Pema Chödron

Ane Pema Chodron was born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown in 1936, in New York City. She attended Miss Porter's School in Connecticut and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley. She taught as an elementary school teacher for many years in both New Mexico and California. Pema has two children and one grandchild.

While in her mid-thirties, Ane Pema 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. She and Judy Lief were instructed personally by the Vidyadhara on lojong, "which is why I took off with it," she explains.

Pema has struggled with health problems in the past five years but her condition has improved in recent months and she now anticipates being well enough to continue teaching small programs at Gampo Abbey and in California. She hopes for a simplified schedule with a predictable itinerary, such as the opportunity to teach at Karme Choling, RMSC and Boston once a year. 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. Her latest book, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times is available from Shambhala Publications.