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Summary: This book will change how you see the world.
Review: I was fortunate enough to get this book before departing for a long car trip a few months ago. I read the entire car ride and then that night in my hotel room to finish this work of beautiful work. The concepts that the dalai puts forth all are very simple and should be common sense really in their broadest sense. But the way in which he puts forth the ideas and makes them seem so simple is amazing. Upon reading the book you realize that perhaps the age old ideal of the golden rule is the best way to view life after all. That in putting out happiness you are only helping others to do the same thus returning to you even more happiness. If all of the people on earth could understand that idea and live by the principles set forth then there would be no need for war, no need for emotional pain, for fear, etc. What is said in this book is beautiful and can help you understand a lot about yourself and the world around you. After reading this book I felt I knew my fellow man much more deeply than before. It's with the realization that the person next to you is just as afraid as you are, and has just as many hurdles in life to clear as you do that you begin to see everyone as equals. Once you do that then you are on the road to happiness.
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Summary: A Must Read As You Live Out This New Millennium
Review: As a psychotherapist, author and 25 year seminar trainer on "practical-spiritualism," I have found that many people began this new millennium with high hopes for a better, happier life. Now 8 months into the new millennium, most people's lives haven't changed much. The result has been, depression, frustration and for many illness, some terminal. Giving up as if the millennium had let them down. As his holiness states so wisely, in his practical yet powerful book, the human spirit and happiness must come from the inside. Only when we have caring and compassion and a desire to help others will our lives be different. We must have a loving atmosphere around us and live this new millennium not with what we expect to get, but with what we expect to give. The Dalai Lama has truly given us a wonderful gift... we must now use it.
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Summary: Zen and the Art of Intellectualization
Review: This book was a major disappointment and source of frustration.Perhaps in the East people are capable of "...think,think,think[ing]..." their way to compassion and harmony.In the West we need something more experiential and practical to bridge the split in body-mind that lies at the heart of our individual and collective psychopathology. There is nothing in this book that hasn't been available to us for many years through western spiritual tradition and it fails for the same reason those traditions do.The heart of compassion is not a philosophical concept,it is a felt experience.It can only become a way of being in beings who have achieved a degree of balance and integration in body/mind/spirit. Books that are much more valuable on the path to wholeness...
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Summary: Read this bit by bit ...so that it really works
Review: In this short volume the Dalai Lama speaks more clearly than ever before. "Ethics" is much more than a self-help book: it is a tablet on which we are guided to alter our perceptions, to not be afraid to repair our injured selves so that we can emerge from his words a more significant member of the cosmos of which we are a part. Rarely has "compassion" been so tenderly taught. This is a book to keep by your bed, to be read and re-read over a course of time to let your mind and dreams absorb the simplicity of the wisdom of this remakably gentle man.
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Summary: Same message - different words
Review: While I admit it takes lack of humility to criticize the writings of such an important world leader, I cannot say the book made the profound impact on me it seems to have made on others. His message is loud and clear: Follow "the golden rule" and the world will be a better place to live in. I do not wish to dispute this gem of wisdom when it comes to everyday dealings with people. I do, however, think his application of this on the international political level is misguided, wrong, and quite frankly, none of His Holiness' business. He does not seem to recognize that war is not a manifestation of a lack of compassion in people. Rather it is the only means ever known to man for oppressed peoples to gain dignity and to ensure the conditions for their continued prosperity. Americans who pride themselves as such would certainly be hypocritical to disagree with this viewpoint since it is only with past successes in war that America is what it is today and it is only with the worlds largest nuclear arsenal can it ensure its position going forward. This is as much a fact of the human condition as our vital organs and biological functions. Remove any of these and we cease to be human. Even the Dalai Lama admits that this is an unsolvable paradox. The view that everything and everyone is interconnected is a truly inspiring perspective, as is the recognition that we all want to be happy and avoid suffering, but sometimes short term suffering needs to be endured in order to achieve longer term lasting happiness. War is one example. Another is NOT providing aid to impoverished nations. By giving bits and pieces of food and medicine to poor countries we are alleviating suffering for a few people for a few moments but are prolonging the suffering of entire populations for generations to come. This perspective is almost purposely ignored in the book, giving the impression that the true purpose of the book is akin to that of any major religion -- ie to instill guilt on the masses to keep them focused on themselves so they don't consider threatening the world's power centers --taking care, however, to leave out the hocus pocus not because of any new revelation, but because the falsehood of any hocus pocus can be easily verified by schoolchildren with the advent of modern telecommunications. If you, the prospective reader, can sympathize with my comments, save your time and money and watch about an hour of CNN International. The message is exactly the same.
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Summary: A MUST HAVE Book!
Review: Because I have realized we spend too much time driving, I started to buy books on CD. When we put the first CD of this book on, we didn't want to leave the car. This is book everyone who is looking for soul, spirit or love. The main line of this book (I think): we are looking to take, not to give. If you have teenager kids, BUY IT! Let them to listen, it is completely different from anything else. Just try to give it by pieces, 15-20 min of reading in time. And talk to them after, what they really heard there.
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Summary: The Means to Peace on Earth
Review: Everyone on the planet should read this wonderful book, and if they can't read, someone should read it to them. The Dalai Lama clearly explains the means by which everyone may achieve their own personal happiness, and by doing so create a peaceful world of loving kindness for all. Read it and live it!
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Summary: A MUST Read
Review: I have read many of His Holiness' books, and this one is by far the best. If there is one book I wish everyone in the world could read, it would be this one. Everyone, no matter what their religion, can use this book to become a happier and more helpful person in society. His Holiness gives practical yet powerful ideas on how we can all pull together to insure a better future for humanity. The third chapter on the Buddhist concept of dependent origination might be a bit hard for some to get through, but it is well worthwhile. Later chapters like "Universal Responsibility" and "The Role of Religion in Modern Society" will keep you thinking about this book for a long time (and sharing those thoughts with others). Enjoy it!
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Summary: what a better world this could be...
Review: I recently watched the movie "7 days in Tibet" which inspired me to buy and read this book. EXCELLENT! His Holiness delves deep into the root problem we as human beings faced today. The book is centered around our loss for the human spirit which entails basic caring and concern or lack of it for the people who surround our lives. His approach is very practical and he is openly honest about things that he himself should do but fail to do as any normal human. I highly recommend this as a guide to regaining our senses around us as human beings.
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Summary: Ethics for the New Millennium
Review: To all of you I used to see things on one or two dimensional prespectives. After reading the book, I've gained more vision on the purpose of our life. It is a good book, and the next thing I realize that I don't get dissapointed on things that easy. If you wanna live your life happily, just read the book!
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