Good Karma: Overcoming spiritual obstacles
Good Karma 23
Venerable Thubten Chodron 
Good Karma Annual Retreat 
May 24, 2025 Part of a series of talks given during the annual Memorial Day weekend retreat based on the book Good Karma: How to Create the Causes of Happiness and Avoid the Causes of Suffering, a commentary on "The Wheel of Sharp Weapons" by Indian sage Dharmarakshita.
- Questions and answers:
- Using reasoning to understand the Dharma
- Categorizing the critical mind
- Causes of gambling
- Appreciating the kindness of others and seeking to repay that kindness
- Verse 29: Delighting in afflictions and being distracted
- Meditating on impermanence and the faults of cyclic existence
- Verse 30: Regressing despite our efforts
- Purification and making merit
- Verse 31: When our religious rituals go amiss
- Verse 32: When our prayers to the Three Jewels are ineffectual
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.
