Compassion observing sentient beings
Manjushri Retreat (2022) - Session 8
Venerable Thubten Chodron 
Manjushri Weeklong Retreat 2022 
Jul 5, 2022 Part of a series of talks given during the Manjushri Retreat at Sravasti Abbey in 2022.
- Review of three types of compassion
- How self-grasping leads to cyclic existence
- Six parts of an analogy for cyclic existence
- Like a bucket in a well tied by a strong rope
- Like the operator of a pulley moving the bucket
- Just as the bucket continuously goes up and down in the well
- The bucket descends easily, but great effort is required to pull it up
- Just as the bucket goes round and round without discernible beginning or end
- The bucket is constantly battered as it knocks into the sides of the walls of the well
- Meditating on this analogy to generate bodhicitta
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.
