Sitting in the Fire...turning toward pain. An interview with Pema Chodron

[Dover]

AS A FULLY ORDAINED BHIKSHUNI, or Buddhist nun, Pema Chodron is one of a very small number of Western women, one of an even smaller number of women involved in the Tibetan tradition, and certainly the first American practitioner of the Vajrayana tradition to undergo the preparation and ceremony of full ordination.


Sitting In The Fire

I first met Pema Chodron in May at Zen
Mountain Monastery, a remote retreat center in the Catskill
foothills of upstate New York. She was leading a retreat, and
I was in the midst of a divorce. As is often the case with people
going through a divorce, I was looking for answers to questions
I hadn’t even known I had...cont'd

http://www.thesunmagazine.org/349_Chodron.pdf

More about Pema Chodron:
http://www.kagyu.org/karmapa/tea/tea19.html
http://www.shambhala.org/teachers/pema/

When Things Fall Apart
by Pema Chodron

Heart Advice for Difficult Times

Only in an open, nonjudgmental space can we acknowledge what we are feeling. Only in an open space where we're not all caught up in our own version of reality can we see and hear and feel who others really are, which allows us to be with them and communicate with them properly.

When we talk of compassion, we usually mean working with those less fortunate than ourselves. Because we have better opportunities, a good education, and good health, we should be compassionate toward those poor people who don't have any of that. However, in working with the teachings on how to awaken compassion and in trying to help others, we might come to realize that compassionate action involves working with ourselves as much as working with others. Compassionate action is a practice, one of the most advanced. There's nothing more advanced than relating with others. There's nothing more advanced than communication -- compassionate communication.

To relate with others compassionately is a challenge. Really communicating to the heart and being there for someone else -- our child, spouse, parent, client, patient, or the homeless woman on the street -- means not shutting down on that person, which means, first of all, not shutting down on ourselves. This means allowing ourselves to feel what we feel and not pushing it away. It means accepting every aspect of ourselves, even the parts we don't like. To do this requires openness, which in Buddhism is sometimes called emptiness -- not fixating or holding on to anything. Only in an open, nonjudgmental space can we acknowledge what we are feeling. Only in an open space where we're not all caught up in our own version of reality can we see and hear and feel who others really are, which allows us to be with them and communicate with them properly...cont'd

http://www.thinkingpeace.com/Lib/lib091.html

~

Pema Chodron teachings via streaming video: Free, 3x per week.
On Berkeley Public Access, simulcast to the Internet at the following (Pacific) times:

Mondays, 8:30-10pm
Tuesdays, 9:30-11am
Saturdays, 8-9:30am

Click the "Live B-TV 28 Stream" link at the given time. Enjoy.

http://www.betv.org/

[smirkymonkey]

1. I really like Pema Chodron, she makes Tibetan Buddhism much

more accessable (in my opinion) than many other writers.

I have read all her books. I think "Start Where You Are" is probably my favorite, although they are all wonderful. She writes in a voice that I can understand, instead of lofty, esoteric prose that seems to be beyond the grasp of most beginners on the spiritual journey.

[pacifictiger]

2. thanks for the

book recommendation. I'll have to check it out. And I love your Gladstone quote!