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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Dharma in Daily Life

Living in harmony with one another

Identifying the cause of our disharmony with others and ourselves and working constructively to overcome…

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Dharma in Daily Life

Serve other beings as much as possible

The importance of serving others by practicing and preserving the Dharma, or in any other…

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Dharma in Daily Life

Share your love, wisdom, and wealth

The importance of learning to distinguish love from attachment so that we can share our…

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Buddhist Reasoning and Debate

Functioning things

Beginning to teach on the divisions of "Functioning Things," as part of Chapter 11: "Basic…

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Elderly man and young child holding hands and smiling.
Dharma Poetry

Kurushimi

Kurushimi means suffering or hardship. By recognizing the suffering of others, we understand their truths…

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A group of nuns in winter clothing stand in front of the Sravasti Abbey sign.
Life at Sravasti Abbey

Buddhist monastics in the Inland Northwest

How Sravasti Abbey found a home in rural Washington and the purpose of a Buddhist…

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Gomchen Lamrim

Real and unreal

Continuing to teach on emptiness, introducing the division of "real" and "unreal."

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Venerable Chodron standing with participants of the 2018 Young Adult Week.
Young Adults Explore Buddhism 2018

Ethical conduct and karma

How our behavior has effects for ourselves and others. Collective karma and the groups we…

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Buddhist Reasoning and Debate

Nonexistents

Exploring what "bad" means through a syllogism, and teaches on the category of "non-existents."

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Venerable Chodron standing with participants of the 2018 Young Adult Week.
Young Adults Explore Buddhism 2018

Planting seeds to understand the Dharma

How to create the causes to have the opportunity to hear Dharma teachings and the…

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A group of young adults sitting at a table discussing teachings.
Young Adults Explore Buddhism 2018

Training the mind to see things more accurately

If we can see situations more accurately, we won't have unrealistic expectations and we can…

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