Pema Chodron Quotes

If right now our emotional reaction to seeing a certain person or hearing certain news is to fly into a rage or to get despondent or something equally extreme, it’s because we have been cultivating that particular habit for a very long time.

Difficult things provoke all your irritations and bring your habitual patterns to the surface. And that becomes the moment of truth. You have the choice to launch into your lousy habitual patterns, or to stay with the rawness and discomfort of the situation and let it transform you.

As Buddhism moved from one culture to another, it always adapted.

Let your curiosity be greater than your fear.

The Buddha taught that we’re not actually in control, which is a pretty scary idea. But when you let things be as they are, you will be a much happier, more balanced, compassionate person.

You are the sky. Everything else – it’s just the weather.

Sometimes people’s spiritual ideas become fixed and they use them against those who don’t share their beliefs – in effect, becoming fundamentalist. It’s very dangerous – the finger of righteous indignation pointing at someone who is identified as bad or wrong.

Not causing harm requires staying awake. Part of being awake is slowing down enough to notice what we say and do. The more we witness our emotional chain reactions and understand how they work, the easier it is to refrain. It becomes a way of life to stay awake, slow down, and notice.

Deep down in the human spirit, there is a reservoir of courage. It is always available, always waiting to be discovered.

I equate ego with trying to figure everything out instead of going with the flow. That closes your heart and your mind to the person or situation that’s right in front of you, and you miss so much.

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.

Feel the feelings and drop the story.

Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know. Even if we run a hundred miles an hour to the other side of the continent, we find the very same problem awaiting us when we arrive.

This moving away from comfort and security, this stepping out into what is unknown, uncharted and shaky – that’s called liberation.

Most spiritual experiences begin with suffering. They begin with groundlessness. They begin when the rug has been pulled out from under us.

Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.

Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.