Last week, while sitting with the current state of things in our world, I was trying to identify feelings – too many to name -while holding peace and love in my heart. It was difficult.Then something changed. Watching the monks who are walking 2,300 miles for peace from Texas to D.C., has had a major impact on me, a welcome reset. Ive shed many tears as I watch them and their sweet dog, Aloka, walking gently on this earth, offering peace and love to those willing to accept it.
Pema Chödrön, a Buddhist nun, talks about natural human responses to violence and how we respond. She encourages us to cultivate nonaggression. Cultivating nonaggression does not mean silence or passivity. It means staying grounded enough to see clearly, speak truthfully, and act wisely—without letting hatred take residence in our hearts. From that place, accountability, protection of the vulnerable, and genuine change become possible.”
Her teaching invites us to pause and soften what is rigid inside us, and ask, “…will my response reduce harm – or multiply it? Peace does not begin when the world stops being violent. It begins when we refuse to add more violence from within.”
About Pema:
Pema is always a source of inspiration for me, wise woman, yet completely human, like the rest of us, and I have often wondered what her journey from Diedre to Pema was like. She was born Diedre Blomfield-Brown on July 14, 1936, in New York City, the youngest of three children, and grew up Catholic. She and her siblings lived on a farm in New Jersey during her younger years. Miss Porter’s School in Farmington, Connecticut, provided Pema with an education in standard subjects, with a focus on English and general academics. She earned a B.A. in English literature at Sarah Lawrence College and an M.A. in elementary education from the University of California, Berkeley.
Diedre was just twenty-one when she married her first husband, Peter Bull. They had two children, Arlyn and Edward. Peter’s infidelity a few years into the marriage caused the relationship to dissolve, and they divorced. She says this was a significant catalyst on her spiritual journey. When she was in her late twenties or early thirties, Pema married Barry Verhulst, listed as an architect. Working together, they raised Diedre’s two children from her [previous marriage. They were together for about eight years before he left her for another woman. Divorce was inevitable and followed soon after. Pema says that this was a profound and pivot time in her life that taught her about non-attachment and that both her marriages and divorces were significant spiritual lessons and external validation. These experiences led her to Buddhism and to her ordination as a nun.
Diedre studied with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche in London, which led to her novice ordination. Both Tibetan Buddhists and other spiritual practitioners and scholars recognize Rinpoche as a preeminent teacher of Tibetan Buddhism. Pema Chodron – Parma Chos sgron,- ‘lotus dharma lamp’ was now ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist nun. Pema remained Rinpoche’s student until his death in 1987. She taught at Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia, a Western Buddhist monastery that Rinpoche established, until she retired in 2020.
Pema is a prolific author and lecturer. Her many teachings discuss uncertainty and how to find good in discomfort; how to navigate difficulties with courage, compassion, and stay in the moment. She encourages us to let go of rigid expectations, embrace uncertainty and stay with painful emotions. She instructs us to recognize our fundamental goodness and interconnectedness to help transform suffering into wisdom and kindness. Briefly, Pema’s teachings provide a practical, Buddhist-based framework.
Just my opinion, but I think we need this now. We may not get it “right” every day, but we can try. One day we might just find peace and the way to cultivate non-aggression. I strive and am a work in progress.
