Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche

Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche is a world-renowned Buddhist teacher and meditation master. He was born in Tibet in 1951 as the oldest son of his mother Kunsang Dechen, a devoted Buddhist practitioner, and his father Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, an accomplished master of Buddhist meditation. As a young child, he was recognized as the seventh incarnation of the Tibetan meditation master Gar Drubchen and installed as the head lama of Drong Monastery in the Nakchukha region, north of the capital city, Lhasa.

In 1959, following the occupation of Tibet, Rinpoche fled with his family to India and Nepal where he spent his youth studying under some of Tibetan Buddhism’s most illustrious masters, including the Sixteenth Karmapa, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, and Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. In 1976 he was enthroned as the abbot of Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery in Kathmandu, which remains the heart of his ever-growing activity. Today, more than 500 monks and nuns are under his care in this and other monasteries in Nepal. Drong Monastery, which was completely destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, has recently been rebuilt and is again home to a monastic community.

Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche is the founder and spiritual head of numerous centers for Buddhist study and meditation in Asia, Europe, and North America. In Nepal, he runs Rangjung Yeshe Institute, an international center of learning where students can obtain BA, MA, and PhD degrees in Buddhist Studies. For those who wish to study and practice from home, Rinpoche also offers an online meditation program, Tara’s Triple Excellence, that covers the entire Buddhist path. At home in Nepal, he is deeply involved in social work through his local charity organization, Shenpen.

To read more about Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche and his activities, visit www.shedrub.org.

"Warm and accessible, yet profound and insightful. Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche offers compelling advice for our times. This book is a treasure of timeless wisdom that today is needed more than ever." —Cher

"My friend and teacher Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche is a seasoned and authentic Dzogchen master. He has written a book that throws a lifeline to all of us struggling in the sea of ignorance, desire, and hatred. As he says, ‘Dharma is not a hobby,’ but it is a very serious business indeed. Dharma can save us from the ocean of forgetfulness so that we may remember who we really are: beings of light, love, and wisdom. Complete liberation is possible if we do the work and guaranteed if we follow our teacher’s advice. Rinpoche takes us through the stages of Buddhist practice leading to the joy and freedom of the Great Perfection, Dzogchen. Rinpoche emphasizes the necessity of embracing the truths of impermanence and dependent origination as the sources of our future enlightenment. This is a truly inspiring book for all practitioners." —Richard Gere

"Different traditions differ in how they understand and use the term mindfulness, yet they agree on the nondual nature of mind and the need for authentic instruction and practice. As venerable Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche describes in this elegant, succinct, and extremely useful primer on essential Dharma as a way of being, there are many different methods in the universe of meditation, but in the end—and from the beginning—those that are authentic and trustworthy serve one purpose, and that is realized, embodied wakefulness." —Jon Kabat-Zinn, author of Full Catastrophe Living and Meditation Is Not What You Think

"Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche embodies the insight and compassion of a bodhisattva. In Sadness, Love, Openness he shares his profound understanding of the Buddhist view of life—its suffering and the path to liberation from that suffering—and offers a generous gift to anyone who wants to embrace the Dharma." —Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence

"Here we learn how to truly appreciate all of life—in full sadness and full happiness—with the simple recipe of being calm, kind, and aware, and full of joy in everything." —Piet Hut, professor of astrophysics and head of the program in Interdisciplinary Studies, Princeton

"Somewhere between a preliminary guidebook and fine-spun philosophy, this comforting volume succeeds as an easy introduction to Buddhist thinking and practice." —Publishers Weekly

"Traditional, yet novel and fresh; challenging, yet kind and encouraging; profound, yet clear and concise. For serious practitioners, aspiring meditators, and those who seek to enhance their practice, this book holds immense promise." —Tricyle