Any new book by Living Spiritual Teacher Pema Chödrön is an event, a moment to pause and consider what she has to teach us. Her last book, How We Live Is How We Die, came out in 2022. It won one of our “Best Spiritual Book of the Year” awards, and the themes in it are similar to the ones here. As Chödrön explains, “Trungpa Rinpoche’s works have become part of my bloodstream, so much so that I may not always realize when I’m borrowing from him. They have inspired my deep passion for this spiritual path, a passion I hope to share with you.”
Indeed, Chödrön has been teaching this topic for a half-century, from her position as abbess of Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia and a student of Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche and the late Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. She will be turning 90 years old soon after this book (and review) are published, and I suspect she isn’t doing much writing now. The material for this book is edited from talks she gave in 2007 in Berkeley, California.
In her Introduction, Chödrön mentions first encountering Trungpa Rinpoche’s The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Meditation. It “didn’t feel like Buddhist philosophy at all,” she says, but rather, “like advice for everyday life and neuroses — particularly everyday neuroses, which there were plenty of.” In other words, these teachings are not for head-knowledge, but for changing one’s life.
“Styles of Imprisonment” discussed include self-absorption, paranoia, passion, stupidity, poverty, and anger. Each of these is a short chapter in Part Two.
Moments when Chödrön offers an example from her own life are precious and wise, as in this sample from Part Four on “Working with the Emotions”:
“An example from my life is working with the emotion of pride — in particular, spiritual pride: ‘I’m so highly regarded. Many people have actually told me that my teachings have saved their lives.’ Then I go home to visit family and all my neuroses are exposed. By the second day, I’m almost continually impatient and critical. This is what Rinpoche would call an 'anti-credential experience.' ”
Of central interest are Rinpoche’s teachings -- and Chödrön’s explanations of them -- on what are called the “ten bhumis.” These are, according to Chödrön, “deepening levels of awareness that lead to full awakening…. These teachings are not about a distant, unattainable citadel but rather … the unfolding journey of a bodhisattva on the path.”
Don’t think this book isn’t a deep dive, because it is. In fact, by the time we get to the final third of it, this becomes quite clear, as in the opening paragraph on “The Approach to Enlightenment”:
“Finally, Rinpoche describes the paramitas associated with the last bhumis — the eighth, ninth, and tenth. He opens by saying that 'the paramita of the eighth bhumi is monlam,' which means 'aspiration' or 'vision' in Tibetan. This word refers to 'the pregnant aspect of the present, the present possibilities for the future.' There’s a sense of limitless possibilities for what might happen at any moment in our lives.”
This is a rare opportunity to spend time with two legendary Tibetan Buddhist teachers who are also two of the pivotal figures in North American spirituality of the last century.
