonglen, says, “Matthieu Ricard, the well-known Buddhist monk and author, was once being tested for compassion by being hooked up to one of those big machines that records all your brain activity. He began by visualizing himself sending rays of healing light to those who are suffering, but the scientists wanted him instead to focus on breathing the suffering in. For that period, he saturated himself. He had just visited an orphanage in Romania where it was so sad to see how the children were being treated. And he’d also recently been in Tibet after an earthquake. So he had a lot of material, which he kept breathing in and breathing in.

From this experience, he said he learned that a person can only take so much. He found that taking on suffering had to be balanced with love and kindness, with the completeness of life. I think that this example illustrates how he approached the excessive risk zone, and realized that if you breathe in the pain, you also have to send out the love. There’s a sense of connecting with both beauty and tragedy—with the delight­fulness and upliftedness of life, and with the degraded and cruel part of life.”

He has written books on animal ethics, collections of stories and wisdom from many great masters, and translations of some very important autobiography and biographies.

Ken McLeod

In Welcoming the Unwelcome, Ani Pema wrote, "my friend Ken McLeod wrote Reflections on Silver River, a book that has deepened my understanding of the bodhisattva path considerably".

This book is a translation of and commentary on the 37 Practices of the Bodhisattva, by Thogme Zangpo (see above).  She often points to McLeod's book as a superb in her teachings.

He has also translated an incredible text: The Great Path of Awakening: The Classic Guide to Lojong, a Tibetan Buddhist Practice for Cultivating the Heart of Compassion.  Here he is discussing that work:

 

 

In Closing

We hope this article gives you some great ways to go deeper with many of Pema Chödrön’s main inspirations.

Books by Pema Chödrön

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A Quick Dose of Every Day Wisdom

Insightful Reflections

awaken everyday

Excerpts from Awaken Every Day

65

Keeping Our Hearts Open

Let’s strive to cultivate love and compassion for other living beings regardless of whether they’re receptive to our help and advice.

When we see someone going down the wrong path and there isn’t much we can do because they don’t want our advice, we can still hold the thought that wishes for their well-being. If we get frustrated or discouraged and give up trying to benefit them, that closes the door to future beneficial interactions. However, if we simply step back and give the other person space, if that person later decides that they want to change, they will feel more comfortable approaching us for help.

Accepting where people are at and what they are capable of at any particular moment is important. Otherwise, we’re always going to be battling them with “you need to be who I want you to be.” That’s a dead-end. If we can’t
control our own minds, how are we going to make somebody else’s mind change?

92

The Recipient of Kindness

Throughout our lives we have received kindness. The proof is that we are still alive. Without others’ care and efforts, we would have died long ago. People took care of us when we were infants, gave us an education, and encouraged our abilities. Strangers constructed the buildings we live in, and grew and transported the food we eat. Now more than any other time in human history we depend on one another to stay alive and to thrive.

Understanding that we have been the recipient of great kindness throughout our lives enables us to connect to other living beings with the urge to repay the kindness or to pay it forward. Not only do others contribute to our well-being, but we also have an opportunity to contribute to theirs.

Let’s take joy in bringing happiness to others.

125

Meeting a Moose

One afternoon, a friend and I were walking in the Sravasti Abbey forest when we came upon a moose on the path. He trotted away from us shyly, then turned and looked at us as intently as we looked at him. We share a universe with so many different kinds of sentient beings, all of whom have been our parents in previous lives. When we meet them again in this life, instead of just seeing them as who they appear to be now, we can think, That’s someone I’ve been very close to in the past, someone who’s been kind to me.

Whether we see moose, grasshoppers, somebody we like, or someone we fear, if we see them as someone just like us, who wants happiness and not suffering, it pulls us out of our solid view of them and gives us a way to relate to them with kindness.

146

The Winds of Karma

Here we are, blown together by the winds of karma. It’s not by accident, nor is it predestined. Due to causes and conditions, and specifically due to our previous actions, we find ourselves here.

The events in our lives and the feelings of pleasure and pain in response to them are conditioned. Sometimes we have happiness, other times misery, and often just neutral feelings. But from a Buddhist perspective, what happens to us is not as important as how we respond. How we respond to our experiences creates the causes for future happiness or suffering. Actions motivated by anger and greed create the causes for misery; actions springing from kindness and compassion create the causes for happiness.

How we respond is our choice.

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Thubten ChodronOrdained as a Tibetan Buddhist nun in 1977, Venerable Thubten Chodron is an author, teacher, and the founder and abbess of Sravasti Abbey. She teaches worldwide and is known for her practical (and humorous!) explanations of how to apply Buddhist teachings in daily life. She is also actively involved in prison outreach and interfaith dialogue. She has published many books on Buddhist philosophy and meditation, and has coauthored a book—Buddhism: One Teacher, Many Traditions—with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, with whom she has studied for nearly forty years. Learn more.

