What do you think?
Rate this book
True Happiness
Meditations to focus and expand on the small 'sweetnesses' to fullfill your life.
Audio CD
First published January 1, 2005
13 people are currently reading
303 people want to read
About the author
Pema Chödrön
194 books5,473 followersAni Pema Chödrön (Deirdre Blomfield-Brown) is an American Buddhist nun in the Tibetan tradition, closely associated with the Kagyu school and the Shambhala lineage.
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 three grandchildren.
While in her mid-thirties, she traveled to the French Alps and encountered Lama Chime Rinpoche, with whom she studied for several years. She became a novice nun in 1974 while studying with Lama Chime in London. His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa came to England at that time, and Ani Pema received her ordination from him.
Ani Pema first met her root guru, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, in 1972. Lama Chime encouraged her to work with Trungpa, and it was with him that she ultimately made her most profound connection, studying with him from 1974 until his death in 1987. At the request of the Sixteenth Karmapa, she received the full bikshuni ordination in the Chinese lineage of Buddhism in 1981 in Hong Kong.
Ani Pema served as the director of the Karma Dzong, in Boulder, CO, until moving in 1984 to rural Cape Breton, Nova Scotia to be the director of Gampo Abbey. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche gave her explicit instructions on establishing this monastery for western monks and nuns.
Ani Pema currently teaches in the United States and Canada and plans for an increased amount of time in solitary retreat under the guidance of Venerable Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche.
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 three grandchildren.
While in her mid-thirties, she traveled to the French Alps and encountered Lama Chime Rinpoche, with whom she studied for several years. She became a novice nun in 1974 while studying with Lama Chime in London. His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa came to England at that time, and Ani Pema received her ordination from him.
Ani Pema first met her root guru, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, in 1972. Lama Chime encouraged her to work with Trungpa, and it was with him that she ultimately made her most profound connection, studying with him from 1974 until his death in 1987. At the request of the Sixteenth Karmapa, she received the full bikshuni ordination in the Chinese lineage of Buddhism in 1981 in Hong Kong.
Ani Pema served as the director of the Karma Dzong, in Boulder, CO, until moving in 1984 to rural Cape Breton, Nova Scotia to be the director of Gampo Abbey. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche gave her explicit instructions on establishing this monastery for western monks and nuns.
Ani Pema currently teaches in the United States and Canada and plans for an increased amount of time in solitary retreat under the guidance of Venerable Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
December 27, 2014
Who needs a therapist when you can listen to Pema Chödrön?
May 18, 2017
In my exploration of mindfulness and Buddhism, no teacher has made more sense to me than Pema Chodron and this audiobook is no different. It is recorded live at Gampo Abbey and is a short, focused lecture on working with our "hooks" to become happier. There is a great discussion on the things many of us humans get caught up on and struggle with which limits our happiness. This discussion helped me much better understand the particular aspects I was struggling with. Chodron mentions how Western students get caught up in thinking they are inherently bad and her discussion of the Buddhist view of people being inherently good, and needing to use these practices to uncover that inherent goodness, struck a chord with me and greatly helped me understand why these practices were so foreign to me. The audiobook ends with a discussion of loving-kindness meditation and she guides one through said meditation. This was not the first time I experienced the loving-kindness meditation, but it was the first time I truly understood its connection to true happiness and how simply working on that practice every day could be the path to true happiness. After listening to this audiobook, I feel better prepared to continue learning mindfulness, finding peace, and better understanding Buddhism.
January 18, 2015
While I've enjoyed the other audiobooks of recorded lectures of Pema Chodron, this one is significantly better.. 6 chapters. 6 lectures. Focused, meaty, and yet delightful. Although I borrowed from the library, I feel a need to buy it so that I might dip into it again and again.
May 22, 2022
Nothing super groundbreaking, but some lovely reminders on how to break negative habits, develop temperance and find a long lasting happiness. I liked listening to it while I did laundry & tidied up.
July 29, 2017
Big Ideas:
+ Pain is a teacher
- It gives us an opportunity to build new patterns of response: “If we stay there and don’t do the habitual thing, then this very same spot becomes the source of universal peace. War and peace, they both grow out of that same place, the place you find yourself in when you refrain from doing the habitual thing and you’re allowing for something fresh to emerge.”
- Avoidance of/resistance to pain is the cause of suffering: “All living beings have that instinct to avoid, to pull back from what is painful. Suffering starts right there: hardening around pain, pushing it away, resisting discomfort in any form. All the negative habitual patterns start right from there, with trying to avoid discomfort. What’s beautiful about it is that right there also is where all the awakening happens.”
+ Better ways to respond to pain:
- Learn by experience: “The benefit of refraining is faster, but the benefit of doing it anyway to try to find out is that you really learn for yourself.”
- Staying open: “We cultivate virtue in order to dissolve our fear, to dissolve barriers between us and other people, to stay receptive and open to the world.”
- Lather, rinse, repeat: “Acknowledge it and lay it aside.”
- Stick to it: “If you have determination but you’re willing to fail, that’s really the spirit of resolve.”
