Life worth living
Venerable Thubten Chodron 
For Young People 
Feb 11, 2025 A talk given for students in the "Life Worth Living" program at the Yale Center for Faith & Culture
- Venerable Thubten Chodron’s personal journey to Buddhism
- Questions and answers:
- Can you help us to understand the concept of duhkha?
- “Dissatisfaction” versus “suffering”
- Examples of duhkha: food and personal relationships
- Dissatisfaction with our body and mind
- Is it more important to help people materially or spiritually?
- The importance of helping as much as we can
- Being able to give is a privilege
- Short-term versus long-term help
- How do you balance goal-setting with not wanting to be attached?
- Attachment is a mind based on exaggeration
- Being realistic with goals and dreams
- What will you feel happy about at the end of your life?
- How can we reconcile living in this world with the idea of emptiness?
- Conventional versus ultimate existence
- My “rules of the universe”
- Self-centeredness leads to suffering
- Can you help us to understand the concept of duhkha?
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.
