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.
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Venerable Thubten Chodron The three higher trainings
Teaching Chapter Three, focusing on the three higher trainings of ethical conduct, meditative stabilization and…
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Overcoming fear and preconceptions
A motivation to work with the fear and misleading preconceptions that arise in the face…
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Brief history of bhiksunis
Venerable Chodron provides a short history of the issues surrounding ordination for women.
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Cutting bonds and going forth
Venerable Thubten Chodron finishes the ordination ceremony text, and concludes this set of teachings with…
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Renouncing worldly life
Advice on severing attachment to this body, loved ones and worldly life so we can…
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Bodhisattva versus white supremacist
Venerable Thubten Chodron comments on the Charlottesville protest rally.
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Sravasti Abbey values
The Sravasti Abbey values, which help guide the development of monastic minds at the Abbey.
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Western monastics
How to overcome obstacles to receiving precepts, and the situation of Western monastics in the…
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Taking ethical restraints
The importance of purification before ordination and the actual taking of ethical restraints.
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Guarding integrity and aspiration
How monastics must guard their integrity and aspiration for awakening by developing self-confidence and immunity…
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The banner of the Dharma
A teaching from the ordination ceremony text, focusing on advice from the acharya about practicing…
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Why we need compassion
In the face of human hardship, compassion is the only response that makes sense. It…
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