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An Interview with Thubten Chodron

Ven. Thubten Chodron. Photo courtesy of DharmaFriendship.org

Thubten Chodron is an American Buddhist nun in the Tibetan tradition. A student of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan masters, she became a nun in 1977. She is abbess of Sravasti Abbey, a Buddhist monastery in eastern Washington State. She is the author of several books, her most recent being  Don't Believe Everything You Think.

Ven. Chodron emphasizes the practical application of Buddha's teachings in our daily lives and is especially skilled at explaining them in ways easily understood and practiced by Westerners.

Shambhala: How did you first encounter Buddhism, and what led you to practice it?

Thubten Chodron: I had traveled in India and Nepal during the early 1970s and had visited Buddhist sites, but didn't know anything about Buddhism. In 1975 I was a teacher in the LA city school system when  I saw a flyer in a bookstore about a meditation course given by two Tibetan lamas, Lama Thubten Yeshe and Zopa Rinpoche,  that summer. I went and was very struck by what they said. First, it made sense when I thought about it logically, and second, when I put the teachings into practice they really helped me. The Buddha presented a worldview that made sense and enabled me to understand many things in life that I hadn't been able to understand before. The teachings also gave my life a worthwhile purpose: what could be more worthwhile than cultivating wisdom and compassion?

S: I can't imagine anything more worthwhile. What led you to become a nun?

TC: I wanted to make a wholehearted commitment to living a meaningful life, and I also needed to get my behavior in line with my values. The simplicity and structure of monastic life also attracted me because it creates a lot of space and opportunity for serious study and practice of the Dharma.

S: You've been instrumental in the establishing Buddhist monasticism, especially for women, in the West. Do you see  more women becoming nuns these days?

TC: Yes, more women are ordaining, especially in the Tibetan community. Because I've experienced the benefits of monastic life, I'm a strong advocate for it. I'm especially enthusiastic about women having the opportunity to receive full ordination, which is not currently available to them in all Buddhist traditions. At Sravasti Abbey, the monastery where I live in Washington State, we have a bhikshuni sangha, one of the very few for those who practice in the Tibetan tradition.

S: You've also been an active participant in interfaith dialogue. Has this affected your practice in any way, or the way you view it? And do you feel that the encounter with Buddhism, through you, has had an effect on the faith or practice of the Christians and Jews you've dialogued with?

TC: Interfaith dialogue helps me to see parallels in the practices of other religions, and it also makes me appreciate  Buddhist worldview and philosophy even more. Formal interfaith dialogues usually attract people who are fairly open to start with. The real dialogues happen on long airplane flights when I'm sitting next to someone who has a fundamentalist view of their own faith! Recently I think I got through to a man who was trying to convert me (although he said he wasn't). He came to see that his words (he even said he sounded dogmatic) were contrary to the love and inclusion of all beings that God wanted.

S:  You work with prisoners. How did you get involved with that and what have you learned from it?

TC:  About 15 years ago an inmate wrote asking for some Buddhist books. I began corresponding with him, and slowly more inmates started writing. Now Sravasti Abbey puts out a quarterly Dharma newsletter for inmates, includes them in its Retreat from Afar, and sends them Dharma books. We also write to a number of inmates personally to help them with their Dharma practice. Working with the incarcerated has been a wonderful experience and I've learned so much from them.

S: Your new book, Don't Believe Everything You Think, is your commentary on a text called "The Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas. " What is this text, and what are its applications to twenty-first century people's lives?

TC: This short poem was written in Tibet several centuries ago and sets out all the major steps on the path to full awakening.   It's especially applicable to modern life because it speaks about how to transform adversity into the path to awakening. It describes methods to deal with anger and resentment without exploding and without suppressing them. These are some of the practices I've found most useful in my life personally-they counteract anger, anxiety, and depression and help us open our hearts to have genuine care for others. The book contains many real life stories of how people used these 37 practices in their daily lives. This makes the book a fun read.

S:  Sounds useful indeed. I know you've spent a lot of time with the Dalai Lama. What's he like?

TC: He's cool. Besides his brilliant intellect and open-mindedness, he tunes into people in an extraordinary way. I've seen him with many different people--some who seem very egotistic in my impure perception--and he is able to connect with them in a way that brings out their best. He is very tactful with some people and  straightforward with others--whatever the situation requires. When teaching the Dharma, he weaves together strands from different teachings, helping us to see relationships that we haven't seen before and stimulating us to go deeper in our practice.

S: Thank you!

