Books by Thubten Chodron
Samsara, Nirvana, and Buddha Nature (3) (The Library of Wisdom and Compassion)
by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Thubten Chodron
“The material in this volume is invaluable for those who sincerely wish to understand the Buddhist path and begin to follow it.”
—Venerable Sangye Khadro, author of How to Meditate
In this new book from the Dalai Lama, the reader will discover the mind’s infinitely vast potential, its buddha nature. Knowledge of buddha nature reveals and reconciles the paradox of how the mind can be the basis for both the duhkha of samsara (the unpurified mind) and the bliss and fulfillment of nirvana (the purified mind). To illustrate this, Samsara, Nirvana, and Buddha Nature first takes readers through Buddhist thought on the self, the four truths, and their sixteen attributes. It then explains afflictions—including how they arise and their antidotes—followed by an examination of karma and cyclic existence, and, finally, a deep and thorough elucidation of buddha nature. Samsara, Nirvana, and Buddha Nature shows us how to purify our minds and cultivate awakened qualities.
This is the third volume in the Dalai Lama’s definitive and comprehensive series on the stages of the Buddhist path, The Library of Wisdom and Compassion. Volume 1, Approaching the Buddhist Path, contains introductory material that sets the context for Buddhist practice. Volume 2, The Foundation of Buddhist Practice, describes the important teachings that help us establish a flourishing Dharma practice. Samsara, Nirvana, and Buddha Nature can be read as the logical next step in this series or enjoyed on its own.
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Buddhism: One Teacher, Many Traditions
by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Thubten Chodron
Now in Paperback! Explore with the Dalai Lama the common ground underlying the diverse traditions of Buddhism.
Buddhism is practiced by hundreds of millions of people worldwide, from Tibetan caves to Tokyo temples to redwood retreats. To an outside viewer, it might be hard to see what they all have in common. In Buddhism, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and American Buddhist nun Thubten Chodron map out with clarity the convergences and the divergences between the two major strains of Buddhism—the Sanskrit traditions of Tibet and East Asia and the Pali traditions of Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Especially deep consideration is given to the foundational Indian traditions and their respective treatment of such central tenets as
the four noble truths
the practice of meditation
the meaning of nirvana
enlightenment.
The authors seek harmony and greater understanding among Buddhist traditions worldwide, illuminating the rich benefits of respectful dialogue and the many ways that Buddhists of all stripes share a common heritage and common goals.
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An Open-Hearted Life: Transformative Methods for Compassionate Living from a Clinical Psychologist and a Buddhist Nun
by Thubten Chodron, Russell Kolts
A beloved Buddhist teacher and a psychologist specializing in Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) provide practical methods for living a life filled with compassion.
A life overflowing with compassion. It sounds wonderful in theory, but how do you do it? This guide provides practical methods to living with this wonderful quality, based on traditional Buddhist teachings and on methods from modern psychology--particularly a technique called Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT). The methods presented by the two authors--a psychotherapist and a Tibetan Buddhist nun--turn out to have a good deal in common. In fact, they complement each other in wonderful ways. Each of the 64 short chapters ends with a reflection or exercise for putting compassion into practice in various life situations.
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The Compassionate Kitchen: Buddhist Practices for Eating with Mindfulness and Gratitude
Eating as a spiritual practice: wisdom from the Buddhist tradition that you can use at home.
Every aspect of our daily activities can be a part of spiritual practice if done with compassion—and this compact guide offers wisdom from the Buddhist tradition on how eating mindfully can nourish the mind as well as the body.
Thubten Chodron, abbess of Sravasti Abbey in Washington state, shows us that eating and activities related to it—preparation of food, offering and consuming it, and cleaning up afterward—can contribute to awakening and to increased kindness and care toward others. Chodron offers traditional Buddhist teachings and specific practices used at the Abbey, along with advice for taking the principles into our own home in order to make the sharing of food a spiritual intention for anyone. By eating consciously and mindfully—and by including certain rituals—we find ourselves less obsessive about food and can enjoy our meals more.
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Awaken Every Day: 365 Buddhist Reflections to Invite Mindfulness and Joy
Daily dharma teachings on compassion, wisdom, mindfulness, and joy--ideal for creating moments of peace and reflection in our chaotic world.
Awaken Every Day shares a quick dose of everyday wisdom, encouraging us to understand the true causes of our suffering and the paths to freedom. These insightful reflections help us understand our minds, our connections to our communities, and how to become the people we aspire to be.
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Guided Buddhist Meditations: Essential Practices on the Stages of the Path
A new edition of a Buddhist classic, an accessible introduction to the stages of the path (lamrim)--including 14 hours of downloadable audio meditations.
