A Simple Path: Basic Buddhist Teachings by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

by Dalai Lama XIV

Book Overview

A four-colour, fully illustrated book by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, author of two recent well-received books. It offers an introduction to Buddhism and to the landscape and culture of Tibet. The... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0007105509
• ISBN13: 9780007105502
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Thorsons Publishers
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 7.9" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Beautiful, but not your "First Buddhism Book".

I agree with a reviewer Buster Paris. In this book, HH teaches The Four Noble Truth which are the very foundation of the Buddhist teaching. However, I do not recomend this book to a first time Buddhist book reader who's naturally not familier with Buddhist's technical terms. If you are willing to start learning Buddhism and wondering where to start, Lama Surya Das's "Awakening the Buddha Within" I think is the best. It deals with the Four Noble Truth & the Eightfold Path in simple English and is really well structured. It's fantastic. And if you would like to read "a book by the Dalai Lama" to see what Buddhism can offer, or just to be inspired, I recomend "Healing Anger - The Power of Patience from a Buddhist Perspective" which is a transcript of oral teachings delivered by HH in Arisona for the Buddhists & non-Buddhists. Well, you can come back to "A Simple Path" when you are ready! This is truly beautiful a book. You will be happy to own one.

Simple Path / Graduate Level Book

(3.75 Stars)The cover of the book is so warm and inviting. His Holiness The Dalai Lama smiling at you with mouth and eyes. Every time I look at it I smile. I'm tempted to cut the cover off and frame it...The book discusses in great detail the 4 Noble Truths. It's difficult to write a review on books regarding Buddhism. Everyone's experience will be different and everyone's understanding will be different and I don't want to discourage anyone from exploring The Path... For myself I found this book difficult to follow. Someone else may take to it better and find it an easier to understand (I ain't the sharpest knife in the drawer)I felt like a freshmen walking in late to a lecture and the audience and class this was for was all graduate students. I felt like I missed the beginning of the talk and that the level of content was for more advanced students. I do not recommend this to a newcomer to Buddhism, again I found the "level" to be more advanced, but that's your call and like I said you may take to it better than I did and hey - it's your path.I did get things out of the book and did learn some things. I felt incredibly honored to be reading the words of HH The Dalai Lama and that's what kept me reading.The photographs are absolutely beautiful! - and again - I love the cover!

A wonderful introduction

Although this book doesnt get into anything complex, it is a wonderful book for people new to Buddhism. Full of great pictures, and easy to read text, it introduces basics of Buddhism. It may favor with more Tibetan Buddhist information, but it does include other schools of Buddhism. Highly recommend

Simply beautiful

thorsons have done us a great service with the publication of this book. HH the dalai Lama gave a lecture on the 4 noble truths in england, and instead of merely publishing the text[good enough in and of itself},Thorsons has interspersed scores of color pictures of some of the finest photographs available,throughout the volume. Heavy bonded glossy photograhic paper is used,highlighting this amazing volume. The typeset is bold and clear,the pictures are breathtaking!Monasteries, monks praying, pilgrims outside the ptola palace,children playing...absolutely stunning photgraphs, perfectly compliment the text of His Holiness.And at this price?!?! What an exquisite book, and what a bargain. Absolutely magnificent! Highest recommendation.

A gorgeous volume with luscious photographs

I must confess, I picked up this book because it was just so lovely! It is nicely bound, on superb high quality glossy paper, with stunning photographs of Tibet. Everything about it just makes you want to cradle, or worship, it.Then there's the text. They took a lecture that H. H. the Dalai Lama gave on the 4 Noble Truths and cut it (thank heavens) and put it in the book. The result is weird. The extremely philosophical treatise makes an odd accompaniment to scenes of Tibet. On the one hand, you're reading about how all the world is suffering and we are ignorant louts for getting so caught up in this illusion, and then we glance at the photograph (every pair of pages has one, so you're always looking at something wonderful). I thought, "Gee, if I'm not supposed to care about the world, or I'm not supposed to delight in its pleasures and glories, then what is all this color and visual drama? Illusion?" Thus, the book highlights in an unwitting way one of the paradoxes of Buddhism... we try to disentangle ourselves from the grosser life of merely sensate pleasure but we can and should still love the world. Who says Christianity has a corner on the market of paradox?!Still, there are some real textual gems and pearls scattered in the pages, and it is quick reading because of all the pictures. Occasionally you'll have to slog through a passage on Tibetan cosmology and physics, which sounds pretty medieval, but then you come across a glorious section that makes your heart sing.It's a fun ride!