 

Visit Thubten Chodron's author page to see more books by her and to watch a video teaching. Or discover more books on The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva.

Don't Believe Everything You Think

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By: Thubten Chodron

New and Forthcoming Titles by Thubten Chodron

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SNOW LION NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE

Thubten Chodron on Prayers Being Answered

Thubten ChodronThere are many kinds of prayers. Some are designed to direct and inspire our minds toward a certain quality or aim, thus creating the causes for us to attain this. Other prayers are for specific people or situations, for example praying for a person’s illness to be cured. For any prayer to be fulfilled, the prayer alone isn’t sufficient: the appropriate causes must also be created. It’s not just a matter of saying, “Please, Buddha, make this and that happen. I’ll relax and have tea while you do the work!” For example, if we pray to be more loving and compassionate and yet make no effort to control our anger, we aren’t creating the cause for that prayer to be fulfilled. The transformation of our minds comes from our own effort, but we can pray for the Buddhas’ inspiration to do so.

Receiving the blessings of the Buddhas doesn’t mean that something tangible comes from the Buddha and goes into us. It means that our minds are transformed through the combined effort of the teachings and the guidance of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas and our own practice. “Requesting the Buddhas’ blessings” has the connotation of requesting to be inspired by them, so that our minds and actions are transformed and become more beneficial.

Adapted from Buddhism for Beginners by Thubten Chodron

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Thubten Chodron on Working with Our Stuff

The following excerpt is from

Cultivating a Compassionate Heart

by Thubten Chodron

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The vibration of the mantra affects our body and mind. Reciting mantra has a purifying effect that we can feel physically and mentally. It doesn’t occur immediately, but gradually the energy of the mantra begins to work and calms our mind. However, a stormy period often precedes the pacification of the mind. The pure vibration of the mantra brings out our impure energy, confusion, and other traits that we would rather not look at. We would much rather present ourselves as well-balanced, competent, and confident people, even when we don’t feel that way inside. When our “garbage mind”—as Lama Yeshe used to call it—spills out, we may be alarmed and think that we’re not doing the practice correctly. In fact, we are. Only by exposing the garbage mind can we identify it and free ourselves from it.

Before Mount St. Helens, a volcano in the northwest U.S., exploded in the 1980s, it looked great on the outside—it was lofty, snow covered, and magnificent. Meanwhile, below the surface magma was building up. Similarly, we look great on the outside, but inside there’s volcanic activity, rumbling, and bits of steam sneaking out: “I’m fine. My life’s together. I know what I’m doing. I’ve got to look like a good Dharma practitioner. People shouldn’t see me cry. They shouldn’t know how distracted I am during meditation. I can’t let on how incredibly confused I am.” We think we’re the only one who is confused and not wanting to lose face, we hide our turmoil and pretend to be calmly in charge of the show. But we’re in cyclic existence, so how much control do we really have? How peaceful can we be when we have a samsaric body and mind?

When we meditate and recite mantra, our façade begins to crack, revealing what is really going on in our mind and heart. Attachment, hostility, jealousy, arrogance, vengeance, craving, shame, fear, guilt, and anxiety are starkly apparent. At this time, we shouldn’t wallow in these emotions or become depressed because we have them. Getting discouraged isn’t the purpose of meditation. There’s no reason for the Buddha to have spent forty-five years teaching the Dharma if his goal was for us to be depressed. We can do that all by ourselves.

It’s very good when our garbage mind comes up, because then we have a chance to work with it, clear it out, and apply the antidote to counteract or transform it. Don’t think that you’re doing something wrong when negative emotions surface. Observe them arising, and then apply the thought training teachings to counteract them. The trick is not to get involved in the story behind the emotions. If we do, the emotion will feel very solid. Instead, watch the thoughts that form the story behind the emotion and ask yourself, “Are they true?”

For example, let’s say I’m trying to meditate on Chenrezig and the thought, “My friend betrayed my trust” pops into my mind. If I’m not aware, before long I will be either hurt or angry, depending upon my usual pattern of reacting to such thoughts. I’ll review the details of the story I’ve thought about many times before: “My friends did xyz when I trusted them. Then they did abc.” We might then think, “I was so stupid for trusting them. It’s all my fault,” or “Who do they think they are treating me like that!” or “How could someone do this? What did I do to deserve such treatment?” And away we go. We become screenwriters for the melodrama in our mind. Who is the star of this film? Me, of course.

If we are able to catch this process early on and do not get involved in it, we find it amusing. If we catch it later, after our mind has already bought into the story, we have to apply the antidote. In this case, it’s helpful to contemplate verse 6 of The Eight Verses of Thought Training. We see that we had false expectations that we communicated. Or perhaps they were communicated, but the other person is an imperfect living being, just like us, and thus wasn’t able to fulfill them. We contemplate that our karma got us into that situation: in the past we have betrayed others’ trust and now a similar experience is happening to us. In this way, feelings of hurt and anger fade away.

