Media Type : Book | Rating : 7.5 out of 10 | Read on : May 16^th, 2004

Released : May 15^th, 2000 | New & Used Book Price : $10.47 & $2.49

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I started reading this book to learn more about Buddhism in general and how different principles are taught within it in particular. The book is an interesting read even if you are devoted to any specific religion other than Buddhism, or if you believe in no religion. The book seems to talk more about how to view life and different elements of life, and does not depend on any religious rule for the most part, which is good in my opinion. A book of this sort is supposed to be focussed primarily on teaching and not be biased in any manner. This book tries to keep away from any specific tendency to lean towards any specific idea that maybe against the major heavenly religions, yet tends to be targeting every person, regardless of their religious background or interests. The book uses the concept of compassion to let the viewer know how to use this as a tool to control their emotions and shape their character and their personality.

Some people hail Dalai Lama as a god or a prophet or something in between. As long as those people or Dalai Lama himself does not push the concept of his holiness on others, it is ok for them to have their own views. People usually steer away from books based on teaching from Buddhism as they may sound to be very basic and old fashioned in mind, or considered to be concentrating only on the mind and how to view the world. This book gives an idea on how to use that information and apply it to our daily lives, in everything we do, no matter what we do [good deeds are the prime purpose of this book, of course]. This book should not offend you or your religious beliefs entirely, as it focuses only on how you view the world in a nice manner and how you can start using that to remove bad feelings from your mental understanding of things. If this book was not written by Dalai Lama, it would probably be called “Compassion and its applications” or something similar. As long as you read this book without thinking it is written by a heavenly entity, you should learn a few things.