Heart of the Matter: An Online Course with Pema Chodron

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Pema Chödrön is a beloved Buddhist teacher, author, nun, and mother. She has inspired millions of people from around the world who have been touched by her example and message of practicing peace in these turbulent times.

She has been teaching and writing extensively for many years, including authoring the best-selling books When Things Fall Apart and The Places That Scare You.

Pema first met her root teacher, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, in 1972. Lama Chime encouraged her to work with Rinpoche, and it was with him that she ultimately made her most profound connection. At the request of the Sixteenth Karmapa, she received the full monastic ordination in the Tibetan lineage of Buddhism in 1981 in Hong Kong. She is the resident teacher at Gampo Abbey in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia—the first Tibetan Buddhist monastery for westerners in North America.

When does the course begin?

The course is self-paced, so you can get started as soon as you enroll and go at your own pace.

How long does it take to complete the course?

There are six lessons in the course and each lesson is designed to last a week. However, the course is flexible and you can work at your own pace as well, so you can benefit just as much from the course even if it takes you longer to go through it. We encourage you to download videos as you go through the course for your own personal use in the future. You will continue to have unlimited access to the course materials online as well.

How long will I have access to the course?

Your access to the course is unlimited. It will not expire.

Can I still take this course without a desktop/laptop computer (for example, if I only have an iPad)?

Yes, you can access this course using the browser on your device. However, please note that if you’d like to save any of the course materials, you will need to download to a computer first and then transfer the files to your device.

What if I have technical difficulties with the course?

We have a dedicated course support person who can help you with any issues you may encounter in navigating or accessing the course. Please email course-support@shambhala.com if you have any questions.

This Course Includes

Photo credit: Margie Rodgers

Frequently Asked Questions

“The wisdom, the strength, the confidence—the awakened heart and mind are always accessible—here, now, always.”

~Pema Chödrön

This self-study course offers a special opportunity to experience Pema Chödrön’s generous heart and deep wisdom. Featuring seven talks filmed in the intimate setting of Gampo Abbey, this is a rare opportunity to study with this extraordinary teacher.

As her theme for the course, Pema uses a short Buddhist text especially close to her heart, Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva. This classic text, which could be said to summarize the major themes of Pema’s teachings over the years, presents ways that we can work with our own hearts and minds.

Getting to the Heart of the Matter

RESILIENCE

WISDOM

COMPASSION

JOY

Learn how to use the difficulties of your life, such as loss, shame, and overwhelming emotions, as a means to awaken.

Explore how embodying the six transcendent actions—generosity, discipline, patience, exertion, meditation, and wisdom—can support your movement toward a more wise and open-hearted life.

Cultivate the attitudes of mind that connect you to compassionate engagement with the world.

Discover the joy and fullness that comes from leaving your comfort zone, untangling habitual attachments, and leaping into the present.

Starting wherever you find yourself now, you can unravel your personal preoccupations and strengthen your innate capacity for compassion, joy, and wisdom.

Plus

Lesson 1

Awakening Bodhichitta: The Aspiration to Be of Benefit

The only way to live the life of a chöpa, or dharmic person, is to start where we are. As we embark on this course together, we’re invited to leap directly onto the path of the bodhisattva—the warrior who aspires to wake up for the benefit of themselves and the world. We begin on this path by learning to recognize our own hang-ups and upheavals. We cultivate the perspective that we already have innate wisdom and compassion in our hearts and minds—and our work is to reveal it.

Lesson 2

Stretching Beyond Our Habits: The Wisdom of Leaving Our Comfort Zone

When we begin to abandon our habitual ways of seeing the world, we may experience glimpses of the groundless nature of reality. How do we cultivate bravery in this space beyond our comfort zone? In this lesson, Ani Pema introduces the practice of tonglen, which connects us with our inherent strength and increases our capacity for compassion under difficult circumstances.

Lesson 3

The Power of Letting Go: Adversity as a Gateway to Insight

The more we understand our own suffering, the more we can understand the suffering of others—but what about when others are the cause of your suffering? In this lesson, we’ll explore Tokmé Zongpo’s wisdom on working with the nitty-gritty of social interactions. Rather than take praise or blame personally, we can go deeper and ask: what it is that people are praising or blaming? Is there an intrinsic self? The implications of asking these questions may transform the way we interact with both friend and foe.

Lesson 4

Pleasant and Unpleasant: Integrating Every Experience Into the Path of Compassion

We’ve all heard the encouragement to “keep an open mind.” The teachings in this lesson take that advice to the next level, as Ani Pema guides us through Tokmé Zongpo’s wisdom on relating to the absolute nature of mind and egolessness. We’ll also explore gratitude as fuel for our practice of tonglen.

Lesson 5

The Six Paramitas: Skillful Means of the Bodhisattva

The six paramitas (transcendent actions) of generosity, patience, discipline, enthusiasm, meditation, and prajna are both the path and the fruition of enlightened activity. Living up to such high standards may seem daunting, but in this lesson Ani Pema shows us how we can begin to bring these skillful means into our everyday lives. She also offers us safeguards to ensure we don’t co-opt the paramitas to build up our ego!

Lesson 6

Awake in Every Moment: The Unconventional Path of Warriorship

On the path of the bodhisattva, we develop the capacity to work with our minds in every situation. As we deepen along the path, there may even come a time when we delight in our shenpa being provoked—an opportunity to practice! In the final verses, Tokmé Zongpo offers us wisdom for revealing our hidden faults and being of utmost benefit to others.

"I truly appreciate [Pema’s] manner of kindness and humor. She presents the material in a way that I can integrate into my daily life. I am a novice to many of the teachings but never feel overwhelmed or confused after a lesson. Thank you”

About Pema Chödrön

Recommended Reading List

Guided reading assignments from selections chosen by Pema

Fourteen Hours of Powerful Teachings

Watch Pema speak to her close students and friends in the main shrine room at Gampo Abbey, her home monastery

Home Practices & Contemplations

Home practices designed specifically to support your integration of the teachings into your daily life

Downloadable Audio Files

Listen on the go and take in this profound dharma where and when it works best for you—in the car, on a walk, or over the kitchen sink

Unlimited Access

On your computer, mobile device, or tablet—learn at your own pace wherever and whenever works best for you.

Bonus #1

Recordings of two Q&A Sessions with Pema Chödrön from the original course launch

Bonus #2

50% OFF the Recommended Readings from Shambhala Publications

Course Curriculum

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Learn to Let Go of Fear and Live with Compassion and Courage

The Heart

Matter

of the

An Online Course

Pema Chödrön

with

100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEE

If for any reason you are not completely satisfied, please e-mail us within 30 days, and we will promptly refund your purchase price.

ADD TO CART

"The quality of the videos was fantastic. I felt like I was attending the Yarne at the Abbey. The talks by Pema were absolutely wonderful and I’ll watch them many times."

~Participant