Another way to counteract negative emotions is to practice divine identity as an antidote. If you start to get self-critical, depressed, or discouraged, remember that you’re Chenrezig. Give yourself another way to look at the situation besides the old pattern, the one that you’ve used before that doesn’t work. Instead, identify yourself as Chenrezig and ask yourself, “How would Chenrezig look at the situation?”

Sometimes we’ll remember a situation that happened ten, twenty, or even thirty or more years ago. If that happens, go into that situation, except this time be Chenrezig. Be there with your family, or whoever it was, and be Chenrezig. As Chenrezig, radiate light from the HRIH at your heart. The light fills the whole room and touches all the people around you. It purifies them, relaxes their minds, and transforms them into Chenrezig. They and we are now Chenrezig, so who will be angry, upset, or disappointed in whom?

Visualizing this is very effective, for it shows us an alternative way to view the situation and to act besides falling into our old, dysfunctional emotional patterns of fear, defensiveness, resentment, inferiority, helplessness, defiance, clinging, or insecurity.

Each time this memory comes to mind, we become Chenrezig and imagine purifying everyone who was in that situation that happened years ago. Each time a habitual emotional pattern arises, we imagine being Chenrezig and imagine reacting the way an enlightened being would react to those circumstances. We do this again and again, each time deepening our understanding of the Dharma and healing the remnants of the past that we carry around with us in our minds. We can meditate like this while chanting the mantra.

A disturbing attitude and emotion will arise in cycles. After we work on it using the Dharma, it probably won’t come up as strongly for a while. It might come up a month later, a year later, or the next time we do retreat, but that time we’ll be able to identify it more quickly and see more clearly how it is based on distorted perception. Some of these issues won’t disappear completely until we attain the path of seeing. We need to be patient and to continue to peel off the layers.

Be enthusiastic about examining the state of your mind and working with it. In some sessions, the mind will be very clear, and you’ll be able to focus on clear appearance and divine identity for a long time. In other sessions, the mind will be restless, and hurt feelings, anger, or jealousy will arise. At other times, the mind will go wild with craving and desire. At these times, it’s helpful to say the mantra, do the various visualizations, and meditate on Lamrim and thought training to help pacify and let go of whatever has come up. Each session will be different as you incorporate into your meditation whatever is going on in your life and mind. When the mind is overwhelmed by afflictions, be creative and find skillful ways to use the Chenrezig meditation to work with them.

Try to recognize when your mind is off track and apply Dharma antidotes right away. This helps enormously. The more we work with these emotions in our meditation, the more we will be able to let go when they arise in our daily life. In similar situations in the future, our attitude will be different because we’ve practiced developing new ones.

Although this meditation stretches our ordinary image of ourselves, we may still keep bumping into it. We sit on our cushion, recite mantra, radiate light to all the sentient beings, and it’s so wonderful. We feel great. It’s so easy to love sentient beings and watch compassionate light flow to them, except for certain sentient beings, such as your boss who criticized you, the neighbor who irritates you, the drunk who swore at you, or the financial consultant who mismanaged your retirement fund. Then we get stuck. We can radiate light to all the sentient beings except to this person. In the middle of our very nice meditation we think of that person and suddenly we stop being Chenrezig. We fall back into our old image of ourselves as little ol’ me who has to defend myself against this person I can’t stand.

When you bump into things like this, try to work with it. Don’t run away, ignore it, or get mad at yourself. Instead, gently investigate, “Why can I radiate light to everybody but this person? What is my button that gets pushed in regards to them?” Notice the question is not, “How can they possibly do that?” or “Why are they so neurotic?” The question is about us: “What are my buttons? Why do I get upset, feel threatened, become insecure? What inside me finds their action or words unbearable?” Exploring this, we learn about ourselves. We apply thought training and Lamrim teachings to work with these emotional hurdles. Slowly, we’ll work our way through them and will be able to extend compassion and radiate light to that person, too.

Self-Righteousness and the Judgmental Mind

Sometimes, just watching the news creates agitation and anger in our mind. Self-righteous feelings and judgment arise because “those idiots” are doing something we don’t like. Work with that self-righteous, judgmental mind in your meditation. Others may do negative actions, but why do we need to be contemptuously “holier than thou” in our response? Why can’t we cultivate a compassionate response to others’ negativity? After all, they’re confused about what causes happiness and what causes suffering, and they’re under the control of mental afflictions which harm them. Thinking in this way enables us to have compassion, because we see that others don’t mean to harm us when they act in certain ways. Then we can send light and purify other sentient beings of their negative karma.

