Ani Pema Chödrön
Tibetan Buddhist Abbess (b. 1936)
by Nanci Rose

Even if you've never met her, even if you've never attended one of Pema Chödrön's introspective retreats or wonderfully engaging talks, you can see it clearly in the photographs. Those full headshots gracing her book covers. It's in her sparkling blue eyes framed from the corners by upward trailing lines like radiating sunshine nearly to her ears, marking years of joy It's in the strong character of her squared jaw offset by dimples and multi-levels of creasing at the cheeks where endless smiles and laughter are etched. This American born writer and teacher, a Tibetan Buddhist practicing nun who has become beloved around the world for her gentle and profound exposition of Buddhism-based ideals, Ani (meaning "nun" in Tibetan) Pema Chödrön brings practical compassion into every moment through her sparkling example and each of her widely read books and articles.

Ani Pema Chödrön was a product of the early introduction of Buddhism into Western culture in the 1960s and '70s, and she has developed a means to offer readers a welcoming blend of traditional Tibetan philosophy and a mindset resonant with contemporary Euro-American living and aspiration. Additionally, her insightful writings, peppered with personal stories and gathered anecdotes, are universally useful to non-Buddhist and Buddhist alike, whether the reader is a beginner or advanced along the path to awareness. In fact, it has been noted by many that Pema Chödrön is highly gifted in the spiritual teacher's art of presenting material which is developmental in nature. A student many pick up Ani Pema's work at any stage along one's path and find rich foods for inner nurturance, picking specific fruits which could not be gleaned during any previous or later stages of one's personal development.

With intriguing titles like Start Where You Are, When Things Fall Apart, and No Time to Lose (all from Shambhala Publications), Pema Chödrön's books are framed around specific texts in the Buddhist lexicon, delving into the archetypal questions of impermanence, selflessness and overcoming suffering. In particular, she has chosen the eleventh century lojong (mind training) teachings as her unannounced specialty. Contrary to its implied translation, Mind Training in this context refers to the cultivation of true and spontaneous compassion. Personally drawn by "their unusual message" to "use our difficulties and problems to awaken our hearts" (from the Preface, Start Where You Are), Pema Chödrön uses lojong as the starting gate for taking her students on a rewarding spiritual journey.

It is a "softening of the heart," in order to awaken compassion for oneself and especially for others, which lies at the root of Ani Pema's teachings. Always she brings us back, through her vivid examples and commentary on texts, to the opportunities for finding a means to this softening, this kindly opening, which will allow us to see a new perspective. The Mind Training tradition specifically includes a breathing meditation practice called tonglen, or "taking in and sending out," which sends positive, healing energies. In her books, Pema Chödrön teaches and refers to this multi-leveled exercise, what has rightfully become known as her unique area of expertise. She also gives detailed descriptions of this three-pronged meditation on CD's, DVD's and older available recordings of various teachings she's given on this once nearly forgotten practice. Outwardly simple, tonglen can be a practice for a lifetime as its goal of benefitting all others both specifically and non-selectively, regardless of our relationships, is naturally difficult to master. Certainly while these teachings seem remarkably appropriate for our times, Ani Pema describes the history of lojong and tonglen, remarking how the meditation was nearly lost centuries ago. Clearly we're fortunate to now have this practice available when it is so needed, and presented by one whose heart is so connected to such a loving and giving way of being. 

"As we learn to have compassion for ourselves, the circle of compassion for others – what and whom we can work with, and how – becomes wider." 

Born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown, in 1936, in New York City, Ani Pema Chödrön  graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and was an elementary school teacher for years in New Mexico and California. She has two children and three grandchildren. Pema Chödrön became a novice nun in 1974, while in her mid-thirties, after travelling to the French Alps. She encountered Lama Chime Rinpoche in the Alps and began her Buddhist studies in earnest while in France. She was soon to study with Lama Chime in England for several years, and took ordination from His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa who was in England at the time. Ani Pema first met her root guru (main teacher), the well-known and rather controversial Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, in 1972. Ani Pema worked closely with him from 1974 until his death in 1987, and still regards him as her root teacher. Ani Pema Chödrön received the full bikshuni ordination (for nuns), at the request of the Sixteenth Karmapa, in the Chinese lineage of Buddhism in 1981 in Hong Kong.

One of Ani Pema's most helpful endeavors in her devotion to benefitting others is in her current role as director and principal teacher at Gampo Abbey, Nova Scotia. In this capacity she gives ongoing teachings to those residents, both long and short-term, who have made a commitment to the Tibetan Buddhist monastic tradition. Gampo Abbey, which Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche had given Pema Chödrön explicit instructions on establishing, is located on a 200-foot cliff top in rural Cape Breton, above the Gulf of St. Lawrence. After serving as director of a monastery in Boulder, Colorado, Pema Chödrön moved in 1984 to the site of Gampo Abbey where it opened in 1985 as a Monastery of Shambhala International. Intended for Western nuns, monks and laypeople, Gampo Abbey is unique in that it offers temporary ordination, "to give practitioners an opportunity to experience the monastic lifestyle without a lifetime commitment to monasticism." Residents follow a strict schedule of practice, study, silence, work, play and a "profound view of the Mahayana [philosophic tradition of Buddhism]." (From the Gampo Abbey website).

Nanci Rose-Ritter, narrative author of Living Tibet: The Dalai Lama in Dharamsala (Snow Lion Publications; 1996) works with individuals and groups seeking a combined spiritual, psychological, biological approach to inner transformation. A student of world religions and philosophies for over 35 years, Nanci has professional experience and training in addictions and trauma counseling, therapeutic and concert dance, and Tibetan Buddhism. Visit her website at www.nancirose.com.