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Tonglen practice begins to dissolve the illusion that each of us is alone with this personal suffering that no one else can understand.

Pema Chodron

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Pema Chodron
Age: 88
Born: 1936
Born: July 14
Clergyman
Philosopher
Writer
New York City
New York
Deirdre Blomfield-Brow
Illusion
Personal
Alone
Practice
Suffering
Understand
Else
Dissolve
Begins

More quotes by Pema Chodron

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Things are as bad and as good as they seem. There's no need to add anything extra.
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This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it's with us wherever we go.
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As Buddhism moved to the West, one of the big characteristics was the strong place of women. That didn't exist in the countries of origin. It's just a sign of our culture.
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The essence of practice is always the same: instead of falling prey to a chain reaction of revenge or self-hatred, we gradually learn to catch the emotional reaction and drop the story lines.
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Compassion for others begins with kindness to ourselves.
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Compassionate action starts with seeing yourself when you start to make yourself right and when you start to make yourself wrong. At that point you could just contemplate the fact that there is a larger alternative to either of those, a more tender, shaky kind of place where you could live.
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We don’t sit in meditation to become good meditators. We sit in meditation so that we’ll be more awake in our lives.
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Meditation practice isn’t about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It’s about befriending who we are already. The ground of practice is you or me or whoever we are right now, just as we are. That’s the ground, that’s what we study, that’s what we come to know with tremendous curiosity and interest.
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Each of us has a soft spot: the place in our experience where we feel vulnerable and tender. This soft spot is inherent in appreciation and love, and it is equally inherent in pain.
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When you have made good friends with yourself, your situation will be more friendly too.
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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.
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The essence of bravery is being without self-deception.
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When we feel left out, inadequate, or lonely, can we take a warrior’s perspective and contact bodhichitta?
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Patience is the training in abiding with the restlessness of our energy and letting things evolve at their own speed.
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When people are hurting, what they really need is someone who is fully there for them - not someone who is condescending or officious. The only way for you to be there for them is by facing your fear or anger, whatever feelings cause you to shut down.
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Searching for happiness prevents us from ever finding it.
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We tend to forget that we are part of the natural scheme of things.
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Since death is certain and the time of death is uncertain, what is the most important thing?
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If someone comes along and shoots an arrow into your heart, it's fruitless to stand there and yell at the person. It would be much better to turn your attention to the fact that there's an arrow in your heart.
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The essence of generosity is letting go. Pain is always a sign that we are holding on to something - usually ourselves.
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