Ani Pema Chödrön

Beloved Buddhist teacher, author, nun and mother, Ani Pema Chödrön, is one of the first western women to become fully ordained as a Buddhist nun. She became a novice nun in 1974 and, at the request of the Sixteenth Karmapa, she received the full bikshuni ordination in 1981 in Hong Kong. Ani Pema met her root guru, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1972, and studied with him until his death in 1987. In 1984, with the encouragement of Trungpa Rinpoche, she helped to establish Gampo Abbey in rural Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Over the years, she has become one of the best known Buddhist teachers in the west and the author of many best selling books, including: The Wisdom of No Escape, Start Where You Are, When Things Fall Apart, The Places That Scare You, and No Time To Lose, a commentary on Shantideva’s Bodhisattva’s Way of Life. Ani Pema currently teaches in the United States and Canada, but spends most of her time in solitary retreat under the guidance of Venerable Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche.