Pema Chodron Popular Books
Pema Chodron Biography & Facts
Pema Chödrön (པདྨ་ཆོས་སྒྲོན། padma chos sgron “lotus dharma lamp”; born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown, July 14, 1936) is an American Tibetan-Buddhist. She is an ordained nun, former acharya of Shambhala Buddhism and disciple of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Chödrön has written several dozen books and audiobooks, and is principal teacher at Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia. Early life and education Chödrön was born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown in 1936 in New York City. She grew up Catholic. She attended Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut, and grew up on a New Jersey farm with an older brother and sister. She obtained a bachelor's degree in English literature from Sarah Lawrence College and a master's degree in elementary education from the University of California, Berkeley. Career Chödrön began studying with Lama Chime Rinpoche during frequent trips to London over a period of several years. While in the United States she studied with Trungpa Rinpoche in San Francisco. In 1974, she became a novice Buddhist nun under Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, the sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa. In Hong Kong in 1981 she became the first American in the Vajrayana tradition to become a fully ordained nun or bhikṣuṇī. Trungpa appointed Chödrön director of the Boulder Shambhala Center (Boulder Dharmadhatu) in Colorado in the early 1980s. Chödrön moved to Gampo Abbey in 1984, the first Tibetan Buddhist monastery in North America for Western men and women, and became its first director in 1986. Chödrön's first book, The Wisdom of No Escape, was published in 1991. Then, in 1993, she was given the title of acharya when Trungpa's son, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, assumed leadership of his father's Shambhala lineage. In 1994, she became ill with chronic fatigue syndrome, but gradually her health improved. During this period, she met Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche and took him as her teacher. That year she published her second book, Start Where You Are and in 1996, When Things Fall Apart. No Time to Lose, a commentary on Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, was published in 2005. That year, Chödrön became a member of The Committee of Western Bhikshunis. Practicing Peace in Times of War came out in 2007. In 2016 she was awarded the Global Bhikkhuni Award, presented by the Chinese Buddhist Bhikkhuni Association of Taiwan. In 2020 she resigned from her acharya role from Shambhala International, in part due to the group's handling of sexual misconduct allegations, saying, "I do not feel that I can continue any longer as a representative and senior teacher of Shambhala given the unwise direction in which I feel we are going." Teaching Chödrön teaches the traditional "Yarne" retreat at Gampo Abbey each winter and the Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life in Berkeley each summer. A central theme of her teaching is the principle of "shenpa", or "attachment", which she interprets as the moment one is hooked into a cycle of habitual negative or self-destructive thoughts and actions. According to Chödrön, this occurs when something in the present stimulates a reaction to a past experience. Personal life Chödrön married at age 21 and has two children. She divorced in her mid-twenties. She remarried and then divorced a second time eight years later. She has three grandchildren, all of whom reside in the San Francisco Bay Area. Works When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times One of Chödrön's most famous books is When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times. In her work, Chödrön discusses uncertainty and how to find the good in discomfort. References External links Profile at the Pema Chödrön Foundation. Discover the Pema Chodron popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Pema Chodron books.
Best Seller Pema Chodron Books of 2024
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The Compassion Book
Pema ChödrönThe revered Buddhist teacher and author of When Things Fall Apart presents the lojong teachingspithy slogans for daily contemplationand the ways in which they can enrich our lives ...
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Self-Care for Self-Isolation
Nadia Narain & Katia Narain Phillips'Exactly what I needed to read right now.' Kate Moss'I love this little book and think it's the most practical guide to surviving lockdown I have come across so far. it's accessibl...
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Practicing Peace in Times of War
Pema ChödrönInspiring Buddhist teachings on promoting peace within our own livesand throughout the greater worldby examining how we respond to conflict in our thoughts and actions With...
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The Magnanimous Heart
Narayan Helen LiebensonIn her longawaited debut, a beloved master teacher shows us how to move from the “constant squeeze” of suffering to a direct experience of enoughness.The magnanimous heart is a hea...
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Awakening Loving-Kindness
Pema ChödrönInspiration and encouragement for cultivating kindnessby embracing the joy, suffering, confusion, and brilliance of our everyday livesfrom the author of When Things Fall Apart Do y...
