Recommended Books

Highly Recommended Reading:

Description of When Things Fall Apart

The beautiful practicality of her teaching has made Pema Chödrön one of the most beloved of contemporary American spiritual authors among Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike. A collection of talks she gave between 1987 and 1994, the book is a treasury of wisdom for going on living when we are overcome by pain and difficulties. Chödrön discusses:

• Using painful emotions to cultivate wisdom, compassion, and courage
• Communicating so as to encourage others to open up rather than shut down
• Practices for reversing habitual patterns
• Methods for working with chaotic situations
• Ways for creating effective social action

Reviews of When Things Fall Apart

"Pema Chodron is one of those spiritual teachers who brings ancient wisdom to bear upon our daily triumphs and tragedies. . . . Incredibly wise and poignantly practical."— Spirituality & Health

"Chödrön's book is filled with useful advice about how Buddhism helps readers to cope with the grim realities of modern life, including fear, despair, rage and the feeling that we are not in control of our lives . . . Chödrön demonstrates how effective the Buddhist point of view can be in bringing order into disordered lives."
— Publishers Weekly

"This is a book that could serve you for a lifetime."— Natural Health

As one of Pema Chödrön's grateful students, I have been learning the most pressing and necessary lesson of all: how to keep opening wider my own heart."—Alice Walker

Highly Recommended Reading:

Description of The Places That Scare You

We always have a choice, Pema Chödrön teaches: We can let the circumstances of our lives harden us and make us increasingly resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us and make us kinder. Here Pema provides the tools to deal with the problems and difficulties that life throws our way. This wisdom is always available to us, she teaches, but we usually block it with habitual patterns rooted in fear. Beyond that fear lies a state of openheartedness and tenderness. This book teaches us how to awaken our basic goodness and connect with others, to accept ourselves and others complete with faults and imperfections, and to stay in the present moment by seeing through the strategies of ego that cause us to resist life as it is.

Reviews of The Places That Scare You

"Chödrön has once again proven herself to be one of the very best working in this field."— Library Journal

"Chödrön demonstrates how effective the Buddhist point of view can be in bringing order into disordered lives."
— Publishers Weekly

"A lively and accessible take on ancient techniques for transforming terror and pain into joy and compassion."
— O: The Oprah Magazine

Highly Recommended Reading:

Description of It's Up to You

On the spiritual path we speak of enlightenment. But how do we reconcile the idea of enlightenment with what we see when we look in the mirror—when insecurities, doubts, and self-centered tendencies arise in our minds? Dzigar Kongtrül suggests that we need not feel “doomed” when these experiences surface. In fact, such experiences are not a problem if we are able to simply let them arise without judging them or investing them with so much meaning. This approach to experience is what Kongtrül calls self-reflection.

Self-reflection is a practice, a path, and an attitude. It is the spirit of taking an interest in that which we usually try to push away. When we practice self-reflection we take liberation into our own hands and accept the challenge and personal empowerment in Kongtrül’s title: it’s up to you.

Reviews of It's Up to You

“Kongtrül Rinpoche brings an unflinching and fresh perspective.”— The Beacon

 “Kongtrül is an innovative teacher who is successfully transposing Buddhism in a Western key.”— Shambhala Sun

“Dzigar Kongtrül Rinpoche has written an enthralling and practical book that speaks to us all with an exceptional clarity about confusion, uncertainty, and fear, about fearlessness and courage, and about awareness, joy, sanity, and freedom.”—Sogyal Rinpoche, author of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

“Like Dzigar Kongtrül himself, this book is warm, direct, and potent. Its intimacy is transformative.”
—Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, author of Turning the Mind into an Ally