Today marks the release of Another Kind of Freedom, Pema Chödrön's latest book. To celebrate this occasion, I thought I'd say a few words about our writing collaboration, which began almost ten years ago.
For Ani Pema ("Ani" is an honorific for a Tibetan Buddhist nun), qualities like generosity, contentment, and universal compassion are not just pleasant theories. They are her way of life.
I've experienced this consistently during hundreds of hours of working together, mostly on long phone calls between her retreat cabin in Colorado and my home in Vermont. We've collaborated on three books: Welcoming the Unwelcome, How We Live Is How We Die, and now this new volume.
Our working relationship is productive and organized, warm and lighthearted. She insists on treating me as an equal, frequently asking for my perspective and refusing to let me defer to her too much. Between phone calls we communicate with text messages filled with emojis.
Her care extends far beyond the work itself. When my wife and I were approaching an anniversary with no great ideas, she confidently directed us to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. When I had a streak of abysmal luck with cars, she told me they behave better when you name them. She still drives "The Raven," her black 1998 Subaru. I named my new car Tsöndru, Tibetan for "enthusiasm," a key element of the Buddhist path. So far, so good for Tsöndru.
When she thought I hadn't received enough recognition for our first book, she asked Shambhala Publications to put my name on the title page of our next one. That small act of generosity changed the trajectory of my work. Because of that credit, a biotech CFO named Will Brown found me on LinkedIn and hired me to help him write his unexpectedly fascinating memoir—a project that expanded my sense of what collaborative writing can be.
The title Another Kind of Freedom pays homage to The Myth of Freedom (1976) by her teacher, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. That book, particularly a section called "Working with Negativity," helped Ani Pema out of a period of deep despair and set her on a path toward a joyful, meaningful life. She became one of Rinpoche's closest students and continues to reflect on his words every day.
In her new book, Ani Pema offers glimpses into a relationship between a profound, unpredictable teacher and an open-minded, courageous student, illustrating for us how deep lessons are learned. At the same time, she focuses on her perennial themes: making friends with ourselves, working with difficult emotions, and discovering freedom in the midst of everyday life.
The structure follows the eight chapters of The Myth of Freedom. As she reads through her teacher's words, she offers her own reflections while exemplifying what it means to be a student—curious, discerning, and willing to examine her own shortcomings.
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