Wherever you find yourself, says Pema Khandro, that’s the starting point of the bodhisattva path—all you need to do is take that first step. Once upon a time, many aeons before he took birth as a prince, Shakyamuni was an ordinary being born into a hot hell realm, where he was forced to pull a chariot through the fires. Distressed over the struggles of his feeble [...]
About Pema Khandro Rinpoche
Open Your Heart Further
Pema Khandro Rinpoche on cultivating the boundless love of a bodhisattva. Don’t give up on love. When love is hard or painful, open your heart even further. That’s the advice given by the great nineteenth-century Buddhist master Patrul Rinpoche. He tells the story of a golden bee who lived happily with his lover in a lotus garden. From the moment these two bees met, [...]
The Power of Buddhism
If you ignore power, you ignore powerful Buddhist teachings. Pema Khandro Rinpoche says that Buddhism teaches us how to be powerful and compassionate at the same time. Fellow Buddhists, we need to talk about power. Discussion of power is largely absent in the American Buddhist community. For some, this is due in part to privilege; many of us are blind to our own power. [...]
The Four Essential Points of Letting Go in the Bardo
It’s when we lose the illusion of control—when we’re most vulnerable and exposed—that we can discover the creative potential of our lives. Pema Khandro Rinpoche explains four essential points for understanding what it means to let go, and what is born when we do. We are always experiencing successive births and deaths. We feel the death of loved ones most acutely—there is [...]
