The knowledge that Pema Chödrön has has been of great help to many people who find themselves in difficult situations; addictions, problems at home, suicidal thoughts, etc. This Buddhist nun born in New York has dedicated herself to spreading all the knowledge that this philosophy has given her, through different books and talks around the world..
One of his best-known books is called when everything falls apartand within it are several reflections on difficult times and suffering:
- Fear is the natural reaction when approaching the truth.
- When you aggressively hold onto your own opinions, no matter how valid your cause, you simply add more aggression and violence to the planet and therefore increase the pain. Cultivating non-aggression is cultivating peace.
- Only to the extent that annihilation happens again and again can you find in yourself everything that is indestructible.
- If you really knew the unhappiness that this planet causes, your avoidance of pain and the search for pleasure, if you understood that this fact makes you miserable and cuts your connection with your heart and intelligence, then you would practice meditation as if your hair were burning.
- Cultivating an even-tempered mind, which does not cling to being right or wrong, will lead you to a state of being presided over by freshness.
- Suffering begins to dissolve when you question the belief or hope that there is a place to hide.
- You can only recognize what you feel if you are in an open space free of judgment.
- When you experience a great disappointment, you don’t know if the story ends there; it could also be the beginning of a great adventure.
- Relaxing in the present moment, relaxing in the absence of hope, relaxing in death, not resisting the fact that things end, that things happen, that they have no lasting substance, that everything is constantly changing: this is the basic message.
- Having even a few seconds of doubt regarding the solidity and absolute truth of your opinions, even the simple fact of being aware that you have opinions, introduces you to the possibility of egolessness.
In the following talk you can see a little more about Pema, here she deals with fear and how to overcome it.