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Japanese No Dramas
Royall TylerJapanese nõ theatre or the drama of 'perfected art' flourished in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries largely through the genius of the dramatist Zeami. An intricate fusion of m...
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Botchan
Natsume Sōseki & J. COHNBotchan is a modern young man from the Tokyo metropolis, sent to the ultratraditional Matsuyama district as a Maths teacher after his the death of his parents. Cynical, rebellious ...
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Living Beautifully
Pema ChödrönInstant bestseller: Buddhist teacher Pema Chödrön shares lifechanging practices for living with wisdom, confidence, and integrity amidst confusing situations and uncertain timesWe ...
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The Heroic Heart
Jetsunma Tenzin PalmoA guidebook to making life meaningful by cultivating compassion, embracing adversity, and training the mindfrom one of the foremost living Buddhist nuns.Freeing ourselves from our ...
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The Wisdom of No Escape
Pema ChödrönThe “downtoearth, unsentimental, [and] highhumored” Pema Chödrön classic on learning to face our lives just as they are (Los Angeles Times) It's true, as they say, that we can...
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Training in Compassion
Norman FischerA prominent Zen teacher offers a “direct, penetrating, and powerful” perspective on a popular mind training practice of Tibetan Buddhism (Rick Hanson, author of Buddha’s Brain...
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How to Meditate
Pema Chödrön“When something is bothering youa person is bugging you, a situation is irritating you, or physical pain is troubling youyou must work with your mind, and that is done through medi...
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The Power of Mind
Khentrul Lodrö Thayé Rinpoche, Paloma Lopez Landry, Ibby Caputo & Paul GustafsonA modern guide to lojongancient Buddhist techniques for transforming all circumstances, including pain, anxiety, and stress, into mental wellbeing that benefits us and the pe...
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The Penguin Book of Japanese Verse
Geoffrey Bownas & Anthony ThwaitePoetry remains a living part of the culture of Japan today. The clichés of everyday speech are often to be traced to famous ancient poems, and the traditional forms of poetry are w...
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Sons And Daughters Of The Buddha
Christopher TitmussChristopher Titmuss believes that the work of the great Buddhist writers can provide profound spiritual, religious, social, political and environmental insights. This collection o...
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Dakini Power
Michaela HaasPema Chödrön, Joan Halifax, and ten other female Tibetan Buddhist teachers share inspiring personal stories, revealing how we can embody Buddhist wisdom and overcome ever...
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True Virtue
Sister Annabel Laity & John BarnettThe captivating autobiography of the first Western nun ordained in Thich Nhat Hanh's Vietnamese Zen lineage.In 1988, Sister Annabel Laity became the first Western person to be orda...
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The Future Of Buddhism
Sogyal RinpocheIn this fascinating collection of articles, Sogyal Rinpoche, author of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, draws on his experience of twentyfive years of teaching in the West. I...
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Waking Up
Sam HarrisFor the millions of Americans who want spirituality without religion, Sam Harris’s latest New York Times bestseller is a guide to meditation as a rational practice informed by neur...
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When Things Fall Apart
Pema ChödrönThe beautiful practicality of her teaching has made Pema Chödrön one of the most beloved of contemporary American spiritual authors among Buddhists and nonBuddhists alike. A collec...
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Together But Something Missing
Ben RenshawPower struggles Lack of communication Unconscious needs Fear of rejection Different interests Out of date habits Fear of intimacy High expectations Too busy.If even one of ...
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Start Where You Are
Pema ChödrönThe perennially helpful guide to transforming our pains and difficulties into opportunities for genuine joy and personal growth, from the beloved Buddhist nun and author of When Th...
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Comfortable with Uncertainty
Pema Chödrön108 practical teachings for cultivating mindfulness and compassion in the face of fear and uncertainty, from the author of When Things Fall Apart Comfortable...
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Smile at Fear
Chögyam Trungpa & Carolyn Rose GimianInsights and strategies for claiming victory over fear, from “one of the most remarkable and brilliant teachers of modern times” (Jack Kornfield, author of A Path with Heart) ...