Pema Chödrön (པདྨ་ཆོས་སྒྲོན། padma chos sgron “lotus dharma lamp”; born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown, July 14, 1936) is an American-born Tibetan Buddhist. She is an ordained nun, former acharya of Shambhala Buddhism[1] and disciple of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.[2][3] Chödrön has written several dozen books and audiobooks, and was principal teacher at Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia until recently. [3][4] She retired in 2020.[1]
Pema Chödrön | |
|---|---|
 At the Omega Institute, May 2007. | |
| Title | Bhikkhuni |
| Personal | |
| Born | Deirdre Blomfield-Brown July 14, 1936 |
| Religion | Buddhism |
| Children | Edward Bull Arlyn Bull |
| Lineage | Shambhala Buddhism |
| Education | Sarah Lawrence College University of California, Berkeley |
| Occupation | resident teacher Gampo Abbey |
| Senior posting | |
| Teacher | Chögyam Trungpa Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche |
| Website | pemachodronfoundation |
Early life and education
editChödrön was born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown in 1936 in New York City.[2][5] She grew up Catholic.[5] She grew up on a New Jersey farm with an older brother and sister, and graduated from Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut.[5][6] 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.[2]
Career
edit
Chödrön began studying with Lama Chime Rinpoche during frequent trips to London over a period of several years.[2] While in the United States she studied with Trungpa Rinpoche in San Francisco.[2] In 1974, she became a novice Buddhist nun under Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, the sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa.[2][7] In Hong Kong in 1981 she became the first American in the Vajrayana tradition to become a fully ordained nun or bhikṣuṇī.[6][8][9]
Trungpa appointed Chödrön director of the Boulder Shambhala Center (Boulder Dharmadhatu) in Colorado in the early 1980s.[10] 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.[4] Chödrön's first book, The Wisdom of No Escape, was published in 1991.[2] 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.[citation needed]
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.[2] That year she published her second book, Start Where You Are[2] and in 1996, When Things Fall Apart.[2] No Time to Lose, a commentary on Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, was published in 2005.[11] That year, Chödrön became a member of The Committee of Western Bhikshunis.[12] Practicing Peace in Times of War came out in 2007.[13] In 2016 she was awarded the Global Bhikkhuni Award, presented by the Chinese Buddhist Bhikkhuni Association of Taiwan.[14] 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."[1][15]
Teaching
editChödrön teaches the traditional "Yarne"[16] retreat at Gampo Abbey each winter and the Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life in Berkeley each summer.[5] 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.[5]
Personal life
editChödrön married at age 21 and has two children. She divorced in her mid-twenties.[2] She remarried and then divorced a second time eight years later.[2] She has three grandchildren, all of whom reside in the San Francisco Bay Area.[17]
Works
editWhen Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
editOne 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.[18] [19]
References
edit- ^ a b c "Famed Buddhist nun Pema Chodron retires, cites handling of sexual misconduct allegations against her group's leader". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2020-01-17.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Andrea Miller (October 20, 2014). "Becoming Pema". Lion's Roar. Retrieved 2014-10-21.
- ^ a b "Ani Pema Chödrön". Gampo Abbey. Archived from the original on 2013-03-24. Retrieved 2014-10-21.
- ^ a b Susan Neunzig Cahill (1996). Wise Women: Over Two Thousand Years of Spiritual Writing by Women. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 377. ISBN 0-393-03946-3.
- ^ a b c d e Bill Moyers and Pema Chödrön . August 4, 2006
- ^ a b Haas, Michaela (2013). "Dakini Power: Twelve Extraordinary Women Shaping the Transmission of Tibetan Buddhism in the West". Snow Lion. ISBN 1559394072, p. 123.
- ^ Fabrice Midal (2005). Recalling Chögyam Trungpa. Shambhala Publications. p. 476. ISBN 1-59030-207-9.
- ^ Sandy Boucher (1993). Turning the Wheel: American Women Creating the New Buddhism. Beacon Press. pp. 93–97. ISBN 0-8070-7305-9.
- ^ James William Coleman (2001). The New Buddhism: The Western Transformation of an Ancient Tradition. Oxford University Press. p. 150. ISBN 0-19-515241-7.
- ^ Boucher (1993) pp. 96-97
- ^ Pema Chödrön (2005), No Time to Lose: A Timely Guide to the Way of the Bodhisattva, Boston: Shambhala, ISBN 1-59030-135-8
- ^ "The Committee of Western Bhikshunis: Ven. Bhiksuni Pema Chödrön". thubtenchodron.org. Sep 17, 2006. Archived from the original on 2014-10-21. Retrieved 2014-10-21.
- ^ "Practicing Peace In A Time Of War". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
- ^ "8 North American Buddhist nuns, including Pema Chödrön and Thubten Chodron, receive "Global Bhikkhuni Award" - Lion's Roar". Lionsroar.com. 2016-11-10. Retrieved 2016-12-10.
- ^ "Letter from Ani Pema Chödrön". shambhalatimes.org. 2020-01-16.
- ^ Buddhist Monks and Monasteries of India: Their History and Contribution to Indian Culture. George Allen and Unwin Ltd, London 1962. pg 54
- ^ Staff Writer (Interview). "Oprah Talks to Pema Chödrön". Oprah.com. Harpo Productions. Retrieved Dec 1, 2015.
- ^ Zimmerman, Edith (2019-09-17). "The Woman Who Convinced Me That Bad Things Are Actually Good". The Cut. Retrieved 2024-04-02.
- ^ "When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chodron". www.publishersweekly.com. 1998-02-03. Retrieved 2024-04-03.
External links
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