The reason self-centeredness exists
03 The Five Forces Retreat (2026)
Venerable Thubten Chodron 
Seven-point Mind Training 
Sep 6, 2026 This teaching is part of the 2026 retreat series The Five Forces: Practices for a Lifetime, featuring teachings on Kadampa Geshe Chekawa’s Seven-point Mind Training. A PDF of the root text is available here.
- Guided meditation on compassion
- Is compassion wimpy?
- Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo’s commentary on blaming everything on one culprit
- Questioning the notion of “toxic” people and relationships
- Clinging to the “I” creates our problems
- The myth that self-blame is “spiritual”
- Arrogance versus self-confidence
- Being a balanced human being
The next teaching in this series:
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.
