Tsoknyi Rinpoche

Tsoknyi Rinpoche was born in 1966 into a family of Dzogchen masters. His father was Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, and his great-great-grandfather was the treasure revealer Chokgyur Lingpa. The 16th Karmapa recognised him at the age of eight as the third Tsoknyi Rinpoche, the reincarnation of Drubwang Tsoknyi Rinpoche II. The first Tsoknyi Rinpoche was a contemporary of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, Jamgon Kongtrul and Chokgyur Lingpa in nineteenth-century Nangchen.

Training

His father trained him in the family tradition from an early age. At thirteen he went to Khampagar Monastery at Tashi Jong, the seat of Khamtrul Rinpoche. The Pundarika Foundation’s lineage page names his teachers as Khamtrul Rinpoche Dongyu Nyima, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche and Adeu Rinpoche. He holds the Drukpa Kagyu and Nyingma traditions, and the Tsoknyi lineage based on the termas of Ratna Lingpa.

Work in Tibet and the West

He is spiritual head of two nunneries in Nepal and one of the largest nunneries in Tibet. In Nangchen, in eastern Tibet, he heads more than 50 practice centres and hermitages, with over 2,000 nuns and 900 monks following the Tsoknyi and Ratna Lingpa lineages. His seat in the West is Yeshe Rangsal in Crestone, Colorado. The Pundarika Foundation publishes his teaching programme.

He has taught students from around the world since 1990, on the innermost nature of mind. More recently he has taught a course called Fully Being, on being a healthy human being, and he takes part in dialogue between neuroscience and Buddhist practitioners and scholars.

Books

Fearless Simplicity and Carefree Dignity (both Rangjung Yeshe) present the way he teaches. Open Heart, Open Mind: Awakening the Power of Essence Love, written with Eric Swanson and published by Harmony in 2012, is his book on what he calls Essence Love. The Pundarika Foundation also lists Why We Meditate, Ground Path Fruition, How Mindfulness Works and Solid Ground.