Renunciation and attachment to comfort
Venerable Thubten Chodron 
Exploring Monastic Life 2005 
Aug 19, 2005 A talk given during Sravasti Abbey's annual Exploring Monastic Life program in 2005.
- Attachment as the origin of dukkha
- Many of the monastic vows deal with attachment
- How attachment manifests in community living
- Cultivating gratitude
- Achieving balance in the mind
- When the shift from a lay mind to a monastic mind occurs
- Higher training in ethical discipline
- The purpose of precepts:
- To promote harmony within the sangha
- To transform the society
- To bring about individual liberation
Venerable Thubten Chodron
Venerable 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. She is well known for her warm, humorous, and lucid teachings. She was ordained as a Buddhist nun in 1977 by Kyabje Ling Rinpoche in Dharamsala, India, and in 1986 she received bhikshuni (full) ordination in Taiwan. Read her full bio.