The Stages of the Path, or lamrim, presentation of Buddhist teachings (a step-by-step method to tame the mind) is a core topic of Buddhist study. The lamrim meditations remind us that the process of transforming the mind, unlike so much of our frantic modern society, is a slow and thoughtful one. Best-selling author and Buddhist teacher Thubten Chodron here provides clear explanations of the stages of the path, as well as an accompanying downloadable audio program containing over fourteen hours of guided meditations on each of the topics covered in the text. Chodron discusses how to establish a daily practice and presents the meditations in detail, followed by advice for newcomers, instructions for working with distractions, antidotes to mental afflictions, and suggestions on how to deepen Dharma practice. Each practitioner will find meaning and insight according to their own skill level.
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Don't Believe Everything You Think: Living with Wisdom and Compassion
It can be hard for those of us living in the twenty-first century to see how fourteenth-century Buddhist teachings still apply. When you’re trying to figure out which cell phone plan to buy or brooding about something someone wrote about you on Facebook, lines like “While the enemy of your own anger is unsubdued, though you conquer external foes, they will only increase” can seem a little obscure.
Thubten Chodron’s illuminating explication of Togmay Zangpo’s revered text, The Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas, doesn’t just explain its profound meaning; in dozens of passages she lets her students and colleagues share first-person stories of the ways that its teachings have changed their lives. Some bear witness to dramatic transformations—making friends with an enemy prisoner-of-war, finding peace after the murder of a loved one—while others tell of smaller lessons, like waiting for something to happen or coping with a minor injury.
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Good Karma How to Create the Causes of Happiness and Avoid the Causes of Suffering
Training the mind in the habit of happiness--enlightening commentary on a classic Tibetan Buddhist teaching poem by a popular modern teaching nun.
Lojong, or "mind-training" is a practice that has gained astonishing popularly in recent years--because it works in transforming hearts and minds. Here is a presentation of lojong teachings that predates the "slogan" practice with which people have become so familiar through the books of Pema Chödrön and others, and that is every bit as powerful for imbuing the mind with intelligence and the heart with compassion. It is Thubten Chodron's commentary on a Tibetan poem with the imposing title "Wheel of Sharp Weapons." It is, as the title of this book indicates, an explanation of how karma works in our lives. But in explaining how to create good karma and avoid the negative effects of bad karma, it shows us how to live our lives with kindness and honesty--which makes things better not only for ourselves, but also for everyone else in the world.
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Approaching the Buddhist Path
by Dalai Lama, Thubten Chodron, Dalai Lama XIV Bstan-ʼdzin-rgya-mtsho
The first volume in a multi-volume collection presenting the Dalai Lama’s comprehensive explanation of the Buddhist path.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama has been publicly teaching Buddhism for decades. This series collects his presentations of every step of the path to enlightenment, compiled and coauthored by one of his chief Western disciples, the American nun Thubten Chodron.
The Buddha wanted his students to investigate, to see for themselves whether what he said were true. As a student of the Buddha, the Dalai Lama promotes the same spirit of investigation, and as the rich tradition of the Buddha makes its way into new lands and cultures, His Holiness has recognized that new approaches are needed to allow seekers in the West to experience the relevance of the liberating message in their own lives. Such an approach cannot assume listeners are free from doubt and already have faith in Buddhism’s basic tenets. The Library of Wisdom and Compassion series, therefore, starts from the universal human wish for happiness and presents the dynamic nature of the mind. This first volume also provides a wealth of reflections on Buddhist history and fundamentals, contemporary issues, and the Dalai Lama’s own personal experiences. It stands alone as an introduction to Buddhism, but it also provides a foundation for the systematic illumination of the path in the volumes to come.
The Library of Wisdom and Compassion collects the Dalai Lama’s decades of presentations of every step of the path to enlightenment. It has been compiled and coauthored by one of his chief Western disciples, the American nun Thubten Chodron.
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Working with Anger Buddhist Teachings on Patience, Acceptance, and Transforming Negativity
A Tibetan Buddhist nun offers her insights on anger, the ways that it manifests in our lives, and the ways that we can skillfully work to transform it, in this inspiring and humble guidebook.
Anger plagues all of us on many levels and can be a formidable emotion to overcome. Yet, we see people, such as the Dalai Lama, who have faced circumstances far worse than many of us have faced—including exile, persecution, and the loss of many loved ones—but do not burn with rage or seek revenge. Using the teachings and advice presented by beloved Buddhist teacher Thubten Chodron, anyone can learn to calm their emotions, sit with and understand their anger, and peacefully move toward resolution and peace.
Working with Anger presents a variety of Buddhist methods for subduing and preventing anger—not by changing what is happening but by framing our feelings and circumstances anew. As Chodron writes, we each long for harmony—in our hearts, relationships, and societies—and this book can help all of us to accomplish just that.
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