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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Buddha's face painted on canvas.
Essence of Refined Gold

The meditation on taking and giving

How visualizing taking on the suffering of others and giving them our happiness can be…

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Buddha's face painted on canvas.
Essence of Refined Gold

The advantages of cherishing others

How to generate bodhicitta by changing in one's mind who is important and cherished: the…

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Buddha's face painted on canvas.
Essence of Refined Gold

The disadvantages of self-centeredness

Working with the self-centered mind to increase happiness, one realizes the mind is dependent on…

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Open Heart, Clear Mind

Buddha nature and precious human life

Seeing our potential and the conducive circumstances we have to actualize it.

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Buddha's face painted on canvas.
Essence of Refined Gold

Equalizing and exchanging self and others

A discussion of Shantideva's nine-point meditation on equalizing self and others as a method of…

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Buddha's face painted on canvas.
Essence of Refined Gold

The seven-point cause-and-effect practice

Practices that develop the bodhicitta aspiration to attain buddhahood in order to benefit all sentient…

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Open Heart, Clear Mind

The four noble truths

A look at the unsatisfactory nature of cyclic existence and how to practice the noble…

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Buddha's face painted on canvas.
Essence of Refined Gold

Seeking enlightenment for the benefit of others

Teaching on equanimity and bodhicitta from a series of talks on The Essence of Refined…

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Abbey monastics and visiting monastics in the meditation hall.
Becoming a Monastic

On monastic life

Following the ordination of Venerable Thubten Semkye at Sravasti Abbey, visiting nuns participated in a…

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Cover of Guided Meditations on the Stages of the Path.
Books

Mindfully transforming our minds

An excerpt from the book "Guided Meditations on the Stages of the Path."

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A bird enjoys eating at a feeder in the middle of winter.
Harmony with the Environment

Practices and rituals

Questions on rituals in Buddhist practice, right intention, right livelihood.

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