Potent Quotables:
*In the middle of the hardness is a fear, in the middle of the fear is a sadness, in the middle of the sadness is the vast blue sky.
“Knowing life is short, enjoy it day after day, moment by moment.” Shunryu Suzuki
“Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.” Rainer Maria Rilke
“There is no warriorship without experiencing the genuine heart of sadness.” Chögyam Trungpa
July 27, 2008
the woman makes me want to become a Buddhist nun.
September 14, 2022
Uh oh! Should I look more into Buddhism bc this rocked
Had heard a lot of this before and it was interesting to connect it back to ancient teachings
Had heard a lot of this before and it was interesting to connect it back to ancient teachings
November 26, 2020
I revisit this incredibly rich audiobook frequently.
From my personal notes, partly paraphrased after the first sentence:
Each morning we chant: May all sentient beings enjoy happiness and the root of happiness; may they be free from suffering and the root of suffering. Ask this for yourself, then a loved one, then someone you don't know well, and finally someone you don't like. Move outward until you include all sentient beings... The purpose in doing this is to tap into bodhicitta buddha nature - a feeling of warmth, loving tenderness, and connectedness. Begin by drawing on the compassion and love and tenderness you already have for your most loved ones. Draw this out slowly to include more and more. Gradually stretch your capacity until one day you feel this depth of tenderness for people you currently dislike. Then draw this out to include birds, fish, insects, all living beings, the whole universe. -P.C.
From my personal notes, partly paraphrased after the first sentence:
Each morning we chant: May all sentient beings enjoy happiness and the root of happiness; may they be free from suffering and the root of suffering. Ask this for yourself, then a loved one, then someone you don't know well, and finally someone you don't like. Move outward until you include all sentient beings... The purpose in doing this is to tap into bodhicitta buddha nature - a feeling of warmth, loving tenderness, and connectedness. Begin by drawing on the compassion and love and tenderness you already have for your most loved ones. Draw this out slowly to include more and more. Gradually stretch your capacity until one day you feel this depth of tenderness for people you currently dislike. Then draw this out to include birds, fish, insects, all living beings, the whole universe. -P.C.
December 6, 2021
This one wasn't as good as most of her others I have read, but there are still a lot of great points and advice. Really poignant is her teaching about unconditional kindness for ourselves. She makes an interesting point about those of us raised in Western society with the underlying Christian belief in original sin, and the connection that has with the self loathing that sometimes creeps in, something the Dalai Lama couldn't conceive of when he first understood that about our society. I'd recommend this to those readers (or listeners) who like me can't get enough of Pema and other Buddhist teachings, but for those of you who are new to this, start elsewhere. First read Chodron's Start Where You Are or The Places that Scare You or When Things Fall Apart.
February 19, 2016
I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed her teachings during walks. This book was recorded in March 2005 and in comparison to her latest teachings and narration this seems a bit fast. It doesn't mean it is bad, it still deserves 5 stars, but I noticed the different impact on me. The teachings are all great and therefore I want to listen to the book again so that I get the parts I missed the first time.
February 18, 2015
Wonderful! Pema is so enjoyable to listen to. Her advice is presented in an understandable way. Chapters 1-5 in particular are superb. Chapter 6 is a bit more sluggish to get through.
August 8, 2021
What is true happiness? Pema Chödrön masterfully explores this from a Buddhist perspective. She approaches this exploration from two angles: the meaning of happiness itself, and the roots of unhappiness (and how to yank these roots out to make space for happiness).
Happiness, as I understood Chödrön, is the acceptance of ourselves. The belief that we are essentially good, and that we're whole and worthy regardless of our imperfections. She goes on to say that meditation can help us understand our true nature in this way, particularly loving-kindness meditation.
The roots of unhappiness, as I understood her, are our attachments to things that we think will bring us joy but don't. She says something like: "Even the person with the highest IQ seeks the wrong things to bring them joy". She then categorizes these attachments in a practicaly way, based on the Noble Eightfold Path practices. For instance, we think eating that huge cake will make us happy, or making more money, or drinking that extra glass of wine, but in reality these don't add much to our subjective well being.
The book circles back to a beautiful ~10 minute loving-kindness meditation with detailed instructions on how to perform it and what it does for you.
What I learned from this book is simply believing that we have an inherent ability to work on our happiness - that we are not fated to be unhappy - is the beginning of the road to happiness. And that practicing making better choices, specifically, pausing and being mindful of the long-term benefits as opposed to the immediate gratification is a practice within itself that you can build like a muscle.
So why the four stars instead of five? I have an inherent bias against making talks into audiobooks. They are just talks for me, not books. This was such a wonderful talk, but, there was a lot of circling around the topic for a bit too long, and the subject could have gone deeper. No doubt the message would have been explored more deeply and with much more force if it had been a book.
Highly recommended for intermediate mindfulness students.
Happiness, as I understood Chödrön, is the acceptance of ourselves. The belief that we are essentially good, and that we're whole and worthy regardless of our imperfections. She goes on to say that meditation can help us understand our true nature in this way, particularly loving-kindness meditation.