Thubten ChodronSomeone once asked Lama Yeshe whether Mao Tse-tung was an evil being. His army killed many people and due to his actions, many people, including Lama himself, were adversely affected. Lama looked at us and said, “He meant well, dear.” We were waiting for Lama to make a strong political statement, especially since he had to flee Tibet due to Mao’s army, carrying only his tea cup with him, and enter India as a refugee. We were a group of liberal Westerners, ready to scream “injustice” on behalf of oppressed people, but Lama just said, “He meant well, dear.”

Often, people act harmfully but think they’re doing something good. Their minds are overwhelmed by disturbing attitudes and karma. I’m sure we can look at our own past and see things we’ve done and say, “How could I have done that?” Looking back and understanding our own mind, we see that we were overwhelmed by afflictions and karma. We weren’t a horrible person who meant harm. We were just totally confused at that time. Understanding this, we forgive ourselves and, in doing so, become less judgmental and more forgiving of others.

I’m not saying that we should just sit on our cushion and radiate love in response to oppression, poverty, and violence. We need to engage and try to solve the problems in the world, but we should do so with a positive attitude, not with a mind full of despair or anger.

Before or after watching the news, do the Chenrezig meditation and send light out to purify all those sentient beings. Try to figure out which afflictions are motivating them to do what they’re doing, and imagine the light purifying specifically those disturbing attitudes and negative emotions. Think about the kind of karma those people are creating and what kind of results that karma could bring. Ask yourself, “What did they do in the past to make this behavior habitual so that they’re still doing it now?” Then, send light to them to purify the seeds of past actions that cause this habitual behavior and to cleanse the karma they’re creating now so that they don’t have to experience future suffering.

Preferences and Opinions

Our preferences and opinions arise while we meditate and can be great distractions. Often we don’t realize them as the attachments and views that they are. Instead we mentally dig in our heels and insist that our way is right. For example, my teacher, Zopa Rinpoche, likes to begin teaching in the evening and go into the wee hours of the morning. I, however, am a morning person and don’t like staying up late. Sometimes, I become agitated when teachings begin late and have lots of “good” reasons to support why they should begin early: “I practice during the day and am tired. If I go to bed late, I’ll sleep late, and that interferes with my morning meditation. Plus, when teachings begin in the evening, I fall asleep during them, and that’s disrespectful to my spiritual teacher and to the Buddha.” Don’t you think these are good reasons to teach early in the day, not late at night? I think they’re excellent reasons! And probably some other students in the room agree with me. But are these the absolute truths that they appear to be when my mind is agitated? No, they are simply my preferences, and the more I cling onto them the more I suffer.

Having received the novice, or sramanerika, ordination in the Tibetan tradition in 1977, I went to Taiwan in 1986 to receive the full ordination for women and become a bhikshuni. During the one-month training program that surrounded the ordination ceremony, all 500 of us trainees had to file into the main hall and immediately file out of it into the teaching room each morning. To my efficient mind, this was a waste of time; I had a much better plan about how everyone could arrive in the teaching room. Did the ordaining masters care about my plan? Not at all, not to mention the fact that I couldn’t make it known to them because we spoke different languages and that it was out of place for me as a trainee to tell the masters what to do. So for a month I had to bear this inefficiency and waste of time. It was only later that I realized that my agitation was due to attachment to my own preferred way of doing things. It was me who was wasting my time by dwelling on “my way is the right way.”

There are many ways to bring distractions into our meditation so that we work with issues pertinent to our lives. Sometimes we do this by thought training. For example, instead of fighting the situation, we accept that the principal cause is our previous destructive actions. This gives us courage not to follow our self-centeredness and negative emotions in the future. Sometimes we can transform that person into Chenrezig and then see how we feel about him. Try to cultivate pure appearance of him instead of seeing him as ordinary. Instead of labeling “Sam” in dependence on that person’s ordinary aggregates, label “Sam” in dependence on their Buddha-nature. Imagine Sam becomes Chenrezig, and then relate to Sam as if he were Chenrezig.

When you are Chenrezig radiating healing and inspiring light to others, don’t think of sentient beings as an amorphous group. Instead think of specific people. Transform each of them individually into Chenrezig. Try to recognize that they each have Buddha-nature and develop an attitude of equanimity toward them all. Try to see that they’re all empty of inherent existence. Sam has not always been the same Sam with a cut-and-dried fixed personality. In the previous life he wasn’t Sam, and in the future life he won’t be Sam either. One day he will be a Buddha.

