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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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Wheel of Life thangka.
Three Principal Aspects of the Path

Infallible effects of karma

Avoiding and purifying the negative karma created through the actions of our body, speech, and…

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Cover of Geshen Sonam Rinchen's book "The Three Principal Aspects of the Path".
Three Principal Aspects of the Path

General characteristics of karma

Karma is definite, expandable, doesn't get lost, and results from the causes that we have…

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Venerable Chodron meditating.
Three Principal Aspects of the Path

Imagining your death

The Buddhist practice of meditation on our own deaths can free our minds from the…

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Venerable Chodron meditating.
Three Principal Aspects of the Path

Nine-point death meditation

By reflecting carefully and thoroughly on death and impermanence, we reach the conclusion that we…

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A young Abbey retreatant, bowing to Venerable Chodron.
Three Principal Aspects of the Path

Rarity of a precious human rebirth

Contemplating the rarity of a precious human life complete with both the ability and the…

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Venerable Chodron sitting at her computer, smiling.
Three Principal Aspects of the Path

Precious human rebirth

How we can use our precious human life to advance ourselves on the Dharma path.

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Bronze statue of Kuan Yin appearing as Samantabhadra on an elephant.
Prayers and Practices

Extraordinary aspiration: The seven-limb practice

A powerful practice from the King of Prayers that can be done daily to purify…

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A bundle of 100 dollar bills.
Three Principal Aspects of the Path

The eight worldly concerns

How to work with mental obstacles that keep us from practicing the Dharma.

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Venerable Samten with eyes closed while two nuns shave her head.
Three Principal Aspects of the Path

Renunciation

We are stuck in cyclic existence. Through the teachings, we see the problems of cyclic…

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Bronze statue of Kuan Yin appearing as Samantabhadra on an elephant.
Prayers and Practices

Introduction to the seven-limb practice

Seven ways to purify the mind and to accumulate merit, the purpose and ways of…

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Venerable Chodron bowing to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Three Principal Aspects of the Path

The preliminaries

How the Buddhist teachings plant in our minds the seed of the realizations that will…

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Venerable Chodron teaching.
Three Principal Aspects of the Path

Introduction

How we can most effectively listen to and study Dharma teachings.

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