Pema Chödrön Quotes

183 Sourced Quotes

The third noble truth says that the cessation of suffering is letting go of holding on to ourselves.

Pema Chödrön
Rejoicing in the good fortune of others is a practice that can help us when we feel emotionally shut down and unable to connect with others. Rejoicing generates good will.

Pema Chödrön
I'm here to tell you that the path to peace is right there, when you want to get away.

Pema Chödrön
I have all the support I need to simply relax and be with the transitional, in-process quality of my life. I have all I need to engage in the process of awakening.

Pema Chödrön
One of the deepest habitual patterns that we have is to feel that now is not enough.

Pema Chödrön
There is no cultivation of patience when your pattern is to just try to seek harmony and smooth everything out. Patience implies willingness to be alive rather than trying to seek harmony.

Pema Chödrön
We give it up and just look directly with compassion and humor at who we are. Then loneliness is no threat and heartache, no punishment.

Pema Chödrön
Fear is a natural reaction of moving closer to the truth. If we commit ourselves to staying right where we are, then our experience becomes very vivid. Things become very clear when there is nowhere to escape.

Pema Chödrön
We can drop the fundamental hope that there is a better "me" who one day will emerge. We can't just jump over ourselves as if we were not there.

Pema Chödrön
Wholeheartedly do what it takes to awaken your clear-seeing intelligence, but one day at a time, one moment at a time. If we live that way, we will benefit this earth.

Pema Chödrön
Buddhism itself is all about empowering yourself, not about getting what you want.

Pema Chödrön
The idea of karma is that you continually get the teaching that you need to open your heart.

Pema Chödrön
We come to realize that other people's welfare is just as important as our own. In helping them, we help ourselves. In helping ourselves, we help the world.

Pema Chödrön
Each moment is just what it is. It might be the only moment of our life; it might be the only strawberry we'll ever eat. We could get depressed about it, or we could finally appreciate it and delight in the preciousness of every single moment of our life.

Pema Chödrön
A warrior accepts that we can never know what will happen to us next.

Pema Chödrön
Patience takes courage. It is not an ideal state of calm. In fact, when we practice patience we will see our agitation far more clearly.

Pema Chödrön
The real thing that we renounce is the tenacious hope that we could be saved from being who we are.

Pema Chödrön
The Process of becoming unstuck requires tremendous bravery, because basically we are completely changing our way of perceiving reality...

Pema Chödrön
The truth is that good and bad coexist; sour and sweet coexist. They aren't really opposed to each other.

Pema Chödrön
We see how beautiful and wonderful and amazing things are, and we see how caught up we are. It isn't that one is the bad part and one is the good part, but that it's a kind of interesting, smelly, rich, fertile mess of stuff. When it's all mixed up together, it's us: humanness.

Pema Chödrön
When you have made good friends with yourself, your situation will be more friendly too.

Pema Chödrön
Feel the wounded heart that's underneath the addiction, self-loathing, or anger.

Pema Chödrön
Peace isn't an experience free of challenges, free of rough and smooth, it's an experience that's expansive enough to include all that arises without feeling threatened.

Pema Chödrön
Only in an open, nonjudgmental space can we acknowledge what we are feeling. Only in an open space where we're not all caught up in our own version of reality can we see and hear and feel who others really are, which allows us to be with them and communicate with them properly.

Pema Chödrön
If we're willing to give up hope that insecurity and pain can be eliminated, then we can have the courage to relax with the groundlessness of our situation. This is the first step on the path.

Pema Chödrön
Instead of asking ourselves, 'How can I find security and happiness?' we could ask ourselves, 'Can I touch the center of my pain? Can I sit with suffering, both yours and mine, without trying to make it go away? Can I stay present to the ache of loss or disgrace-disapp ointment in all its many forms-and let it open me?' This is the trick.

Pema Chödrön
Just pausing for two to three breaths is a perfect way to stay present. This is a good use of our life. Indeed, it is an excellent, joyful use of our life. Instead of getting better and better at avoiding, we can learn to accept the present moment as if we had invited it, and work with it instead of against it, making it our ally rather than our enemy.

Pema Chödrön
How do we cultivate the conditions for joy to expand? We train in staying present.

Pema Chödrön
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.

Pema Chödrön
Meditation practice isn't about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It's about befriending who we are already.

Pema Chödrön