How compassion changes us
Chapter 68
Venerable Thubten Chodron 
An Open-Hearted Life 
Aug 18, 2024 Part of a series of talks based on An Open-Hearted Life given at Sravasti Abbey’s monthly Sharing the Dharma Day starting in April 2017. Co-written with clinical psychologist Dr. Russell Kolts, the book offers practical Buddhist and Western psychological approaches to developing compassion.
- We are the chief beneficiary when we generate compassion
- “A Family of Mice”
- “The Kitchen Cat”
- “A Teacher I Didn’t Expect”
- Reflection: How compassion changes us
- How do you know that your compassion is altruistic and not self-serving?
- Feeling guilty is not atonement or purification
- The four opponent powers of purification
An Open-Hearted Life 64: How compassion changes us (download)
A guided meditation led prior to the talk can be found here.
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.
