The Pema Chodron Audio Collection: Pure Meditation:Good Medicine:From Fear to Fearlessness
While in her mid-thirties, Ane Pema Chodron traveled to the French Alps and encountered Lama Chime Rinpoche, with whom she studied for several years. She became a nun in 1974 while studying with Lama Chime in London. His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa came to England at that time, and Ane Pema received her novice ordination from him.Pema first met her root guru, Trungpa Rinpoche, in 1972. Lama Chime encouraged her to work with Rinpoche, and it was with him that she ultimately made her most profound connection, studying with him from 1973 until his death in 1987. At the request of the Karmapa, she received the full bikshuni ordination in the Chinese lineage of Buddhism in 1981 in Hong Kong.Ane Pema served as the director of Karma Dzong in Boulder until moving in 1984 to rural Cape Breton, Nova Scotia to be the director of Gampo Abbey. The Vidyadhara, Chogyam Trungpa, gave her explicit instructions on running Gampo Abbey. The success of her first two books, The Wisdom of No Escape and Start Where You Are, made her something of a celebrity as a woman Buddhist teacher and as a specialist in the Mahayana lojong and paramita teachings.As Pema is no longer doing any administration at Gampo Abbey, during her time in residence there she will be able to teach more and work with people on a one-to-one basis. Pema is also very interested in continuing her work with western Buddhists outside the vajrayana tradition, sharing ideas and teachings.