Publications by Rinpoche

Open Heart, Open Mind — Awakening the Power of Essence Love

With co-author Eric Swanson, Rinpoche offers advice, based on fundamental Tibetan Buddhist wisdom, to those who seek happiness in a world that is increasingly uncertain and bleak. Rinpoche explains a life free of fear, pain, insecurity, and doubt is not only possible, it’s our birthright.  Within each of us resides a spark of unparalleled brilliance, an unlimited capacity for warmth, openness, and courage, which Rinpoche identifies as “essence love.”  Timeless and imperishable, essence love is often layered over by patterns of behavior and belief that urge us to seek happiness in conditions or situations that never quite live up to their promise.  Writing of his personal experiences as a young monk, and how he gave up his monastic vows, married and became a family man, Rinpoche describes about his own struggles to reconnect with essence love. 

Carefree Dignity: Discourses on Training in the Nature of Mind

Carefree Dignity is a compilation of talks given by Tsoknyi Rinpoche in 1996 in Denmark and Nepal, with lectures and questions from students (with answers).  It is about Dzogchen, which is explained in a straightforward way using common Western analogies and metaphors. Rinpoche shows how a simple shift in our understanding of mind releases our entanglement in our desires and fears, in our imaginings. Through examples of everyday life and guided meditations, Rinpoche shows us that indeed there is a way to be free.  “Being carefree, you can fit in anywhere. If you’re not carefree you keep on bumping up against things. Your life becomes so narrow, so tight; it gets very claustrophobic. Carefree means being wide open from within, not constricted. Carefree doesn’t mean careless. It is not that you don’t care about others, not that you don’t have compassion or are unfriendly. Carefree is being really simple, from the inside. Dignity is not conceit but rather what shines forth from this carefree confidence.”

Fearless Simplicity: The Dzogchen Way of Living Freely in a Complex World

The book offers a good introduction to Dzogchen with a modern writing style.  It is about training in the awakened state of mind, the atmosphere within which all difficulties naturally dissolve.  Rinpoche shows us how to develop confidence and be in harmony with every situation as the basis for true compassion and intelligence.  “As confidence grows stronger, you find yourself turning into a real warrior — a compassionate bodhisattva warrior. The true bodhisattva spirit grows out of this personal sense of freedom. With this sense of security and freedom, you begin to direct your attention to the needs of others. The compassion expands. This is my point about inner simplicity as the basis for living fearlessly in a complex world. We are now open and spacious and from within that sense of fearless simplicity, you can accommodate all phenomena. You can naturally care for others unpretentiously; no one is a threat any longer.”  

Solid Ground: Buddhist Wisdom for Difficult Times

In collaboration with acclaimed Buddhist teachers Sylvia Boorstein and Zoketsu Norman Fisher, Rinpoche draws on his own experience with suffering to illustrate how we can find serenity and compassion in even the most stressful situations. He offers his wisdom to show how Buddhist teachings can provide practical and clear guidance in even the most difficult times.

Why We Meditate: The Science and Practice of Clarity and Compassion

Co-written by Daniel Goleman and Tsoknyi Rinpoche, the book combines the insights of neuroscience research and its application in traditional Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice. The blend of Western psychology and traditional Tibetan practices offers methods for breaking free from destructive thought patterns and reconnecting with our true nature.