Creating the causes for happiness
Venerable Thubten Chodron 
Nagarjuna’s Precious Garland 
Sep 28, 2019 Part of a series of talks based on the book Practical Ethics and Profound Emptiness given at the Garrison Institute, New York. The weekend retreat was sponsored by the Shantideva Meditation Center.
- Reflection on the actual causes of happiness
- Our well-being depends on contributing to the welfare of others
- Benefits of training our mind in generating virtuous motivation and thinking about long-term effects of our actions
- Disadvantages of self-centered thought and ways of acting with an altruistic motivation
- Everything that exists is a dependent arising of many causes and conditions
- Taking responsibility for our future and using our freedom to create the causes for happiness
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.
