P.Chodron effectively teaches us to soften our hearts towards ourselves and to others and to make friends with our own selves. My life is not perfect and the world is certainly not perfect(!?) & I’m NEVER going to “get it all together” (or, if I do ever feel as though everything is pretty darn cool, it never seems to last for longer than about 10 minutes).

I’m not perfect (well, perfectly imperfect). These insights don’t upset me – they un-hinge me – in a really good way. Since its purchase, I've made reference to it a few times rereading passages that struck a chord.For instance, on page 60, in entry #38 (called ‘No Happy Ending’) she quotes her teacher once saying to her “I don’t know why you came here, but I want to tell you right now that the basis of this whole teaching is that you’re never going to get it all together.” This made me laugh with a giddy sense of relief every time I read it. The book is comprised of 108 short selections for on-the-go inspiration. Pema Chodron, a Buddhist nun, writes about spirituality in everyday terms, in a way that’s practical, simple and applicable. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche gave her explicit instructions on establishing this monastery for western monks and nuns.Īni Pema 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. At the request of the Sixteenth Karmapa, she received the full bikshuni ordination in the Chinese lineage of Buddhism in 1981 in Hong Kong.Īni Pema served as the director of the Karma Dzong, in Boulder, CO, until moving in 1984 to rural Cape Breton, Nova Scotia to be the director of Gampo Abbey.

Lama Chime encouraged her to work with Trungpa, and it was with him that she ultimately made her most profound connection, studying with him from 1974 until his death in 1987. His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa came to England at that time, and Ani Pema received her ordination from him.Īni Pema first met her root guru, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, in 1972. She became a novice nun in 1974 while studying with Lama Chime in London. While in her mid-thirties, she traveled to the French Alps and encountered Lama Chime Rinpoche, with whom she studied for several years. Pema has two children and three grandchildren. She taught as an elementary school teacher for many years in both New Mexico and California. She attended Miss Porter's School in Connecticut and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley.

Ani Pema Chödrön ( Deirdre Blomfield-Brown) is an American Buddhist nun in the Tibetan tradition, closely associated with the Kagyu school and the Shambhala lineage.

Book the pocket pema chodron