How we live is how we die: Pema Chodron

The Pema Chodron Foundation; CC Liu, Crystal Q., Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Discover newfound freedom in life’s ever-constant flow of endings and beginnings with the wise words of Pema Chödrön, beloved American Buddhist nun and bestselling author of When Things Fall Apart.

Bardo's peaceful, wrathful deities

As much as we might try to resist, endings happen in every moment — the end of a breath, the end of a day, the end of a relationship, and ultimately the end of life.

And accompanying each ending is a beginning, though it may be unclear what that beginning holds.

In How We Live Is How We Die, Pema Chödrön shares her wisdom for working with this flow of life —

• learning to live with ease, joy, and compassion through uncertainty, embracing new beginnings, ultimately preparing for death with curiosity and openness rather than fear.

Tibetan Book of the Dead (Tim Leary on LSD)

Poignant for readers of all ages, her teachings on the bardos — a Tibetan term referring to an intermediate state of transition, including what happens between this life and the next — reveal their power and relevance at each moment of our lives.

She also offers practical methods for transforming life’s most challenging emotions about change and uncertainty into a path of awakening and love.

As she teaches, the more freedom we can find in our hearts and minds as we live this life, the more fearlessly we’ll be able to confront death and what lies beyond.

In all, Pema provides readers with a master course in living life fully and compassionately in the shadow of death and change. How We Live is How We Die • The Pema Chodron Foundation