Interviewees

Tenzin Palmo

At the age of 20, Ven. Tenzin Palmo left her home in London for India to pursue her spiritual path. There she met her guru, His Eminence the 8th Khamtrul Rinpoche, and became one of the first Westerners to be ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist nun. In 1976, seeking more seclusion and better conditions for practice, she found a cave in the Himalayan Valley of Lahaul, where she lived for 12 years, the last three in strict retreat. In 2000, she founded the Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery to give young nuns of the Drukpa Kagyu Lineage the opportunity to realize their intellectual and spiritual potential.

Videos featuring Tenzin Palmo

  • Waking Up

    Tibetan Buddhist nun Ven. Tenzin Palmo explains that, although we desperately want happiness, we are undermined by a society that rewards greed, aggression and egotism. She asserts these causes of suffering are ultimately based on a misconception of who we really are. With heartfelt passion for human potential, Tenzin Palmo asks, "How can we collectively wake up?"

    (3 min 34 sec)

  • What Would It Look Like?

    What if the world embodied our highest potential? What would it look like? As the structures of modern society crumble, is it enough to respond with the same tired solutions?

    Or are we being called to question a set of unexamined assumptions that form the very basis of our civilization?

    This 25-minute retrospective asks us to reflect on the state of the world and ourselves, and to listen more closely to what is being asked of us at this time of unprecedented global transformation.

    (24 min 54 sec)

  • The Nature of the Mind

    Tibetan Buddhist nun Ven. Tenzin Palmo describes how the infinite, primordial awareness that lies behind the mind and its sense of duality is the key to experiencing oneness.

    (4 min 9 sec)

  • If That's Not Delusion, What Is?

    At the age of 20, Ven. Tenzin Palmo left her home in London for India to pursue her spiritual path. In 1976, seeking more seclusion and better conditions for practice, she found a cave in the Himalayan Valley of Lahaul, where she lived for 12 years, the last three in strict retreat. In 2000, she founded the Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery to give young nuns of the Drukpa Kagyu Lineage the opportunity to realize their intellectual and spiritual potential.

    (1 min 36 sec)

  • The Greatest Threat

    Tibetan Buddhist nun Ven. Tenzin Palmo believes that the greatest threat to the world is the rising middle classes of Asia who long for the same, inherently unsustainable levels of comfort as privileged Westerners. What will happen when we realize the planet simply cannot support that level of excess?

    (2 min 39 sec)

  • Essential Buddha Nature

    Tibetan Buddhist nun Ven. Tenzin Palmo explains two essentials of Buddhist practice: developing mindfulness and learning consideration for others. If we could truly learn to think of the happiness of others, could we really think that everyday life has no meaning?

    (2 min 11 sec)
"It would be nice if someone would come along and find some method by which people could awaken. Even the Buddha couldn't do that. So how to collectively wake up?"
From
Waking Up
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