Ven. Pema Chödrön (Deirdre Blomfield-Brown)
“The first step is developing an unconditional friendship with yourself. Unconditional friendship means staying open when you want to shut down, when it is just too painful, too embarrassing, too unpleasant what you see in yourself.”
Venerable Pema Chödrön © Liza Matthews
Relaxing into Groundlessness
The lessons the most beloved Western Buddhist teacher learned when her own life fell apart
Facing what scares us is Pema Chödrön's signature topic. A glance at her book and audio titles provides a first-aid kit for handling life: When Things Fall Apart, we have No Time to Lose so that we Start Where We Are, Don't Bite the Hook , and go to the Places That Scare You for Taking the Leap. These slogans from her bestselling books, available from Shambhala Publications, encapsulate Pema’s heart advice. Dakini Power describes her own transformation from the Catholic elementary school teacher named Deirdre Blomfield-Brown into a student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and one of the most successful but highly controversial Western Buddhist teachers. She has established the Pema Chödrön Foundation and is the principal teacher at Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia. "It is a popular notion that people choose to live in a monastery to escape or hide from the world," Pema says about life at Gampo Abbey, "In reality, the intensity and simplicity of abbey life demand that we become more intimately involved with life, a life not driven by personal concerns or habitual patterns. Life at the abbey is very earthy and very full." In January 2020, she resigned as a senior Shambhala teacher in the wake of the abuse allegations against Shambhala principal Sakyong Mipham. However, several female students say they turned to Pema Chodron for help and advice over the years, and there is a significant number of students who feel that as the best known teacher in the Shambhala community, Pema Chödrön should have spoken out about the abuse in the community much sooner.
News: Watch Pema’s full interview with Oprah on Super Soul Sunday here!
Venerable Pema Chödrön talks about the moment that sparked her journey:
