Most Popular Books by Dalai Lama

This book is a first. There has never been one entirely dedicated to the spiritual life of the Dalai Lama. Yet as one of the world''s most recognised, and respected, spiritual leaders there is already great interest in such a work from His Holiness'' thousands of friends and followers around the world. The Dalai Lama sees himself first and foremost as a human being, secondly as a monk and thirdly as the former political leader of Tibet. In this extraordinary autobiography we read many hitherto unknown stories from his childhood, his formation as a monk and his gradual development as a leader of his people. We are offered a view of his daily spiritual practise, invited to listen in on the dialogue he has been pursuing with other religions, with non-believers and with scientists in his search for ethical and environmental principles, and shown how he brings a sense of goodness and conscience to political life around the globe. In a world that is so profoundly interdependent, the Dalai Lama explains how he transforms himself through spiritual means in order to have a positive effect on the world, and he encourages us to do the same by working on ourselves first of all.

Reveals the Dalai Lama''s inimitable wit and gently exemplifies the nature of a Bodhisattva.--East-West Journal

This beloved classic brings together in one volume all the major themes of the Dalai Lama’s teachings. Drawn from the lectures he gave during his first three visits to North America, the book covers the core subject matter of Tibetan Buddhism, as presented for the first time to an English-speaking audience. The chapters are arranged developmentally from simple to complex topics, which include the luminous nature of the mind, the four noble truths, karma, the common goals of the world’s religions, meditation, deities, and selflessness. Central to all these teachings is the necessity of compassion—which the Dalai Lama says is “the essence of religion” and “the most precious thing there is.”

A beloved classic—the original book on happiness, with new material from His Holiness the Dalai Lama Nearly every time you see him, he''s laughing, or at least smiling. And he makes everyone else around him feel like smiling. He''s the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet, a Nobel Prize winner, and a hugely sought-after speaker and statesman. Why is he so popular? Even after spending only a few minutes in his presence you can''t help feeling happier. If you ask him if he''s happy, even though he''s suffered the loss of his country, the Dalai Lama will give you an unconditional yes. What''s more, he''ll tell you that happiness is the purpose of life, and that the very motion of our life is toward happiness. How to get there has always been the question. He''s tried to answer it before, but he''s never had the help of a psychiatrist to get the message across in a context we can easily understand. The Art of Happiness is the book that started the genre of happiness books, and it remains the cornerstone of the field of positive psychology. Through conversations, stories, and meditations, the Dalai Lama shows us how to defeat day-to-day anxiety, insecurity, anger, and discouragement. Considerd by many to the classic book by the Dalai Lama, he explores many facets of everyday life, including relationships, loss, and the pursuit of wealth, to illustrate how to ride through life''s obstacles on a deep and abiding source of inner peace. Based on 2,500 years of Buddhist meditations mixed with a healthy dose of common sense, The Art of Happiness is a book that crosses the boundaries of traditions to help readers with difficulties common to all human beings. After being in print for ten years, this book has touched countless lives and uplifted spirits around the world.

Designed as a conversation between the Dalai Lama and Western neuroscientists, this book takes readers on a journey through opposing fields of thought—showing that they may not be so opposing after all Is the mind an ephemeral side effect of the brain’s physical processes? Are there forms of consciousness so subtle that science has not yet identified them? How does consciousness happen? Organized by the Mind and Life Institute, this discussion addresses some of the most troublesome questions that have driven a wedge between Western science and religion. Edited by Zara Houshmand, Robert B. Livingston, and B. Alan Wallace, Where Buddhism Meets Neuroscience is the culmination of meetings between the Dalai Lama and a group of eminent neuroscientists and psychiatrists. The Dalai Lama’s incisive, open-minded approach both challenges and offers inspiration to Western scientists. This book was previously published under the title Consciousness at the Crossroads.

A bracing and essential modern-day polemic from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Beyond Religion is a blueprint for all those who yearn for a life of spiritual fulfillment as they work for a better world. This is HHDL''s new model for mutual respect and understanding - rooted in our shared humanity - between religious believers and non-believers. Ten years ago, in his bestselling Ethics for a New Millennium, His Holiness the Dalai Lama first proposed an approach to ethics based on universal rather than religious principles. Now, in Beyond Religion, the Dalai Lama, at his most compassionate and outspoken, elaborates and deepens his vision for the nonreligious way. Transcending the mere "religion wars," he outlines a system of secular ethics that gives tolerant respect to religion - those that ground ethics in a belief in God and an afterlife, and those that understand good actions as leading to better states of existence in future lives. And yet, with the highest level of spiritual and intellectual authority, the Dalai Lama makes a claim for what he calls "a third way." This is a system of secular ethics that transcends religion.

For the first time ever, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate His Holiness the Dalai Lama addresses children directly, sharing lessons of peace and compassion, told through stories of his own childhood. One of today''s most inspiring world leaders was once an ordinary child named Lhamo Thondup. In a small village in Tibet, his mother was his first great teacher of compassion. In everyday moments from his childhood, young readers begin to see that important lessons are all around us, and that they, too, can grow to truly understand them. With simple, powerful text, the Dalai Lama shares the universalist teachings of treating one another with compassion, which Bao Luu illustrates beautifully in vibrant color. In an increasingly confusing world, The Seed of Compassion offers guidance and encouragement on how we all might bring more kindness to it.

This book addresses some of the most fundamental and troublesome questions that have driven a wedge between the realms of Western science and religion for centuries.

At a time and in a culture where science and technology have taken over from religious belief, when ethics are understood primarily in terms of aesthetic choice or legality, how are we to formulate moral principles to guide us in our daily lives? Though religion can certainly help in this, the Dalai Lama demonstrates that there are universal principles we can draw on which transcend the dilemma of belief or unbelief. And whilst many have been content to speak of spiritual matters as something mysterious or evanescent, the Dalai Lama explains his approach in terms that are as clear and concise as they are compelling. With wit, gentle good sense and with penetrating insight, the Dalai Lama shows how the truths that have stood the test of generations of practise can provide us with the tools to live happy, fulfilled and meaningful lives. In the process, it becomes apparent that he does not merely espouse the ''feelgood'' religiosity some accuse him of. The reader is left admiring not just the wisdom of the author, but the wisdom of the culture he represents.

Learn from the Dalai Lama the three steps to awakening: 1) renunciation, 2) the awakening mind, and 3) emptiness. His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s commentary on Tsongkhapa’s Three Principal Aspects of the Path helps us integrate the full Buddhist path into our own practice. His Holiness offers a beautiful elucidation of the three aspects of the path: true renunciation based on the wish for freedom, the altruistic awakening mind ( bodhichitta ), and the correct view of emptiness. These three aspects of the path are the axis of all the practices of both sutra and tantra, and they encapsulate Tsongkhapa’s vision of the Buddhist path in its entirety. In their absence, it is impossible for us to develop the great compassion that aspires to liberate other sentient beings from samsara and we will not be able to go beyond this cycle of existence. Practitioners will find The Three Principal Aspects of the Path invaluable as a manual for daily meditation. The universal and timeless insights of this text speak to contemporary spiritual aspirants, East and West. The root verses are presented in both Tibetan and English translation to accompany these profound teachings.

A little book for those in search of words to calm and inspire. In this mini ebook His Holiness the Dalai Lama teaches us how to deal with suffering.

