What is Pema Chödrön?
Pema Chödrön (Tibetan: པདྨ་ཆོས་སྒྲོན།, “lotus dharma lamp”) is an American-born Tibetan Buddhist nun, teacher, and author who has become one of the most influential voices in contemporary Western Buddhism. Born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown on July 14, 1936, she is best known for translating the wisdom of Tibetan Buddhism into language and practices accessible to modern Western practitioners facing everyday challenges. She was the principal teacher at Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia and has authored several dozen books, including When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times (1997), The Wisdom of No Escape (1991), and Start Where You Are (1994). Her teaching emphasizes working with difficult emotions, embracing uncertainty, and cultivating compassion through the lens of Tibetan Buddhist practice.
Origins & Lineage
Chödrön was born in 1936 in New York City and grew up Catholic. 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, working as an elementary school teacher in California and New Mexico. After two marriages and divorces and raising two children, she encountered Buddhism in her mid-thirties. She began studying with Lama Chime Rinpoche during frequent trips to London and studied with Trungpa Rinpoche in San Francisco.
In 1974, she became a novice Buddhist nun under Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, the sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa. In Hong Kong in 1981 she became the first American in the Vajrayana tradition to become a fully ordained nun or bhikṣuṇī. She is an ordained nun, former acharya of Shambhala Buddhism and disciple of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the Tibetan Buddhist meditation master who founded numerous centers in North America. She studied with him from 1974 until his death in 1987. In 1993, she was given the title of acharya when Trungpa’s son, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, assumed leadership of his father’s Shambhala lineage. After Trungpa Rinpoche’s death, she began studying with Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, who became her primary teacher.
How It’s Practiced
Pema Chödrön’s teaching style bridges formal Tibetan Buddhist monasticism with psychologically sophisticated guidance for contemporary Western life. Her work is rooted in three Tibetan Buddhist lineages—Kagyu, Nyingma, and Shambhala—and emphasizes lojong (mind training) practices drawn from classical Mahayana Buddhism, particularly the teachings found in Shantideva’s Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life.
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, which occurs when something in the present stimulates a reaction to a past experience. Her approach encourages practitioners to work directly with discomfort, fear, and groundlessness rather than seeking comfort or certainty. Through meditation, contemplative practices, and what she calls “staying with the raw energy” of emotions, students learn to recognize and interrupt habitual patterns and develop compassion for themselves and others.
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. Founded in 1984, Gampo Abbey has trained hundreds of meditation practitioners in the ways of monasticism and offers both life ordination and periods of temporary ordination for lay practitioners.
Pema Chödrön Today
She retired in 2020. Prior to retirement, Chödrön taught the traditional “Yarne” retreat at Gampo Abbey each winter and the Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life in Berkeley each summer. Contemporary seekers encounter her teachings primarily through her extensive published works, audiobooks, and recorded talks rather than in-person instruction. Her books remain widely read in meditation centers, therapy offices, hospices, and retreat centers worldwide. Organizations like Shambhala International and centers affiliated with her lineage continue to offer study groups, meditation instruction, and retreats based on her teachings.
Her influence extends beyond Buddhist circles into mainstream psychology, addiction recovery, hospice care, and contemplative education. Many therapists, social workers, and healthcare professionals incorporate her teachings on working with difficult emotions into secular contexts.
Common Misconceptions
Pema Chödrön’s teaching is often misunderstood as self-help or therapeutic consolation. While her work is psychologically astute and addresses suffering directly, it is rooted in rigorous Tibetan Buddhist monasticism, not popular spirituality. Her emphasis on “staying with” discomfort and uncertainty is not about feeling better but about fundamentally shifting one’s relationship to experience through disciplined meditation practice.
Another misconception is that her teachings represent all of Tibetan Buddhism or Buddhism generally. Her approach is specifically shaped by the Kagyu and Shambhala lineages transmitted through Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, whose unconventional teaching methods and personal conduct remain subjects of debate within Buddhist communities. Her work represents one expression of Tibetan Buddhism adapted for Western contexts, not a universal or traditional presentation.
Finally, while her language is accessible, her teachings presuppose commitment to meditation practice and study. Reading her books without engaging in formal meditation practice misses the experiential foundation necessary for understanding her instructions.
How to Begin
Begin with When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times, Pema Chödrön’s most widely read book, which offers clear guidance for working with difficult emotions and life transitions through Buddhist practices. Pair reading with establishing a daily meditation practice—even 10 minutes of sitting meditation following basic shamatha (calm-abiding) instructions.
For those interested in deeper study, Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living introduces lojong slogans, traditional Tibetan mind-training teachings. The Wisdom of No Escape collects talks that convey her teaching style directly. Audiobooks and recorded talks, widely available through Sounds True and Shambhala Publications, capture her warm, direct teaching voice.
Locate a Shambhala meditation center or Tibetan Buddhist sangha in your area that offers introduction to meditation instruction. Many centers offer online programs and study groups focused on her books. Gampo Abbey offers residential programs and retreats for those drawn to monastic practice, though attendance at the abbey itself is now more limited following her retirement.