Buddhist practice and community life
Venerable Thubten Chodron 
Living in Community 
May 31, 2023 A question and answer session with students from the Dharma College at the Tibetan Buddhist Center in Hamburg, Germany.
- Community life for laity and monastics
- Differences in lay life and monastic life in terms of attaining Buddhahood
- The key to living a simpler life as lay people and monastics
- Importance of community life in contemporary times
- Resistance to establishing nunneries in past and present times
- Joys and obstacles in monastic life
- How a monastery is financed in general
- Handling hierarchy and conflicts in organizations constructively
- Practice questions
- Progressing towards shamatha practice
- Finding inner peace in old age
- Helping non-religious people with fear of death
- How to connect the study of the paramitas to everyday life
- Personal questions
- What your daily schedule is like
- What you wish to achieve for yourself and others spiritually
- How to deal with not meeting expectations and motivate yourself
Watch the next Q&A video with Hamburg Dharma College here:
What if the Buddha were a lay woman?
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.