Born out of a decade of discussion between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and international management consultant Laurens van den Muyzenberg, The Leader’s Way is the unique meeting of two worlds: the global business landscape and Buddhism. At first sight, these seem to be an unlikely pairing. After a closer look, however, the best business practices and Buddhist principles in fact have much in common; both are concerned with making rational, holistic decisions and turning them into responsible, effective action. Indeed, the teachings of Buddhism have much to offer business leaders. The world today faces many unique challenges: the worst global recession in over seventy-five years, with millions out of jobs and entire economies in a tailspin; billions of people living in abject poverty; the imminent threat of an environmental meltdown. Even prosperous businesses and leaders feel insecure about the future. A new kind of leadership is needed–one that sees events as they really are and understands the interconnectedness, impermanence, and interdependence of individuals, companies, and the global economic system. Through fascinating insights and day-to-day examples, His Holiness the Dalai Lama offers practical tools and advice on how to lead in our twenty-first-century world. Drawing on the wise teachings of Buddhism, he says, we can become better, more informed leaders as individuals, achieve more progressive leadership in our organizations, and help address some of the world’s most pressing problems. Moreover, we can improve the quality of life for all by promoting responsible, ethical, and profitable business practices. That is the leader’s way. A rewarding, surprising view into the life and thoughts of one of the world’s most inspiring leaders, The Leader’s Way provides a powerful manifesto for leading change at every level–in our lives, our organizations, and the wider world.

In conversation with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In April of 2006, the prominent Japanese cultural anthropologist Noriyuki Ueda sat down with the Dalai Lama for a two day conversation. This book is based on that long and lively conversation in Dharamsala. In this little book, the two men explore whether there is a place in religious practice for anger against social injustice, the role of competition in spiritual life, conditional versus unconditional love, and the soullessness of materialism. One of the real pleasures of this book is the Dalai Lama''s uncharacteristic candor. For example: ''I am not only a socialist but also a bit of a leftist, a Communist.'' ''I hold the position of a high monk, a big lama. Unless I exercise self restraint, there is every possibility for me to exploit others.'' He also argues that rather than suppressing anger, Buddhism embraces using anger to precipitate social change. In other words anger can be an important spiritual practice. This book offers a unique perspective on the Dalai Lama''s political and spiritual views. And it guides the reader through the complex reality of what it means to practice compassion in the here and now.

Only during a time when we have so little faith in one another, so little confidence in the willingness of others to do what is right, can a strong voice emerge to dispel disillusionment and show us hope. It takes a person of great courage, such as the Dalai Lama, to face these times and say there is hope. There is an argument to be made for basic human goodness. The number of people who spend their lives being violent or dishonest is tiny compared with the number of people -- the vast majority we don''t hear about -- who would wish others only well. According to the Dalai Lama, our survival has depended and will depend on our basic goodness. "Much more effective and important than legislation is our regard for one another''s feelings at a simple human level....Here, I refer to the capacity we all have to empathize with one another...to arrive at the inability to bear the sight of another''s suffering." The Dalai Lama presents an ethical system that not only is based on commonsense and reason, as opposed to religious dogma or punitive legislation, but has at its goal ultimate happiness for every individual. The Dalai Lama demonstrates that human beings are better than we think we are, and that a society and a life that cultivate love and compassion are completely within our reach. If enough people operate from the understanding of their "original purity," a global revolution of peace will ensue.

Using the traditional Buddhist allegorical image of the Wheel of Life and the teaching of the twelve links of dependent origination, the Dalai Lama deftly illustrates how our existence, though fleeting and often full of woes, brims with the potential for peace and happiness. We can realize that potential by cultivating a wise appreciation of the interdependency of actions and experience, and by living a kind and compassionate life. A life thus lived, the Dalai Lama teaches, becomes thoroughly meaningful for both oneself and for others.

The Dalai Lama reveals how training the mind in compassion for other beings is directly related to—and a prerequisite for—the very pinnacle of Buddhist meditation The heart of meditation—the thing that brings it alive—is compassion. This is not an ordinary compassion but one that is developed and expanded in parallel with wisdom that arises through meditation. Without that essential foundation, other practices are pointless. Fortunately, the mind can be trained in compassion, and the mind thus trained is fertile ground for the practice of the Great Completeness (Dzogchen), which is considered the pinnacle of spiritual practice by many in Tibetan Buddhism. In this book, His Holiness the Dalai Lama teaches the Great Completeness simply but thoroughly, using as his reference a visionary poem by the nineteenth-century master Patrul Rinpoche to show that insight can never be separated from compassion. Through practice of the Great Completeness, we can access our innermost awareness and live our lives in a way that acknowledges it and manifests it. The wisdom and compassion that arise from such insight are critical, His Holiness teaches, not only to individual progress in meditation but to our collective progress toward peace in the world.

The meeting captured headlines; the waiting list contained nearly 2000 names. If you were unable to attend, this book will take you there. Including both the conference papers and the animated discussion and debate they generated, it reveals scientists and monks reaching across a cultural divide to share insights, studies, and enduring questions.

This book sets out the key principles of Buddhism, showing how the mind can be transformed, and suffering overcome, through love, compassion, and a true understanding of the nature of reality.

Opening the Eye of New Awareness is a succinct, thorough overview of the doctrines of Buddhism as they have been practiced for a thousand years in Tibet. The Dalai Lama here discusses the need for religious practice and the importance of kindness and compassion. Originally written for Tibetan lay people, this was the Dalai Lama''s first book on Buddhist philosophy to appear in English, and Prof. Lopez''s new introduction places these teachings in their proper historical context. This is an invaluable handbook for both personal use and academic study of the Buddhist path. "Written for both Tibetan and Western readers, Opening the Eye of New Awareness is the Dalai Lama''s first religious work. It is not an edited transcript of public lectures, but is His Holliness'' own summation of Buddhist doctrine and practice. Completed in 1963, just four years after his escape from Tibet and four years after completing his religious education, it is a work of consummate scholarship by a twenty-seven year-old geshe, wise beyond his years. Nowhere in his many subsequent works does one find a more clear and concise exposition of the essentials of Buddhist thought. Indeed, all of His Holinesss''s many publications are in some sense commentaries on this first book."

What is the essence of the mind? Could computers ever have consciousness? Can compassion be learned? When does consciousness enter the human embryo? These are just some of the many questions that were discussed during a historic meeting that took place between several prominent Western scientists and the Dalai Lama. Gentle Bridges is a chronicle of this extraordinary exchange of ideas.

A comprehensive introduction to Buddhism.

Clear, eloquent, simple, and profound, His Holiness''s teachings are easily accessible to beginning practitioners yet richly nourishing to those more advanced in practice. In The Path to Bliss, the Dalai Lama shows how visualization, reason, and contemplation can be systematically crafted to enhance personal development. Beginning with practices designed to create an effective mental outlook, His Holiness skillfully guides the student to more advanced techniques for developing the mind''s deepest potential and happiness. An impeccable attention to the correctness of detail, yet manages at the same time to convey a sense of playfulness, a balance of specific technical guidance, and delightful asides. It exemplifies the sophistication and elegance of Tibetan Buddhist methods for spiritual development.

Imagine having two minutes with the Dalai Lama offering you personal advice on how you could live your life better, overcome your problems, be more joyful and create a better world. This revolutionary new book brings you exactly that: short passages to offer you enlightening advice, day by day Meditations are suggested on the following: On the stages of life: for the young, adults, and the elderly * On life situations: for men and women, single people, families, the wealthy, the poor, the sick, the dying and those who care for them, and others from all walks of life. * On your roles in society: for politicians, lawyers, activists, teachers, scientists, businesspeople, writers and journalists, farmers, soldiers, carers and others * On your state of mind: for the happy, the sad, pessimists, optimists, the suffering, the isolated, the angry, the proud, the abused, the shy, the undecided, those with no self-esteem, the indifferent. * On society and the world: war, politics, education, farming, the environment, business, dedicating your life to others, and the future * On your spiritual life: for believers, those who have no religion, contemplatives, those who have great faith, those who want to become Buddhists, those who practice Buddhism.

Based on the Dalai Lama’s talks in London this ebook addresses the current difficulties facing humanity including: racial hatred, gender and environmental protection.

Victor Chan, the co-founder of the Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education in Vancouver, offers insights into the Dalai Lama''s life as he interacts with people from three continents.

Based on a fundamental Buddhist notion that love & insight work together to bring about enlightenment, this title provides aperspective on the psychological problems of hurting ourselves through misguided, exaggerated notions of self.