Life at the Abbey with Pema Chodron

[NestoriusAlpha]

Only the well-off bourgeoise can stay at Gampo Abbey because they sell the Dharma for a too high price. Buddha didnt charge for the Dharma and if he had, Buddhism would have died in the fetid jungles of India.

[MrUnknownsouljah]

i took refuge with Pema at the abbey 11 years ago now and i dont know if i have ever been in the presence of someone who radiated such a magical feeling. she truly is a remarkable person

[PETERSEADREAMER]

This is the first time I've heard Pema Chodron speak, but I already regard her as my teacher for her books also speak to my heart and have given me guidance and huge solace following bereavement and subsequent troubled times.

[moondragon111]

I am doing the Being Brave Retreat here in Halifax , where I live. Pema is my teacher. The world is blessed to have her in it . It is easy to see why she is so loved ....

[BobDylan1201]

@drowningcreek Any recommendations on where to start?

[ClawedMonet12]

If someone had asked me a year ago to name a living or dead person that I would like to meet, I would not have been able to come up with someone that I really was that interested in meeting. Now my answer would be Pema Chordron. Her teaching has made such a difference in my life!

[ArgotMay]

@ClawedMonet12 For me, it is Ram Dass, although Pema is a fav.

[henjokongo]

I gotta get back here.

[grooveycat]

Beautiful post. I benefit from Pema Chodron F.B. page that I am in connection with, it brings me new thoughts, delights & challanges to work with & along side of each time they post. I have no books by Pema but will look into rectifying that, especially like the sound of 'Start Fro Where You Are' that really opens up a lot for me. Thankyou for the gift of this wonderful video. Bless you & All good things to you. x

[1976Bryan]

What is this background chant? it is beautiful! Is it unique to Gampo? Shambhala?

[smoothgoomer]

I didn't know that this place existed as it does. It is exactly what I've been looking for, for so long. I'm going to end up there, I have a feeling. Yes! Awesome.

[ondix]

Thank you Pema for being born, being here and leaving a wealth of information for all to heal themselves

[MrVichdez]

I am a Roman Catholic and was a monk for many years. I recently came to learn about meditation in this way. I just got back from Ireland. Before I left I got a book "Start from where you are." Can I say it was a God sent. As if the light went off for the first time, a light that was new and fresh. This has all been God sent! Thank you!!! This is the start of many blessings... What peace and yet fear, this is a road that I had not seen before.

[worthmoremusic]

seriously considering residency at Gampo Abbey.....

[mike18777]

I thought long and hard about going to the Abbey. I really want to go. However I really wish they taught Kung-Fu or some other martial art there..

[oneviwatara]

@mike18777, Try shaolin temple.

[grannykempock]

such a beautiful place, such beautiful people, such a beautiful life :))))))))))))))))))))

[luxor4213]

But what about Jesus Christ? For Christians Christ is the centre of everything which is not the case in the Buddhist religion.

[mhearstify]

@luxor4213 You are not able to reconcille the two -- Buddhism and Christianity? Though I belong to neither, I believe if you understand the core teachings of both, and although philosophically different, they complement each other by servicing the wishes of different souls.

So in the larger picture, if you're christian, not only does the Lord work in mysterious ways, He is mindful and fulfills the desires of each his children.

[amanda2173]

Very beautifull, I have been in diferents reatret before. I would love to do it now

[amanda2173]

I do not want to give up sex becouse I do not think is some contrary to the enlightning. I learn taht the mind makes the problems not the form.

[brainwashedmasses]

There's a difference between forced celibacy and choosing celibacy.

[alanhussey]

Excellent introduction; very Celibitarian.

[luyendao]

Beautiful! On the issue of sex and celibacy, these are manifestations only, one of desire and the other of turning away from attachment to desire.

Only each individual can gauge whether or not, they are doing it in a compassionate way with the goal of inner peace in mind. These "rules" aren't imposed in a monastery, people join knowing it can be a more harmonious environment.

[thezenway]

thank you!

