10 Inspirational Quotes by Pema Chodron

Pema Chodron is an American Tibetan Buddhist. She is an ordained nun, acharya and disciple of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. She became the first American in the Vajrayana tradition to become a fully ordained nun or bhikṣuṇī.

Chodron was appointed by Trungpa to be director of the Boulder Shambhala Center in Colorado in the early 1980s. IN 1986, she became the first director in Gampo Abbey, the first Tibetan Buddhist monastery in North America for Western men and women.

A prolific writer, she has published numerous books: The Wisdom of No Escape, Start Where You Are, When Things Fall Apart, Practicing Peace in Times of War etc.

In 2016 she was awarded the Global Bhikkhuni Award by the Chinese Buddhist Bhikkhuni Association of Taiwan.

Here are the 10 inspirational quotes from Pema Chodron:

#1

“The only reason we don’t open our hearts and minds to other people is that they trigger confusion in us that we don’t feel brave enough or sane enough to deal with. To the degree that we look clearly and compassionately at ourselves, we feel confident and fearless about looking into someone else’s eyes. ”

#2

“If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.”

#3

“You are the sky. Everything else – it’s just the weather.”

#4

“Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.”

#5

“…feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we’re holding back. They teach us to perk up and lean in when we feel we’d rather collapse and back away. They’re like messengers that show us, with terrifying clarity, exactly where we’re stuck. This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it’s with us wherever we are.”

#6

“Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth”

#7

“We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.

#8

“To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.”

#9

“We don’t set out to save the world; we set out to wonder how other people are doing and to reflect on how our actions affect other people’s hearts.”

#10

“We already have everything we need. There is no need for self-improvement. All these trips that we lay on ourselves—the heavy-duty fearing that we’re bad and hoping that we’re good, the identities that we so dearly cling to, the rage, the jealousy and the addictions of all kinds—never touch our basic wealth. They are like clouds that temporarily block the sun. But all the time our warmth and brilliance are right here. This is who we really are. We are one blink of an eye away from being fully awake.”