Guilt and Shame

When we meditate, things from the past come up, and we have to work with them. We may remember times when we treated others horribly—hurting their feelings, deceiving them, repaying their kindness with spite, manipulating them, cheating them. While regret for these actions is appropriate and necessary to purify these karmas, we often fall into guilt and shame instead. Guilt and shame are obstacles to overcome on the path, because they keep us trapped in our self-centered melodrama entitled “How Bad I Am.” Regret, on the other hand, realizes that we erred, leads us to purify, and motivates us to refrain from acting like that in the future.

How do we counteract guilt and shame? One way is to recognize that the person who did that action no longer exists. You are different now. Is the person who did that action five years ago the same person you are now? If she were exactly the same person, you would still be doing the same action. The present “you” exists in a continuum from that person, but is not exactly the same as her. Look back at the person you were with compassion. You can understand the suffering and confusion she was experiencing that made her act in that way.

A second antidote is to do the taking and giving meditation, thinking, “I will take on the suffering of everybody who did this same horrible action that I did. I will take on the pain of all the victims of these actions.” In this way develop compassion and use it to dissolve the self-centered feeling that says, “I am the worst, the most unforgivable one.”

Another method is to focus on the purification visualization before doing the self-generation as Chenrezig. Imagine that light and nectar stream into you, purifying that negative karma, as well as your guilt and shame. Think that Chenrezig forgives you. A voice inside may say, “Chenrezig, what I did was so terrible, how can you forgive me!” Be careful! That comes close to criticizing a Buddha, doesn’t it? It’s like you’re saying Chenrezig does not know what he is doing when he has compassion for you.

Another way is to meditate on emptiness. The object to be negated is the solid, real “I” who did such a horrible thing five years ago. Search and try to find that “I.” Determine that it either has to be in the body and mind or separate from the body and mind. Start looking: Am I my body? Am I my mind? Search everywhere for this disgusting person you think you are. Finally, the understanding will dawn that you can’t find that person because he or she doesn’t exist. No such inherently existent person is to be found anywhere.

Sometimes you may feel, “I cannot find the solid ‘I,’ but there is still this feeling of ‘I.’ So the feeling must be ‘I.’” Is the feeling or the thought “me” the “I”? Is a thought a person? Is a feeling a person? If I think of a grapefruit, is my thought of a grapefruit a grapefruit? There is a thought or feeling of “I,” but that is not me; that is just a thought, a feeling. When you try to find the one that is me, it’s like trying to catch a rainbow.

Dharma isn’t separate from our daily life. Bring these meditations into your life and use them to solve your problems. Above are some examples of how to do this. Be creative in your own meditations and discover other ways to soothe and dispel your disturbing emotions.

Thubten ChodronThubten Chodron: Ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist nun in 1977, Venerable Thubten Chodron is an author, teacher, and the founder and abbess of Sravasti Abbey. Sravasti Abbey is the only Tibetan Buddhist training monastery for Westerners in the US and holds gender equality, social engagement, and care for the environment amongst its core values. Ven. Chodron teaches worldwide and is known for her practical (and humorous!) explanations of how to apply Buddhist teachings in daily life. She is also actively involved in prison outreach and interfaith dialogue. She has published many books on Buddhist philosophy and meditation, and has coauthored a book—Buddhism: One Teacher, Many Traditions—with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, with whom she has studied for nearly forty years.

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Making Offerings: How and Why

With her trademark clarity, best-selling author Thubten Chodron lays out the correct methods of making offerings, and describes the specific benefits that this simple act of generosity can bring. 

This excerpt is taken from her book, Guided Meditations on the Stages of the Path.

Making offerings to the Three Jewels is a wonderful daily practice. Recalling enlightened qualities and cultivating a generous attitude and delight in giving is a wonderful way to start the day. The joy we feel when our heart is open and we want to share with others is a result of our practice of generosity. Due to the change in our minds that occurs when we offer, we create positive potential (or good karma), which becomes the cause to have happiness in the future. Specifically, being generous now creates the cause to have the requisites for living—food, clothing, shelter, and medicine—as well as wealth in future lives.

Making offerings is a practice for accumulating positive potential and for purifying clinging and miserliness. Enlightened beings, such as the Buddha, do not need our offerings, respect, or prostrations. Rather, we do these practices because of the transformative effect they have on our own mind.

We can offer anything we consider beautiful on the altar.