[koshitara]

Nicely done. Gampo, of course, is a delight. And Pema Chodron's own voice is itself a tool of awakening.

/DD

[Galapagos79]

Are the audio clips at the beginning and end actually how they chant? What's with the lobster capture/release? Do you have to wear the traditional robe/shawl during meditation there?

[tremben]

That scenery was my daily life 1991/92 ...

... parting is such sweet sorrow.

[saviorstrength]

you don't become perfect and then decide to be spiritual. Spiritual people aren't automatically rendered unable to harm others.

One person who is judged to be bad doesn't mean a whole spiritual practice, religion or location is bad too.

you are complaining in a house of mirrors.

[tuttaresoha]

bostonpaul you are only creating vast amounts of negative karma by sharing your negative judgements which are based on your own ignorance. Please stop as much for yourself as for others who you are indirectly hurting and negatively affecting with your judgements

[bostonpaul123]

This is a cool place, but typical of western buddhism in that it has been rife with abuse and typical human frailties.

[vnocito3813]

Not only in America, but in all times and places, all human organizations are rife with human "frailties." the point is to face them and deal with them - not to try and pretend they don't exist or imagine a fictional perfection where it's possible to be rid of them. Even in Asia Buddhist monks break their vows and do bad things, so do Christians, Jews, Muslims, etc etc etc. Heck - the current Pope was a Nazi youth as a teenager!

[bostonpaul123]

what they dont tell you here.. is that their founding teacher, chogyam trungpa rinpoche, died of drug addiction and alcoholism. He was extremely arrogant in his approach to students, behaving like a king, dressed in military outfits, and often sleeping with students. His next in line, died of aids, and it was proven that he knew he had aids when he infected a student who died from aids also.

[swapvid]

1.You miss something. His next in line not only got AIDS, but was gay. And have affaire with some studients. Here you have a chance to understand what compassion is about. Is not to some people, but for all kind of beings.

[vnocito3813]

What does his being Gay have to do with anything? Gay or not, he still slept with students and lied about his disease. Unless of course you are being homophobic by stating that he requires more compassion for being Gay, as if being Gay was something bad?

[swapvid]

You can answer your question yourself if you read what I write and you try to understand what I said, not just reat.

[swapvid]

2. Your point is wrong, not false, but incomplete. And what I-n telling you is that you are going the Budda way, He says "Believe nothing on the faith of traditions,even though they have been held in honor for many generations and in divers places. Do not believe a thing because many people speak of it.

Do not believe on the faith of the sages of the past. Do not believe what you yourself have imagined, persuading yourself that a God inspires you(...)

[swapvid]

(...)"Believe nothing on the sole authority of your masters and priests.

After examination, believe what you yourself have tested and found to be reasonable, and conform your conduct

thereto." So you are more buddhist than many buddist because you are skeptic. digg more deep, and you will found the truth.

I¨m here to help if you like.

Peace

[vnocito3813]

I have serious doubts about people who embrace celibacy. It's just not realistic from a psychological standpoint and can only result in repressed sexuality and secret, unsafe sex practices - not to mention the mental problems associated with sexual repression. This is also why I am a fan of Japanese ZEN Buddhism which makes no celibacy requirements on anyone including priests - instead, people are encouraged to practice mindfulness even in sexual activity - without trying to deny sexuality.

[swapvid]

I have a different view about it, but who cares. I encourage you to have more, not less doubts and maybe you can benefit from learning and searching for more info, so you can live more free of doubts.

[8fearless]

I think this is really a very good and important question. But for ordinary practitioners who choose a monastic life and aim to liberate from cyclic existence, sexual desire is perhaps just like what Nagajuna said: " There is when a sire is scratched, but to be without sores is more pleasurable still. Just so, there are pleasures in worldly desires, but to be without desires is more pleasurable still."

[8fearless]

sorry for my typo. Correction as follows:

" "There is pleasure when a sore is scratched, but to be without sores is more pleasurable still. Just so, there are pleasures in worldly desires, but to be without desires is more pleasurable still."

