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Pema Chödrön was a twice-divorced schoolteacher in her mid-thirties when she found Buddhism, and the moment that started it is the one she writes about most: her husband telling her he was leaving. Born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown in New York in 1936, she studied with the Tibetan teacher Chögyam Trungpa, became in 1981 the first American woman fully ordained as a nun in the Vajrayana tradition, and has taught for decades at Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia. Her books are mostly edited talks, and they all come back to one idea: that the places that hurt are where the practice starts. This guide picks the thirteen that matter most, in order, and says where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 13 key books · 1991–2026 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Pema Chödrön has published more than twenty books; the thirteen key ones run from The Wisdom of No Escape (1991) to Another Kind of Freedom (2026). Start with When Things Fall Apart (1996). If you want a practice rather than comfort, read Start Where You Are (1994) next.
Where to Start with Pema Chödrön
If your life has just fallen apart
→ When Things Fall Apart (1996) — the book most people are handed at the worst moment.
If you want a practice, not just comfort
→ Start Where You Are (1994) — the lojong slogans, one by one.
If you are frightened
→ The Places That Scare You (2001) — on staying with fear instead of running.
If you want something short to keep by the bed
→ Comfortable with Uncertainty (2002) — 108 one-page teachings.
If you are facing death, yours or someone else’s
→ How We Live Is How We Die (2022) — her book on the bardos.
13 Pema Chödrön Books, in Order
The Wisdom of No Escape
Talks she gave to students during a retreat at Gampo Abbey, on making friends with yourself exactly as you are. Her first book, and already all there: no escape from your own life, and no need for one. An abridged version later appeared as Awakening Loving-Kindness.
Start Where You Are
A guide to lojong, the Tibetan mind-training slogans, such as “Drive all blames into one” and “Be grateful to everyone”, with the practice of tonglen: breathing in others’ pain and breathing out relief. The most practical of her books, and the one to read if you want something to do.
When Things Fall Apart
Short chapters on what to do when the ground goes: a diagnosis, a divorce, a death. Her advice is to stop trying to get back to solid ground and stay with the groundlessness, because that is where we finally become open. It is the book people give each other in a crisis, and the one most readers know her by.
The Places That Scare You
On fear, and on the four qualities Buddhism says we can cultivate instead of hardening: loving-kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. Calmer and more structured than When Things Fall Apart, and a good second book.
Comfortable with Uncertainty
One hundred and eight short readings drawn from her earlier books, a page or two each. Made to be opened anywhere, one a day; it works best once you have read at least one of the full books it comes from.
No Time to Lose
A commentary, verse by verse, on The Way of the Bodhisattva, the eighth-century Indian poem by Shantideva on how to live for the benefit of others. Her most demanding book, and the one to read if you want to go beyond self-help into the tradition she comes from.
Practicing Peace in Times of War
A short book arguing that war starts in the ordinary mind, in the moment we harden against someone, and that peace has to start there too. Written in the years after 2001, and as useful for a family argument as for the news.
Taking the Leap
On shenpa, the Tibetan word she translates as “getting hooked”: the sticky feeling that comes just before an old reaction takes over. Practical and short, and the clearest account of the idea she has done most to spread.
Living Beautifully
Built around three traditional vows: not to cause harm, to help others, and to embrace the world just as it is. A good book for people who have read her before and want a framework rather than another pep talk.
Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better
The speech she gave to the graduating class at Naropa University in 2014, on failure and what it teaches, with her reflections on it. The title is from Samuel Beckett. Very short, and a common present for graduates.
Welcoming the Unwelcome
Written in her eighties, about a world that seemed to be coming apart: polarisation, anger, despair. Her answer is the same as ever, made gentler with age: turn towards what you would rather avoid, including in yourself.
How We Live Is How We Die
On the bardos, the Tibetan teaching about transitions, above all the passage through death, read as a guide to every ending and beginning in life. Her most direct book about dying, written when she was in her mid-eighties.
Another Kind of Freedom
A student’s commentary on two books by her teacher Chögyam Trungpa, The Myth of Freedom and The Way of Meditation. Read it alongside the originals; it shows how much of her own teaching came from his.
In What Order to Read Pema Chödrön
Her books do not build on one another, and most of them are edited talks, so they overlap: the same stories, the same practices, told for different audiences. Publication order matters less than reading the right book at the right moment.
Start with When Things Fall Apart. If it helps, go to Start Where You Are for the practice behind it, then The Places That Scare You. No Time to Lose is for when you want the tradition itself, and How We Live Is How We Die for when the subject is death.
