Books by Geshe Dakpa Topgyal

Geshe Dakpa Topgyal has authored nine books, in addition to teaching classes year round at both the Charleston Tibetan Society and the South Carolina Dharma Center. Books currently available for online purchase or through Charleston Tibetan Society are indicated below.

About Book Offerings

Publications are provided for Dharma practice and learning purposes, with the sincere wish to benefit others. We do not provide them as ordinary goods to be sold for a profit. To receive the books on this page, we have listed a minimum offering amount to cover costs incurred in producing them. When you make offerings to qualified teachers and organizations, it is an act of generosity that benefits others. Your offering will enable more books to be written and more teachings to be given. Articles for free distribution can be downloaded from this page. We hope you will find much happiness in learning about the Buddha's teachings.

Paperback | $19.95 Offering; Ebook | $17.99 Offering

Diamond Key for Opening the Wisdom Eye:

A Guide to the Process of Meditation | Second Edition

Extensively revised, this new edition includes color photos to illustrate objects of meditation, a chart outlining the paths and bhumis, clarification of difficult passages, and other new information. In the 17 years since Diamond Key for Opening the Wisdom Eye was first published, the number of publications related to meditation has skyrocketed. As a result, more people may be experiencing the benefits of meditation, but there is a risk of watering down and distorting the Buddha’s authentic teachings on the subject. This makes the original purpose of the book even more relevant today.

Topics include Shamatha and Vipassana meditation, how to create favorable conditions for a successful practice, and the Five Paths and Ten Bhumis. The ultimate result of training in meditation is to lay the groundwork for the journey through the sequential order of the Five Paths and Ten Bhumis, which provide the complete spiritual road map for the attainment of Nirvana and Enlightenment.

Direct paperback purchase can be made in-person at Charleston Tibetan Society or by mail within the U.S. Contact RadiantMindPress@gmail.com for mail orders or if you need help making arrangements to pickup.
Paperback or Ebook online orders, choose from these book suppliers.

Essential Ethics

A Buddhist Approach to Modern Day Life and Social Action

Modern life presents us with a number of ethical challenges. How are we to know the wisest course of action? Do our individual actions really matter in a world that is beset with so many problems? This book presents the teachings on ethics that were given over 2,600 years ago by the Buddha Shakyamuni. Buddhist ethical guidlines have the potential to bring peace and harmony from the individual to the universal level.

Direct paperback purchase can be made in-person at Charleston Tibetan Society or by mail within the U.S. Contact RadiantMindPress@gmail.com for mail orders or if you need help making arrangements to pickup.
Online paperback or ebook orders, choose from these book suppliers.

The Quest to Safeguard Wholesome Family Life:

Children's Education, Discipline, Success, and Self-Leadership in the 21st Century

Many of us share hopes of having a close-knit family, with members staying in intimate contact and harmony for the duration of our lifetimes. Although this may be the desire of many, too often in this modern world it may not be the case as, unlike in the past, we live in a more troubled time. Delivering practical solutions for realizing the close and caring relationships that we yearn for, The Quest to Safeguard Wholesome Family Life offers wisdom from an ancient philosophy of life, one that is perfectly relevant in our modern world.

Direct paperback purchase can be made in-person at Charleston Tibetan Society or by mail within the U.S. Contact RadiantMindPress@gmail.com for mail orders or if you need help making arrangements to pickup.

Online paperback orders, please consider these bookstores: Bookshop.org, Indiebound, Barnes and Noble.

Paperback | $17.95 Offering; Ebook | $15.99 Offering

Two Subtle Realities:

Impermanence and Emptiness | Second Edition

This revised second edition offers an even clearer explanation of the profound and liberating concepts of impermanence and emptiness. Using accessible writing and detailed explanations, Geshe Topgyal provides modern day students with the tools for understanding the deepest meaning of what the Buddha taught — the truth of reality — his compassionate and ultimate message for a confused world.

Direct paperback purchase can be made in-person at Charleston Tibetan Society or by mail within the U.S. Contact RadiantMindPress@gmail.com for mail orders or if you need help making arrangements to pickup.
Online paperback or ebook orders, choose from these book suppliers.

The Tibetan Buddhist Home Altar

Practical and Spiritual Advice: Buddhist Practices for Daily Life Using Your Personal Altar

The purpose of displaying sacred images and holy texts is to remind one of the kindness of the Buddha and to reaffirm one’s commitment to follow the path laid out by the compassionate teacher Shakyamuni Buddha. With profound clarity and knowledge, Geshe Dakpa Topgyal provides practical and spiritual instructions for arranging and using a personal altar.

Direct paperback purchase can be made in-person at Charleston Tibetan Society or by mail within the U.S. Contact RadiantMindPress@gmail.com for mail orders or if you need help making arrangements to pickup.
Online paperback orders, see here.

Your Mind, Your Universe

We all drive ourselves crazy. We see things we long for — money, sex, food — as more alluring and desirable than they could ever really be. Things that we think prevent us from being happy — sickness, political opponents, poverty — seem more detestable than they could ever really be. In other words, we see the world in a distorted way and our thoughts and actions are not based on reality. We grasp at the people and things that we think will make us happy, but really don’t; we avoid the people and things that we think will make us unhappy, but really don’t.

Buddhism has been examining the way our minds work for thousands of years. It teaches us that our own thinking, not the outside world, makes us happy or unhappy. The insights of Buddhist practitioners have led to a complete system for identifying and healing the thoughts and emotions that really hurt us. Your Mind, Your Universe seeks to guide us along the path away from suffering and towards the bliss of our higher nature.

Direct paperback purchase can be made in-person at Charleston Tibetan Society or by mail within the U.S. Contact RadiantMindPress@gmail.com for mail orders or if you need help making arrangements to pickup.

978-0-578-05878-8 (Paperback)

refuge

Though most of the books on Buddhism touch on the subject of refuge, they do not do so exclusively or in a broader way. In this book one will find a more dense and elaborated discussion on refuge which will surely help you to understand what refuge really is and the profound purpose of taking refuge.

Direct paperback purchase can be made in-person at Charleston Tibetan Society or by mail within the U.S. Contact RadiantMindPress@gmail.com for mail orders or if you need help making arrangements to pickup.

110 pages | 978-1489558305 (Paperback) | Published by Booksurge

death: a natural part of life

In Death A Natural Part of Life, Geshe Dakpa Topgyal shows how we can prepare for our inevitable death by (1) living an ethical life, (2) learning that the meaning of death is built into every birth, and (3) training to become familiar with the process that we will go through at the end of this life. All of these preparations support our ability to maintain a calm and virtuous state of mind at the time of our death. He also discusses what is needed from those who are supporting the person who is dying. This book is not only for practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism. Death is a universal condition and each one of us must face it regardless of who we are — religious or nonreligious.

Direct paperback purchase can be made in-person at Charleston Tibetan Society or by mail within the U.S. Contact RadiantMindPress@gmail.com for mail orders or if you need help making arrangements to pickup.
116 pages
978-1489529107 (Paperback) | Published by Booksurge

Holistic Health: A Tibetan Monk's View

A balance of physical and mental health is necessary in order to find meaning in your life and succeed in every area, whether spiritual or worldly. There are many factors involved in the process of building good physical and mental health, including: food, rest, exercise, mental attitude, meditation and many others. Each of these and more are discussed in a concise and practical way with the hope that they will be easy to learn and incorporate into daily life.

Currently out of print and planned for revision

1-4196-6203-1 (Paperback) | 75 pages | Published by Booksurge