Dzigar Kongtrul

Dzigar Kongtrul grew up in a monastic environment and received extensive training in all aspects of Buddhist doctrine. In 1989, he moved to the United States with his family, and in 1990, he began a five-year tenure as a professor of Buddhist philosophy at Naropa University. He also founded Mangala Shri Bhuti, his own teaching organization, during this period. He has established a mountain retreat center, Longchen Jigme Samten Ling, in southern Colorado. When not guiding students in long-term retreats and not in retreat himself, Rinpoche travels widely throughout the world teaching and furthering his own education.

Pema Chodron

Ani Pema Chödrön was born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown in 1936, in New York City. She attended Miss Porter’s School in Connecticut and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley. She taught as an elementary school teacher for many years in both New Mexico and California. Pema has two children and three grandchildren.

While in her mid-thirties, Ani Pema traveled to the French Alps and encountered Lama Chime Rinpoche, with whom she studied for several years. She became a novice nun in 1974 while studying with Lama Chime in London. His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa came to Scotland at that time, and Ani Pema received her ordination from him.

Pema first met her root guru, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, in 1972. Lama Chime encouraged her to work with Rinpoche, and it was with him that she ultimately made her most profound connection, studying with him from 1974 until his death in 1987. At the request of the Sixteenth Karmapa, she received the full bikshuni ordination in the Chinese lineage of Buddhism in 1981 in Hong Kong.

Ani Pema served as the director of Karma Dzong in Boulder, Colorado, until moving in 1984 to rural Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, to be the director of Gampo Abbey. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche gave her explicit instructions on establishing this monastery for Western monks and nuns. She currently teaches in the United States and Canada and plans for an increased amount of time in solitary retreat under the guidance of Venerable Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. She is interested in helping to establish Tibetan Buddhist monasticism in the West, as well as continuing her work with Western Buddhists of all traditions, sharing ideas and teachings. Her nonprofit, the Pema Chödrön Foundation, was set up to assist in this purpose.

"In the more than two decades since I’ve met Rinpoche, he has given me many priceless instructions on how to work with my own impatient states of mind. One of my favorites, which you find in this book, is ‘the propensity to be bothered.’ No matter how perfect or imperfect our world is, working with this propensity is indispensable to well-being. It is the only way to achieve a peaceful heart." —from the foreword by Pema Chödrön, author of Welcoming the Unwelcome and When Things Fall Apart

"In Peaceful Heart, Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche brings to life the indispensable practice of patience in everyday life. Expounding on the ‘patience chapter’ from one of the most beloved and renowned classical texts of Buddhism, The Way of the Bodhisattva, Rinpoche shows us, in everyday language, how to transform situations that test our patience into opportunities to develop empathy and insight. Kongtrul Rinpoche’s unparalleled understanding of the world we live in and of the practical application of timeless wisdom in our contemporary society makes this book indispensable reading for all who seek sanity and patience amidst adversities and conflicts. Peaceful Heart invites us to awaken to our innate qualities of patience and compassion, which can be our greatest contribution to the world" —Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche, author of How Not to Miss the Point and This Precious Life

"Buddhists will appreciate Kongtrul’s ode to Shantideva, but even non-Buddhist readers will enjoy this powerful work’s vivid writing and wise instruction." —Publishers Weekly

"What is the ultimate skill in times of anger and hardened views? It’s patience. With patience we can realize the tender heart that’s with us all the time, and develop the capacity to change our own minds. This powerful book is the support each of us needs in this new world we’ve landed in, where patience is needed more than ever." —Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness and Real Change

"With admirable elegance, [Kongtrul] discusses the art of training the mind to be strong and resilient." —Spirituality & Practice