The importance of understanding emptiness
01 Searching for the Self
Venerable Thubten Chodron 
Volume 7 Searching for the Self 
May 10, 2025 The first in a series of online talks on Searching for the Self hosted by Vajrayana Institute and Kunsang Yeshe Retreat Centre in Sydney, Australia.
- Recognizing our situation in cyclic existence
- Can we be liberated by practicing other paths?
- Understanding emptiness through the tenet systems
- Avoiding the two extremes of absolutism and nihilism
- How we progress to realize emptiness
- The compatibility of dependent arising and emptiness
- Suitable vessels to receive teachings on emptiness
- Prerequisites for realizing emptiness
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.
