Pema Chödrön
Buddhist nun and author
Pema Chödrön is an American Buddhist nun and teacher in the Tibetan tradition. She has written several dozen books, including the best-selling When Things Fall Apart.
2 summaries 38 min of listening
American Born 1936 in New York City, United States
About Pema Chödrön
Born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown, Pema Chödrön worked as an elementary school teacher in New Mexico and California for many years. In her mid-thirties she met Lama Chime Rinpoche in the French Alps and studied with him, and she became a novice nun in 1974. Her root teacher was Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, with whom she studied from 1974 until his death in 1987. In 1984 she moved to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, to direct Gampo Abbey, a monastery that Trungpa had asked her to establish for western monks and nuns. She later served as its principal teacher and retired in 2020. Her books and audiobooks number several dozen, and they include Start Where You Are and Welcoming the Unwelcome. Her best-selling titles include When Things Fall Apart and Don't Bite the Hook.