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 Bodhisattva versus white supremacist
Venerable Thubten Chodron comments on the Charlottesville protest rally.
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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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Family life
The teaching from the ordination ceremony text continues, focusing on advice concerning how monastic relate…
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Going forth
A teaching from the Buddhist ordination ceremony text, focusing on the attitude to have when…
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The importance of motivation for ordaining
The importance of motivation when ordaining, and how to work with our expectations of monastic…
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What the Buddha faced in his life
What the Buddha faced in his life, and how the monastic community was established.
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Auxiliary bodhisattva ethical restraints 40-46
The final teaching on the auxiliary bodhisattva ethical restraints
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Motivation to practice
How mindfulness of death and impermanence provides motivation to practice the Dharma, and why we…
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