Chagdud Khadro (Jane Dedman)
“The dakini principle refers to the sphere of enlightened activities. What it means to me is to be the hands and the voice of the lama’s mind, with the aspiration to be the mind of the mind.”
Chagdud Khadro ©Ronai Rocha
"Like Iron Filings Drawn to a Magnet"
A former journalist from Texas opens up on her spiky marriage with a renowned Tibetan master
Chagdud Khadro has unusually bright blue eyes and a kind gaze that can turn probing. Chagdud Khadro is the title her late husband, Chagdud Rinpoche (1930–2002), gave to Jane Dedman after several years of marriage. Khadro and Chagdud Rinpoche were married for twenty-three years, until his passing in 2002. Now in her sixties, Chagdud Khadro spends most of her time near Três Coroas on the East Coast in Brazil, in a Buddhist center that bears her name—Chagdud Khadro Ling. She is especially renowned for her teachings on phowa, the traditional Tibetan transference of consciousness at the time of dying. Her students all stress her impeccable work ethic and humility. Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, whom Chagdud Rinpoche asked to help guide his centers, calls her “a perfect example of a lama’s wife. She puts all the others to shame, even the Tibetans.” In the interview for Dakini Power she opens up about her upbringing in Texas, her career as a journalist and the joys and challenges of being married to her teacher.