The roots of unhappiness, as I understood her, are our attachments to things that we think will bring us joy but don't. She says something like: "Even the person with the highest IQ seeks the wrong things to bring them joy". She then categorizes these attachments in a practicaly way, based on the Noble Eightfold Path practices. For instance, we think eating that huge cake will make us happy, or making more money, or drinking that extra glass of wine, but in reality these don't add much to our subjective well being.
The book circles back to a beautiful ~10 minute loving-kindness meditation with detailed instructions on how to perform it and what it does for you.
What I learned from this book is simply believing that we have an inherent ability to work on our happiness - that we are not fated to be unhappy - is the beginning of the road to happiness. And that practicing making better choices, specifically, pausing and being mindful of the long-term benefits as opposed to the immediate gratification is a practice within itself that you can build like a muscle.
So why the four stars instead of five? I have an inherent bias against making talks into audiobooks. They are just talks for me, not books. This was such a wonderful talk, but, there was a lot of circling around the topic for a bit too long, and the subject could have gone deeper. No doubt the message would have been explored more deeply and with much more force if it had been a book.
Highly recommended for intermediate mindfulness students.
June 15, 2022
“Our Innate wisdom is like rich soil filled with seeds that want to pop forth. When we act in ways to increase suffering and hurt ourselves we are cementing that over. Creating cracks in the cement allows the innate wisdom to grow and comfort come forth.” -Pema Chodron
“The biggest obstacle to happiness is self denegration, lack of respect for yourself.”
“Just keep going, no feeling is final.”
—-
My first Pema! Loved hearing her voice. Powerful perspective on refraining from that which causes harm, overcoming addiction and wishing happiness to all beings (including those you don’t like). Opening a crack in the stone around the spring, allowing love to flow out. The more I read Buddhist teaching the more I feel connected to everything.
Peaceful and powerful.
“The biggest obstacle to happiness is self denegration, lack of respect for yourself.”
“Just keep going, no feeling is final.”
—-
My first Pema! Loved hearing her voice. Powerful perspective on refraining from that which causes harm, overcoming addiction and wishing happiness to all beings (including those you don’t like). Opening a crack in the stone around the spring, allowing love to flow out. The more I read Buddhist teaching the more I feel connected to everything.
Peaceful and powerful.
January 11, 2022
Every audiobook I have listened to I have learn something from and I am trying to practice. I like listening to Pema Chodron because she doesn't just say to this or that, but says that she has difficulty doing the process also and that the same issues we have about kindness to others and doing the right thing is also difficult for her. I love when she laughs at how life is.
November 17, 2025
Like soaking in a bath in the most perfect temperature water.
When you're in it, you're in it.
I wish I'd written more notes during, because now I only remember how true it was (and not how to live like that -- naked and wet).
Pema has a way of delivering the news at the pace and in the form I need and love.
When you're in it, you're in it.
I wish I'd written more notes during, because now I only remember how true it was (and not how to live like that -- naked and wet).
Pema has a way of delivering the news at the pace and in the form I need and love.
March 8, 2020
[Audiobook] I love Chodron’s voice. It is so cute and I love how she laughs while she’s reading. It’s super easy to listen to. This book is also different in that she’s speaking to an audience, so it’s more like an audio transcript than a book. But I found myself drifting about halfway through.
October 27, 2023
I can’t write an unbiased review for Pema Chodron because I just love her too much! This retreat/audio book is yet another example of her tremendous wisdom, teaching ability and relatability. If you want help finding your way back to a reasonable path, this is a great place to start again.
July 17, 2024
Read this, deeply appreciated it, have to read it again because I don’t remember a damn thing lol but I feel like all of pema chodron’s recorded lectures are kind of nice in that way? You can listen again and again and get something from it that you need to hear at the moment
January 2, 2025
This is just a random collection of Buddhist teachings. Reflections on the concept of happiness are very minimal. In the last section, there is a guided meditation to pray for happiness, which I did find useful.
November 19, 2017
Consistently reliable, calming, reasonable, humorous voice of wisdom.
February 24, 2018
Love her!
April 5, 2018
I listened to this audiobook and it was incredible deeply soothing. Pema Chodron is amazing and hearing her voice in the teachings was awesome she is just so gentle.
January 25, 2020
I love Pema.
October 28, 2020
I have listened to this book every day (at 1.25x speed) for months at a time. I never fail to find greater clarity and compassion having engaged with this lecture series.
September 28, 2021
Full of practical insights and practices that remind us befriending ourselves and changing one thing can have huge impacts on our well being.
November 3, 2022
Listened as audiobook. It's not a 101, might help to have basic knowledge of Buddhism and meditation
January 8, 2023
Very good book on finding happiness within yourself and others
Nothing new but a good read
Nothing new but a good read
November 10, 2023
Oh Pema! What a wonder. Her soft, sweet, calming voice, and practices of loving kindness with examples are needed now more than ever. So glad I picked up this gentle reminder at the perfect time.
August 2, 2024
I really liked this one and found it made me feel like every little bit really matters.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews