Gyetrul Jigme Rinpoche + Tony Cointreau

“I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.” —Mother Teresa

The Liqueur heir Tony Cointreau shares the wisdom he learned from working with Mother Teresa and compares approaches to treating the dying with the Tibetan Buddhist teacher Gyetrul Jigme Rinpoche. Tony Cointreau will sign copies of A Gift of Love: Lessons Learned from My Work and Friendship with Mother Teresa following the conversation.

About the Speakers

After an affluent childhood as an heir of the Cointreau liqueur family and a successful theatre career, Tony Cointreau felt that he needed something more meaningful in his life. Even though he had never been exposed to poverty, Cointreau found himself drawn to Mother Teresa’s work with “the poorest of the poor.” In 1989 he flew to India to see her work firsthand and went again in 1990. Upon his return to New York City, Cointreau began volunteering at Gift of Love, Mother Teresa’s home in Greenwich Village for destitute men dying of AIDS. Unexpectedly he found that Mother Teresa made frequent visits to New York and she soon became a mentor and his third “other mother.” His memoir A Gift of Love shares these experiences and the wisdom he gained.

Gyetrul Jigme Rinpoche is the son of the renowned terton, or “treasure revealer,” Namkha Drimed Rabjam Rinpoche, holder of the Ripa lineage. As a socially engaged Buddhist, philanthropic projects have become a central part of his life’s work. Born in India, he has firsthand experience of the plight of Tibetan refugees and local villagers in finding and retrieving potable water. This inspired him to found the Pure Water Project, for which he received a citation from the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in Exile. Other projects he directs include creating a malaria prevention and treatment program and the support of orphans, schoolchildren, monks, and the elderly. Jigme Rinpoche oversees the Ripa monasteries in both Nepal and India, along with their growing monastic communities and the Tibetan community in exile. He continues his teachings through Padma Ling and the Ripa Ladrang Foundations. Rinpoche is also appearing at the Rubin at the screening of Mera Gaon and guiding a mindfulness meditation session on September 7.