A reading path
1. When Things Fall Apart (1996)
2. Start Where You Are (1994)
3. The Places That Scare You (2001)
4. Taking the Leap (2009)
5. No Time to Lose (2005)
The Rest of Pema Chödrön’s Books
Beyond the 13 key books: 7 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Shorter books and collections
7
7 books · 1996–2017
- 1996Awakening Loving-Kindnessan abridged version of The Wisdom of No Escape
- 2001Tonglena short guide to the practice
- 2007Don’t Bite the Hookon anger and other destructive emotions
- 2007Always Maintain a Joyful Mindthe lojong slogans, one per page
- 2008This Moment Is the Perfect Teacherten short teachings
- 2008The Pocket Pema Chödröna small selection from the books
- 2017The Compassion Bookthe lojong teachings again, with commentary
The years · 1936–2026
Quick facts about Pema Chödrön
- Known for
- When Things Fall Apart: Buddhist teachings on staying with pain and fear instead of running from them, from the first American woman fully ordained as a nun in Tibetan Buddhism
- 1936
- Born in New York City
- 1974
- Ordained a novice nun by the 16th Karmapa
- 1986
- Director of Gampo Abbey, Nova Scotia
- Birth name
- Deirdre Blomfield-Brown
- Before Buddhism
- An elementary school teacher, twice married and divorced, with two children
- Educated
- Sarah Lawrence College (English); University of California, Berkeley (education)
- Teachers
- Chögyam Trungpa; later Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche
- Ordained
- As a novice in 1974; fully, in Hong Kong, in 1981
- Stepped down
- As a senior teacher of Shambhala in 2020, over its handling of misconduct allegations
The red mark is 1996: When Things Fall Apart, the book most readers meet her through. Almost all her books are edited talks.
Watch
Pema Chödrön in conversation with Bill Moyers
Bill Moyers talks to her for his PBS series Faith & Reason about fear, anger and why she thinks we should lean into what hurts.
How Pema Chödrön Teaches: Leaning Into the Sharp Points
Her books are spoken before they are written. Almost all of them began as talks at retreats and were edited into book form, which is why they sound like someone talking to you and why they repeat themselves. The repetition is part of the method: the same few ideas, approached from a new direction each time, until one of them lands.
The core teaching is simple and hard. When something painful happens, the instinct is to get away from it, by blaming someone, by numbing it, by hurrying to feel better. She asks you to stay: to feel the raw place, without the story you tell about it. The practices she teaches for this, tonglen and the lojong slogans, come from Tibetan Buddhism, and she always says where they came from.
Her teacher, Chögyam Trungpa, was a gifted and controversial figure, known for heavy drinking and for sexual relationships with students. The community he founded, Shambhala, was later shaken by allegations against his son and successor, and in 2020 she resigned as one of its senior teachers, saying she could no longer represent it. Her books do not hide where she comes from; her latest, Another Kind of Freedom, is a commentary on his work.
Frequently asked questions about Pema Chödrön’s books
Which Pema Chödrön book should I read first?
When Things Fall Apart (1996). It is the book most people meet her through, written in short chapters for exactly the moment its title describes. If you want practices rather than comfort, follow it with Start Where You Are.
How many books has Pema Chödrön written?
More than twenty, most of them edited from talks she gave at retreats, from The Wisdom of No Escape (1991) to Another Kind of Freedom (2026). There are also many audio recordings.
Who is Pema Chödrön?
An American Buddhist nun in the Tibetan tradition, born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown in New York in 1936. A student of Chögyam Trungpa, she was in 1981 the first American woman fully ordained in the Vajrayana tradition, and she has long been the principal teacher at Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia.
What is tonglen?
A Tibetan meditation practice she teaches in most of her books: breathing in the pain of others, or your own, and breathing out relief and kindness. It reverses the usual habit of pushing pain away. Start Where You Are is the fullest guide.
What is shenpa?
A Tibetan word she translates as “getting hooked”: the tightening that comes just before an old reaction, like anger or craving, takes over. Noticing it early is the practice. Taking the Leap is her book about it.
What is When Things Fall Apart about?
It is about what to do when life stops making sense, through loss, illness or a broken relationship. Her advice is not to rush back to solid ground but to stay with the uncertainty, because that openness is where real change begins.
Why did Pema Chödrön leave Shambhala?
In 2020 she resigned as one of its senior teachers, partly over how the organisation had handled sexual misconduct allegations against its leader, Sakyong Mipham, saying she could no longer continue as its representative.
Footnotes
- Pema Chödrön — Wikipedia
- Pema Chödrön bibliography — Wikipedia
- Videos — The Pema Chödrön Foundation
- Bill Moyers on Faith & Reason: Pema Chödrön — PBS
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all hers.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible be found in us.”
— Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart (1996)
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