[oneseeker2]

I know many monastics, they have no hidden agendas, nor do they practise safe or unsafe sex! they are complete celebate. How many orgasms does it take a person to be "happy"? That happiness is just a moment in time. NOR do I know of any monastics that have any mental health issues at all. I find it interesting you come on this channel, apparently knowing nothing about Pema Chodron or her Abbey, or other Abbeys and Nuns and insult them with your "ignorant thoughts".

[9jaine]

Monastics are human like the rest of us and some of them have mental illnesses but they are not likely to be caused by being celibate. Just because monastics have not shared with you mental health problems they may have don't assume they don't have them. 1 in 4 people will suffer mental health problems at some time in their life.

[pshanahan2002]

When asked why he was a celibate, the Karmapa, head of the Kagyu sect, replied, "For the same reason that you are not." Celibacy and non-celibacy are opposites, like gay and straight, one not any more "natural" or healthier than the other.

[teritosdale]

very true and well put!

[vanquisher91]

Celibacy as found in theistic religions are usually repressive, and your assessment would be correct. However, celibacy within Buddhism comes from realization, not repression. Many Buddhists are married and have sexual lives, and no sutta mentions that celibacy is a requirement for non-monastics, merely a recommendation for those who choose to live a life purely for the practice of Dhamma.

[9jaine]

To suggest that celibacy is going to necessarily result in repressed sexuality and secret, unsafe sex practices is so ridiculous it's laughable. I don't know if you've noticed but people who are not celibate can also have mental health problems. Being celibate has nothing to do with denying sexuality. I am heterosexual but for reasons of my own I don't have sex. Believe it or not sex is not the be all and end all of life.

[brainwashedmasses]

@vnocito3813 It seems like you're only looking at this from a very limited perspective.

Try to see it through the perspectives of those who never have the desire for sex, ever. Or those who lived a full and happy life and sex life but no longer feel the need or desire for it.

Sexuality is incredibly misunderstood. Gays aren't allowed to marry, why? Children run around having sex as though it's nothing, and call promiscuity "empowering".

Embracing celibacy is far better than just "realistic".

[foxyflirt19]

@brainwashedmasses...the term for people who have no desire for sex is called "asexual". read it in pychology today magazine...its a real thing, people!

[solusito]

you are conveying a peacefulness seldom met on you tube

[lhakylou]

I feel that your teachers name should be spelled choegyal instead of choegyam which i see commonly used. Its only a difference in dialect, but is always written in Tibetan as choegyal, which means Dharma king.

Also, is Gampo a tibetan word?

Tibetan word for abbey or monastery is Gonpa which I am guessing the name is alluding to if it is the same word.

Anyways, thanks for all your great work and being an ideal emissary for Tibetan Buddhism

[drowningcreek]

Pema's teaching of the Dharma have had a profound change in my life. I love her dearly.

[sweetxevex23]

It's very incredible the lives of these nuns and monks. I am too ego driven to follow this way of life, but Pema's life and the gentleness of these people inspire a different path for me, a path of gentleness kindness and compassion and selflessness.

[thestudiio]

One of the most beautiful monasteries in the world and I would love to join this monastery someday. However before that I have my own work cut out as I will be spreading the word of the Tathagatha's doctrine and promote the Dharma as much as I can for today's youth and really do all I can to inspire the young people from all over the world to embrace the Buddha's teachings. I see myself more as a Bodhisattva who will risk his own enlightenment to help others find theirs. Warmest wishes to Pema.

[dharmafriend]

Placed this video in my Favorites, thank you

DF

[TadRapidly]

A very beautiful, open and generous presentation. Thank you.

[yeasayer]

i thought i was special but now i'm just a sinner nostalgic for nirvana

[nicolatwo]

Very beautiful.

[aperezNWO]

I am not a fully committed Buddish, however most the books and articles of Pema Chödrön brougth me a lot of self improvement.

[jlp58mjp]

im a christian..... and her teachings are universal...... i cant get enough of her common sense.... its great grounding....