The benefits of community life

A talk given during Sravasti Abbey's annual Exploring Monastic Life program in 2009.

  • How monastic community living is conducive to practice
    • Community living does not mean not enjoying the happiness of this life
    • How it is the attachment to the happiness of this life that is a problem
  • The Noble Search Sutta (MN 26)1
    • Noble search
    • Buddha’s biography

Exploring Monastic Life 2009: Session 2 (download)


  1. In the references to the sutras MN refers to the Majjhima Nikaya, the Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha. DN refers to the Digha Nikaya, the Long Discourses of the Buddha

Venerable Thubten Chodron

Venerable Chodron emphasizes the practical application of Buddha’s teachings in our daily lives and is especially skilled at explaining them in ways easily understood and practiced by Westerners. She is well known for her warm, humorous, and lucid teachings. She was ordained as a Buddhist nun in 1977 by Kyabje Ling Rinpoche in Dharamsala, India, and in 1986 she received bhikshuni (full) ordination in Taiwan. Read her full bio.

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