Defining love and happiness
Venerable Thubten Chodron 
Love and Self-esteem 
Apr 27, 2013 Part of a series of teachings from the Power of Love Retreat, April 27-28, 2013.
- Love is wanting someone to have happiness and its causes regardless of how someone relates to us
- Real happiness is internal state of mind and not external sense pleasures
- Commentary on a verse in Buddhaghosa’s Path of Purification on cultivating love
- Promotes friendliness towards others, sees others as lovable
- Manifests as the disappearance of ill will and annoyance
- When it fails it degenerates into selfish desire
- Discussion of why we like friends, have apathy for strangers, have aversion to those who harm us, how all of this is made up by our mind
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.
