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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Painting of the Buddha's first discourse.
LR09 The Four Truths for the Aryas

Causes of the afflictions

How wrong friends, the media, and the force of habit can stir up our afflictions…

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Painting of the Buddha's first discourse.
LR09 The Four Truths for the Aryas

The order in which afflictions develop

Examining how the afflictions arise in our day-to-day lives so that we can loosen our…

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Painting of the Buddha's first discourse.
LR09 The Four Truths for the Aryas

Recognizing our afflictions

Continuing the explanation of the secondary afflictions and the importance of recognizing them in daily…

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Painting of the Buddha's first discourse.
LR09 The Four Truths for the Aryas

Ignorance, doubt, and afflicted views

The different ways in which ignorance manifests, how afflicted doubt impedes spiritual progress, and the…

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LR09 The Four Truths for the Aryas

Pride and ignorance

The seven types of pride and their antidotes, and the three types of ignorance.

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Painting of the Buddha's first discourse.
LR09 The Four Truths for the Aryas

Attachment and anger

Introduction to the six root afflictions and an in-depth look at the first two—attachment and…

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Painting of the Buddha's first discourse.
LR09 The Four Truths for the Aryas

Unsatisfactoriness of god realms

Understanding why the god realms are unsatisfactory helps us understand that rebirth in any realm…

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Painting of the Buddha's first discourse.
LR09 The Four Truths for the Aryas

The dukkha of cyclic existence

Looking at and meditating on the disadvantages of cyclic existence in many different ways helps…

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Painting of the Buddha's first discourse.
LR09 The Four Truths for the Aryas

Our unsatisfactory experiences

Taking an honest look at the situation we're in in samsara: facing birth, sickness, aging…

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