blankMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I do enjoy reading the Dalai Lama’s works and this is no exception. It is, however, hard to review. It is, according to the dust jacket, a comprehensive overview of the most important teachings in Buddhism and that is exactly what it is.
Being raised Catholic and growing up in a culture a world away from Buddhist teaching, it is sometimes hard and yet delightfully challenging, to try and wrap my head around these teachings. The idea of emptiness, for example, the thing the Dalai Lama holds as the most important, is mind blowing to me. I felt mind blown through much of this and it will take several more readings I’m sure to really grasp what is being said.
I’m not reading this in order to change beliefs (something the Dalai Lama doesn’t find prudent by the way) but rather to understand other ways of thinking and believing. I do find some Buddhist tenants far more in line with my own thinking and others are so different that I’m not entirely sure I understand them completely. That said, the book isn’t hard or inaccessible at all. It’s just learning to think in new ways isn’t always easy. I did like this book a lot.
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