Discover the Buddha's Six Keys to Greater Ease, Compassion, and Fulfillment
We may tell ourselves that once our lives get on track—with a good career, a loving partner, and a better sense of security—then we'll be able to focus on our greater purpose here. Deep down, many of us have felt this way. But is this really true?
"What if it's not the life you wish you had," ask Pema Chödrön, "but the one you've got that holds what you need to reach your highest potential?"
With Journey to Fulfillment, this beloved teacher shows us how wisdom, purpose, and true freedom begin right here, and how the Six Paramitas of Buddhism can help us to find them.
The Sanskrit word paramitas means "actions that take us to the other shore." Like travelers, Pema illustrates, we stand on the bank of a river, with all of our worries, confusion, and unfulfilled wants. Yet across the water we see those who have found ease, clarity of mind, and a deep tenderness for others. To help us make that crossing, the Buddha offered the paramitas.
In this audio program, listeners will learn to understand and apply these six transcendent aids: generosity, discipline, patience, joyful enthusiasm, meditation, and wisdom. Here, Pema shows those of all faiths how to use the paramitas to move out of isolation and into loving connection, from constriction to ease, and from fear to the compassionate courage of our awakened nature.

Pema Chodron's profile page

Pema Chödrön
Ani Pema Chödrön 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 three grandchildren.
While in her mid-thirties, Ani Pema 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 Scotland at that time, and Ani Pema received her ordination from him.
Pema first met her root guru, Chögyam 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 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 Karma Dzong in Boulder, Colorado, 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.
Ani Pema is interested in helping establish Tibetan Buddhist monasticism in the West, as well as continuing her work with Western Buddhists of all traditions, sharing ideas and teachings. Her nonprofit, The Pema Chödrön Foundation, was set up to assist in this purpose.
She has written several books: The Wisdom of No Escape, Start Where You Are, When Things Fall Apart, The Places That Scare You, No Time to Lose, Practicing Peace in Times of War, How to Meditate, and Living Beautifully. All are available from Shambhala Publications and Sounds True.