Customer Reviews

Pure Meditation (v. 3)

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Pema Chodron is a ONE-OF-A-KIND meditation master. Her lucid presentation of buddhist meditation is a real treasure. She is sincere and has a great sense of humor. In addition to discussing meditation, she also teaches on some Lojong slogans as they relate to formal/informal practice of meditation.

WATCH OUT!! Pema Chodron is a Vajra Master and listening to her will transform your mind and open your heart!

Pema Chodron is quite possibly the most lucid and "real" Western teacher of Buddhism and Buddhist meditation alive today. Like the Dalai Lama, and her own teacher the late Chogyam Trungpa, she is marvelously skilled at explicating complex ideas in a very accessible and concrete language, and does so with a palpable warmth and gentleness and compassion that is just breath-taking...and you can really hear it in her voice and sparkling laughter.

For practitioners from other Buddhist traditions which teach a heavier-handed, more rigid and forced way of meditation, this CD will be quite a revelation. I am recommending it to all my friends who do Zen and especially those who are considering beginning a meditation practice of any kind.

Despite the deceptively lofty title ("PURE Meditation") of this CD, Chodron is really bringing meditation squarely back down to earth, gently removing a lot of misguided ideas and attachments that people sometimes form on their own to the practice, often with the aid of institutions and teachers who either don't know any better or are simply looking out for their own interests through pie-in-the-sky claims and promises about what meditation can do for someone.

I bought this in the 3-CD package which includes two other talks by Chodron. Really worth every penny.

I read all of Pema Chodron's books appreciating all she is teaching her students. My desire was to have the opportunity to experience a retreat in her presence, learning at her knee, so to speak, and to experience meditation with her and other like minded individuals. As this is not in my immediate future, this CD was, for me, the best next thing. I hope that should you decide to purchase this CD, that you too will feel the positive affects this offers. Enjoy.

This 2-cassette set reflects the author's usual warmth, humor, kindliness, and down-to-earth approach to improving one's life through Buddhist means. The author is a western Buddhist nun teaching at a monastery in Nova Scotia, Canada. This set focuses on Buddhist meditation consisting of tranquil abiding (Shamatha or shine) with some insight meditation (vipashyana). Thus, it differs from her many other books (e.g. "Places that Scare You"), tapes (e.g. "Awakening Compassion"), and video ("Good Medicine") which primarily address the Lojong mind training. She does include a smattering of it here as well as some discussion of Bodhichitta - an approach to the mind of a Buddha. She stresses having loyalty to your life's experiences-even using the terms "Being Here" (the title of Peter Sellers' last movie which is actually quite appropriate here) and "Be Here Now" (the title of Baba Ram Dass' best seller of yesteryear). This includes having the courage to experience discomfort, to change one's worldview, and face one's emotions squarely. In the latter she provides a technique to utilize them to your advantage by dumping the words and keeping the energy. Ani Chödrön's (she is a Buddhist nun, thus the title Ani) wonderful turns of phrase include: "The places of meeting your edge are the places of tantrum," "emptiness is openness." She also provides stories such as the man who went into a coma, was transported elsewhere, and thought he was dead when he woke up-and lived the rest of is life that way. My only criticism of this set is that it's too short so that it can only cover the highlights of meditation. I'd recommend the works of her friend Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche or of Bokar Rinpoche for more detail.

I absolutely love this audio. Pema is brilliant. She is so listenable. This is a talk so the flow is really good. If you are into meditation in any way, the clarity you will receive by listening to this is priceless.
Personally, since listening to this I would say that my approach to my whole life and especially myself has really softened and opened up.
Also recommend "getting unstuck" by the same author, also audio.
Audio's are great because they allow you to saturate yourself with the message over and over in a much more convenient way than reading. Also the fact it is a live retreat makes it more alive and real.