Traditionally, people offer flowers, incense, lights, and food. In the Tibetan tradition, there is the custom of offering seven bowls of water. To make the water bowl offering, begin by wiping each bowl with a clean cloth, imagining you are cleaning the defilements from the minds of sentient beings as you do so. After cleaning the bowls, place them upside down on the altar; just as we wouldn’t invite a guest to our home and offer them nothing, we don’t place empty bowls upright on the altar. Next, fill the first bowl with some water. Then pour most of the water into the second bowl but leave a little in the bottom of the first bowl. Place the first bowl on the altar. Then pour most of the water from the second bowl into the third, leaving a little water in the bottom of the second bowl, and place the second bowl to the right of the first one, near it, but not touching it—the distance of about a rice grain. Proceed to fill the rest of the bowls in this way, leaving a little water in each bowl as you fill the next one in sequence. Then go back to the first bowl and fill it nearly to the top, but not to overflowing—about a rice grain’s distance from the top. Fill the other bowls in the same way. Recite om ah hum, the mantra representing the Buddha’s body, speech, and mind, to consecrate the offerings. You may also want to recite the long offering mantra:

om namo bhagavate bendzay sarwaparma dana
tathagataya arhate samyaksam buddhaya tayata
om bendzay bendzay maha bendzay maha taydza
bendzay maha bidya bendzay maha bodhicitta
bendzay maha bodhi mendo pasam kramana
bendzay sarwa karma awarana bisho dana bendzay soha

While filling the bowls, imagine that you are offering huge jeweled bowls filled with blissful wisdom nectar to all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Your offerings are luminous and fill the entire sky. The holy beings receive them and experience great bliss, as do you.

Offer water that has eight qualities, each one representing a quality that you will develop in the future as a result of offering the water with a good motivation now:

1. Your ethics will be pure because the water you offer is cool.
2. Because the water is delicious, you will come to enjoy delicious food.
3. The lightness of the water indicates that your mind and body will become fit.
4. The water’s softness results in a gentle mindstream.
5. A clear mind results from the water’s clearness.
6. Its being free from a bad smell will purify your karmic obscurations.
7. Because the water does not hurt the stomach, your body will be free of illness.
8. Its being easy on the throat indicates you will come to have pleasant speech.

You may want to offer bowls with the eight offerings that hosts made to their guests in ancient India. In this case, the bowls are arranged from left to right as you look at the altar, with the following offerings: water for drinking, water for washing the feet, flowers, incense, light, perfume, food, and music.

Many of these offerings have symbolic meanings. Flowers represent the qualities of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas; incense signifies the fragrance of pure ethics. Light symbolizes wisdom, and perfume represents faith and confidence in the holy beings. Offering food represents the nourishment of meditative concentration, and music reminds us of impermanence and the empty nature of all phenomena.

Instead of offering water bowls or the eight offerings, you may choose simply to place a plate with fruit or other delicious food on the altar. When you do so, offer fresh food, not leftovers. Imagine that the entire sky is filled with delicious food that satisfies the hunger and thirst of sentient beings as well as brings bliss to the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Recite om ah hum or the long offering mantra as above.

You may offer electric lights; candles are not necessary. Be sensitive to others in the environment if you burn incense because some people may have allergic reactions. In this case, place the incense in a container outside to burn.

As you offer, you may also meditate on emptiness, the ultimate nature of all persons and phenomena, by contemplating:

1. You, as the one making the offering, are empty of true existence.
2. The act of offering is empty of true existence.
3. The offerings themselves are empty of true existence.
4. The Buddhas and bodhisattvas to whom you offer are empty of true existence.
5. The positive potential created by offering is empty of true existence.

Remove the seven water bowls in the evening. To empty them, start with the bowl on the right and pour it into a container. Then empty the next bowl on the right and so on until they are all emptied and placed upside down. If the bowls can air dry without staining, simply place them upside down on the shrine.
Otherwise, dry them with a clean cloth, imagining that you are eliminating sentient beings’ sufferings and their causes. The water can be used to water plants, or it can be poured outside in a clean area, where people do not walk.

Food may remain on the altar for a day or two if it will not spoil. Then, asking the Buddha’s permission, remove the food. You may give it to friends or eat it yourself. If you eat it, please eat mindfully, thinking that the food was given to you by the Buddha. Avoid removing a delicious food offering just at the time when you happen to want to eat it.

Flowers may remain on the altar until they begin to wilt, then remove them and if possible, put them outdoors in a place where no one will step over them. Electric lights may be left on all day and night, or they may be turned off at night if it disturbs the sleep of someone nearby. If you offer the light of a candle, snuff it out at the end of your session; try to do this by some means other than blowing on it; I once lived at a Dharma center where a wing had been gutted by fire due to an altar candle having tipped over when no one was present. You can light the same candle the next day, again offering its light.

Ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist nun in 1977, Venerable Thubten Chodron is an author, teacher, and the founder and abbess of Sravasti Abbey. Sravasti Abbey is the only Tibetan Buddhist training monastery for Westerners in the US and holds gender equality, social engagement, and care for the environment amongst its core values. Ven. Chodron teaches worldwide and is known for her practical (and humorous!) explanations of how to apply Buddhist teachings in daily life. She is also actively involved in prison outreach and interfaith dialogue. She has published many books on Buddhist philosophy and meditation, and has coauthored a book—Buddhism: One Teacher, Many Traditions—with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, with whom she has studied for nearly forty years.

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Thubten Chodron: Taming the Mind

Being Honest

Our spiritual mentors are our best friends, and it’s to our advantage to speak and act honestly with them. Some students are two-faced: They act well in the presence of their teachers, but at other times they gossip, lose their temper, and mistreat others. This is counterproductive.
Nor should we try to win our teacher’s favor by pretentious sweet talk. Who are we fooling? Our master cares about the state of our minds, not about superficial appearances.

It’s hypocritical to be kind to our teachers and rude to others. Our teachers want all beings to be happy, and thus we contradict our teachers’ advice when we’re belligerent and mean to others. If we hold our teachers in high esteem and other beings in contempt, we haven’t understood the true meaning of the Dharma. To progress on the path, we need to treat both our teachers and other people with respect.
Let’s think deeply about the meaning of respect. Some people confuse respect with fear and are then painfully shy and afraid of doing something wrong near a religious practitioner. There’s no need to be emotionally immobilized like this. Interestingly, it may be our selfish mind that is afraid to look bad or foolish in front of someone else.

On the other hand, we shouldn’t treat our masters like casual friends. A balance is required: Let’s endeavor to have a good motivation and act well both when we’re around our mentors and when we’re not. But at the same time, let’s not be afraid to admit our bad qualities to them. We can be honest with our teachers and seek their advice on how to improve.

Cherishing Our Teachers vs. Being Attached to Them

Some people confuse commitment to their teachers with attachment to them. This can be very painful, for if our teachers don’t give us as much attention as we want, we then feel rejected. Attachment causes us to cling to our masters for emotional security, praise, and attention. But as we develop true appreciation of our teachers, we’ll recognize their qualities and will be grateful for their kindness.

Attachment is self-oriented, while cherishing our teachers is based on sincere spiritual aspirations. Of course, we may miss our teachers when we’re separated from them for a long time, but we must ask ourselves if we’re missing them because we want Dharma teachings and guidance or because we want to feel loved.

The purpose of having a Dharma teacher isn’t to please our egos but to destroy our ignorance and selfishness by practicing the teachings. Our teacher’s job is not to meet our emotional needs but to lead us on the path to enlightenment.

When our teachers point out our faults, we can be happy that they care for us enough to do this. They trust we’ll welcome their advice rather than be offended. One time I saw a master tell a student his mistakes at a large gathering. I thought, “That must be a close disciple. The master knows that person wants to eliminate his egotistical pride and won’t mind being publicly reprimanded.” In fact, when I got to know the disciple, I discovered he was indeed a good practitioner.

Our relationships with our teachers will grow and develop over time. They can be rewarding relationships, because by depending on wise and compassionate spiritual guides, we’ll enhance our good qualities and eliminate our unwholesome ones. The closeness we feel with our spiritual mentors, who are genuinely concerned with our welfare and progress, is unlike the relationships we have with others. Our teachers will never stop helping us, no matter what we do. While this isn’t a license for us to act recklessly, we needn’t feel insecure that our teachers will cut off the relationship when we make mistakes. Our spiritual mentors are forgiving and compassionate, and we can therefore trust them.

As our understanding of the path to enlightenment deepens, so will our feeling of closeness with our teachers. This occurs because our minds become more similar to theirs. As our determination to be free increases and our altruistic motivation develops, we’ll feel naturally close with our teachers, for we’ll have the same interests and goals. Developing the wisdom realizing emptiness diminishes the feeling of separation that is caused by grasping at inherent existence. Eventually, when we become Buddhas, our realizations will be the same as those of our teachers.

From Taming the Mind by Thubten Chodron

Ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist nun in 1977, Venerable Thubten Chodron is an author, teacher, and the founder and abbess of Sravasti Abbey. Sravasti Abbey is the only Tibetan Buddhist training monastery for Westerners in the US and holds gender equality, social engagement, and care for the environment amongst its core values. Ven. Chodron teaches worldwide and is known for her practical (and humorous!) explanations of how to apply Buddhist teachings in daily life. She is also actively involved in prison outreach and interfaith dialogue. She has published many books on Buddhist philosophy and meditation, and has coauthored a book—Buddhism: One Teacher, Many Traditions—with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, with whom she has studied for nearly forty years.

Taming the Mind

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By: Thubten Chodron

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