Awakening Our Compassion: Books by the Venerable Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo (vegetarian), Part 2 of 2

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo’s teachings have been published in books and videos, and her books have been translated into many languages. She began the Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery in January 2000, with the goal of allowing young Tibetan nuns the opportunity to focus on their spiritual practice and realize their full potential.

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo has been vegetarian for over 50 years and quotes George Bernard Shaw saying, “Animals are my friends... and I don’t eat my friends.” “And many lamas now encourage people to be vegetarian. Our nunnery has always been vegetarian. The idea of being a vegan or vegetarian is now considered to be perfectly mainstream. I read that in the United Kingdom, they recently passed a law, a law saying that animals are sentient beings. And we hope that it will also wake people up to recognizing we are actually killing and eating a sentient being who wants to live and be happy, just as we do.” “So, if we are very careful not to take animal products and not to harm animals in any way, or to plug in to that industry, which makes its profits out of the sufferings of others, then at least it gives us integrity.”

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo’s new book, “The Heroic Heart: Awakening Unbound Compassion,” which is based on “The 37 Practices of All the Bodhisattvas,” a classic Tibetan Buddhist treatise on mind-training from the 14th century, this book offers succinct guidance on how to embody Bodhisattvas in our daily lives so that we can truly possess compassion. In her books, Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo teaches the importance of prayer and meditation, with a deep appreciation of the Dharma.

“We kind of blame external situations and we blame other people for all our problems, but actually, a well-trained mind is happy under any circumstances. We are destroying our planet because of our own uncontrolled minds and our own uncontrolled desires. We are really very interconnected with all the beings on this planet, that we are not separate, that we really have a very inter-dependence with all the world, including the plants, and the waters, and the air, and everything. This is the problem, and this is what we need to recover a great love and appreciation for all sentient life on this planet.”