About Pema Chödrön
Ani Pema Chödrön was born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown in 1936, in New York City. She graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and was an elementary school teacher for many years in New Mexico and California.
In her mid-thirties, Ani Pema met and studied with Lama Chime Rinpoche, becoming a novice nun in 1974 in London. She received ordination from His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa during that time.
Pema first met her root guru, the teacher with whom she had the most profound connection, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, in 1972, and she studied closely with him until his death in 1987.
In 1984, at the behest of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Ani Pema moved from Boulder, Colorado to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia to be the director of Gampo Abbey. She currently teaches throughout the United States and Canada and continues her studies and meditative retreat under the guidance of Venerable Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche.
The nonprofit Pema Chödrön Foundation was established to further Ani Pema’s interest in helping establish Tibetan Buddhist monasticism in the West as well as to support the continuation of her teachings across traditions.
Books by Pema Chodron
Another Kind of Freedom
What if the freedom you seek isn’t found by changing your circumstances but by embracing life exactly as it is? Pema Chödrön goes back to her very foundations in her latest and possibly most important book. With the spiritual classic The Myth of Freedom as the touchstone, Pema invites us to look beyond the “myth of freedom”—the idea that we can escape discomfort—and to work compassionately and wisely with what keeps us stuck.
Drawing from the seminal work from her beloved teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Pema explores how meditation, mindfulness, and radical self-acceptance can transform our struggles, neuroses, and pain into gateways to awakening. “These were the teachings,” Pema says, “that inspired me most in my early years of practicing Buddhism. They continue to inspire me now and have influenced all the teachings I’ve given over the years.”
With her characteristic humor, practical wisdom, and compassionate insight, she shows us how to make friends with our minds, work skillfully with emotions, and open our hearts to the richness of human experience. Inspiring and accessible, this book is an essential companion for anyone longing for genuine freedom, clarity, and connection in a world of uncertainty and change.
Here is a sample from the audiobook:
How We Live Is How We Die
As much as we might try to resist, endings happen in every moment—the end of a breath, the end of a day, the end of a relationship, and ultimately the end of life. And accompanying each ending is a beginning, though it may be unclear what the beginning holds. In How We Live Is How We Die, Pema Chödrön shares her wisdom for working with this flow of life—learning to live with ease, joy, and compassion through uncertainty, embracing new beginnings, and ultimately preparing for death with curiosity and openness rather than fear.
Poignant for readers of all ages, her teachings on the bardos—a Tibetan term referring to a state of transition, including what happens between this life and the next—reveal their power and relevance at each moment of our lives. She also offers practical methods for transforming life’s most challenging emotions about change and uncertainty into a path of awakening and love. As she teaches, the more freedom we can find in our hearts and minds as we live this life, the more fearlessly we’ll be able to confront death and what lies beyond. In all, Pema provides readers with a master course in living life fully and compassionately in the shadow of death and change.
Welcoming the Unwelcome: Wholehearted Living in a Brokenhearted World
Pema Chodron offers fresh wisdom, heartfelt reflections, and the signature humor and insight that have made her a beloved guide during turbulent times. In an increasingly polarized world, Pema offers us tools to find common ground, even when we disagree, so we can build a stronger and broader sense of community. Sharing never-before-told personal stories from her remarkable life, simple and powerful everyday practices, and directly relatable advice, Pema leads the way in showing us how to become triumphant bodhisattvas—compassionate beings—in even the most difficult of circumstances.
Below is a sample of the audiobook, read by Claire Foy:
The Teachers of Pema Chodron
In Welcoming the Unwelcome, Ani Pema discusses many of her teachers, friends, and others who have been sources of wisdom and inspiration for her.
These include Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, and many more.
When Things Fall Apart
Heart Advice for Difficult Times
The book of our times. Ani Pema's best-selling book and an American spiritual classic.
How can we live our lives when everything seems to fall apart—when we are continually overcome by fear, anxiety, and pain? The answer, Pema Chödrön suggests, might be just the opposite of what you expect. Here, in her most beloved and acclaimed work, Pema shows that moving toward painful situations and becoming intimate with them can open up our hearts in ways we never before imagined. Drawing from traditional Buddhist wisdom, she offers life-changing tools for transforming suffering and negative patterns into habitual ease and boundless joy.
Becoming Bodhisattvas: A Guidebook for Compassionate Action is Pema's explanation of one the the most beloved texts in Buddhist literature: The Way of the Bodhisattva. See our reader guide to this text as well.
Cared Decks and Interactive Journals
The Living Beautifully Journal
This keepsake journal shares thoughtful quotes and offers inviting spaces that await your reflections, insights, and intentions. Find support for challenging times, guidance for uncertainty, and reminders of daily joy. A perfect space for personal reflection and spiritual exploration.
Pema Chödrön's Compassion Cards
Let compassion and fearlessness guide you and you’ll live wisely and effectively in good times and bad. Here Pema Chödrön offers a powerful method to awaken these qualities using a practice called lojong, which has been a primary focus of her teachings and personal practice for many years. In this boxed set of 59 cards, she provides all the tools needed to practice it in your own life.
Pema Chödrön Books in Spanish (Shambhala Español)
Cuando Todo Se Derrumba: Palabras Sabias para Momentos Dificiles
Sólo hay una manera de encarar el sufrimiento que proporcione beneficio duradero, nos enseña Pema: ir hacia las situaciones dolorosas con cordialidad y curiosidad, relajándonos en la insubstancialidad fundamental de toda nuestra situación. Es ahí, en medio del caos, que podemos descubrir la verdad y el amor que son indestructibles.
Los Lugares Que Te Asustan: Convertir el Miedo en Fortaleza en Tiempos Dificiles
Este libro nos enseña a despertar nuestra bondad fundamental y a conectarnos con otros, a aceptarnos nosotros mismos y a los demás íntegramente, con fallas e imperfecciones, y a mantenernos en el momento presente al advertir las estrategias del ego que provocan que nos resistamos a aceptar la vida tal como ésta es.
Vivir Bellamente: En la Incertidumbre y el Cambio
Las enseñanzas que la autora nos presenta aquí -conocidas como los “Tres Compromisos”— brindan una riqueza de conocimientos para aprender a adentrarse directamente en el río, a acoger plenamente y sin temores el carácter insondable del ser humano.
