"Why I became a Buddhist" by Pema Chödrön
She credits her inner rage and broken marriage. (A humorous and honest story.)
These are trying times, to put it mildly. Anxiety and fear and hostility and anger are percolating all around us, and who knows what’s in store after the U.S. elections on Tuesday.
For this reason, I am reposting a video clip that I previously featured on the Dare to be Fabulous website many years ago. It’s a six-minute excerpt of an interview with Buddhist nun and popular author Pema Chödrön.
Why this clip? Why again? Why now?
Because Pema Chödrön offers a beautiful example of getting through trying times. She knows what it feels like to feel rage and to be in disquiet. She’s been there. Undoubtedly, that’s also why fear and anxiety are a special focus in her popular books. As it says on her foundation’s website, she “inspires millions worldwide with her down-to-earth message of practicing peace in turbulent times.”
I love her candor and humor as she tells this personal story. Who expects a famous Buddhist nun to talk about hating her husband or smoking a joint?
Here’s to candor, humility, humor, and an earnest desire for peace and understanding– a mix of characteristics we can all benefit from. Now. And always.
Whatever trying experience you face, you can find a calming path through. It may be Buddhism or it may be something else that helps ground you, connect with Source, and feel better. Follow the path that calls to you, and walk it.
ABOUT PEMA CHÖDRÖN
Pema Chödrön was born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown in 1936 in New York City. She began studying Buddhism in her mid-thirties and became a novice nun in 1974. At the request of the Sixteenth Karmapa, she received the full bikshuni ordination in the Chinese lineage of Buddhism in 1981 in Hong Kong. Since 1984, Chödrön has been the director of Gampo Abbey, a Tibetan monastery for Western monks and nuns in Nova Scotia.
Chödrön is an American Buddhist teacher, author, nun, and mother who inspires millions worldwide with her down-to-earth message of practicing peace in turbulent times. She is the author of many popular books, including The Wisdom of No Escape, When Things Fall Apart, and The Things that Scare You.
Beautiful! There's such a lovely accessibility to her...a quiet, witty charisma that makes me believe that we are all in this together. Thank you!!