Other books by HH the Dalai Lama
Geared toward an audience of Western students just beginning to explore the Buddhist tradition, this new book from the spiritual and temporal leader of the Tibetan people explains that "a fundamental confusion in our understanding of the world (including our own self) lies at the root of much of our suffering and difficulties." Fortunately, in this manual, the Dalai Lama explains the Buddhist approach to dispelling this confusion clearly and engagingly. After providing an overview of the Buddha's Four Noble Truths and other Buddhist principles, the Dalai Lama then presents two short, classic Buddhist texts, "Eight Verses on Mind Training" and "Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment," with a verse-by-verse commentary on their meanings and applications. Both texts provide the guidance Buddhists need to gain "a genuine understanding of emptiness." Once Buddhist practitioners achieve this comprehension of emptiness and also cultivate a profound compassion for other sentient beings, they develop bodhicitta, or "the altruistic mind of awakening," but the Dalai Lama makes it clear that this point cannot be achieved without dedicated effort. The Dalai Lama engages readers by talking them through a ceremony to generate bodhicitta, encouraging non-Buddhists to "participate in the ceremony as a means to strengthen your commitment to the ideals of compassion and altruism." With its invitation to Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike, this lucid, accessible introduction to Buddhist concepts and texts is bound to light the way for many readers.
Can an ordinary person with family responsibilities achieve Nirvana or Buddhahood? What should be the spiritual limit of ambition for a busy professional? How do you stay positive when confronted with environmental and human injustice? Answering these and a host of other questions from his most recent annual Dharma Celebration, His Holiness delivers a message about the paths to “right living” and the need to overcome negative emotions in order to develop one’s inner consciousness. Wise, compassionate, and always pragmatic, he offers advice on the many issues that confront us every day: how to free ourselves from emotional afflictions and petty cravings, how to transform anxiety into contentment, and how to initiate and keep alive interfaith dialogue in the troubled times we live in.
"N'essayez pas de mettre une tête de yack sur un corps de mouton." Par ce proverbe tibétain, qu'il cite volontiers, le Dalaï-lama signifie nettement qu'il n'a aucune intention d'encourager les gens à se convertir. En revanche, son esprit très ouvert le pousse sans cesse à approcher d'autres religions que la sienne pour comprendre ce qu'elles ont à offrir à l'humanité. C'est ainsi qu'il avait accepté, en 1994, la proposition d'un groupe chrétien pratiquant la méditation de se pencher sur huit passages de l'Évangile. Ses commentaires, limpides, forment la partie centrale du livre. "On le voit entrer de plain-pied, sans fausses pudeurs, dans la logique de l'Évangile", écrit Robert Kiely, le préfacier, qui évoque le climat de la rencontre : chaleureuse et détendue. Bel exemple de dialogue inter religieux. Le livre comprend également la situation des passages étudiés dans leur contexte originel par Laurence Freeman - un bénédictin anglais -, un glossaire étoffé des termes chrétiens, ainsi que quelques pages d'introduction et un glossaire sur le bouddhisme.
