Good Karma: Helpful and unhelpful friends
Good Karma 16
Venerable Thubten Chodron 
Good Karma Annual Retreat 
May 29, 2023 Part of a series of talks given during the annual Memorial Day weekend retreat based on the book Good Karma: How to Create the Causes of Happiness and Avoid the Causes of Suffering, a commentary on “The Wheel of Sharp Weapons” by Indian sage Dharmarakshita.
- Questions and answers
- Becoming kinder and more compassionate
- Finding the motivation to end cyclic existence
- Buddhas and bodhisattvas versus a creator looking upon us
- Working with irritation
- What makes something a mental action of covetousness
- Collective karma
- Commentary on verse 16
- What good friendship entails
- Relating to old friends after meeting the Dharma
- Relying on those with spiritual wisdom
- Commentary on verse 17
- Antidote when we want to criticize others
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.
