Customer Reviews

Becoming Enlightened

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Becoming Enlightened was written by the Dalai Lama, translated into English by Jeffrey Hopkins. If there was ever an "expert" on becoming enlightened, the Dalai Lama would be it! It is pretty amazing in this modern world that the entire world can easily get access to and read a book by a head of a giant religious group like this - and that the book is enjoyable!

I usually take notes when I read books, and I took a TON of notes while reading Becoming Enlightened. This is definitely a helpful book for all people to read, not just Buddhists. First, it's always good to understand what people of a certain group believe in, no matter what that group is. Second, most of the tips are simply about living a content, stress-free life. That is something that all of us are striving towards!

Interestingly, the book explicitly says that ALL religions are valid and each is suited well for a different group of people. It says Buddhists should never go around trying to "convert" others. Buddhism is not "better" than other religions. Each religion is a path, each one promotes peace, compassion and charity.

The book goes step by step through a number of ideas to improve your life. You should make sure you are spending time on *important* things. Time is precious, don't waste it by hurrying to do thing you really don't have in your priority list. Cherish others, strive not to harm anyone or any sentient creature.

You should try to bring under control your lust for objects and people. Our modern society hypes us to want more and more. Instead, learn to be content with what you have, to appreciate what you already own. Try to calm your angry feelings about things and people you find unpleasant. Instead, find ways to accept the way they are, to tolerate them. Always strive to learn, to grow your horizons.

The book suggests you try to meditate daily, to give yourself some calm, quiet time. Focus on appreciating yourself and others. People pray all the time for more money, for a nicer body - but rarely do they simply focus on being content NOW. In fact, if people relaxed and were content with they had now, they would be healthier and happier now.

I really found this quote powerful - "appreciate how rare and full of potential your situation is in this world, take joy in it, and use it to your best advantage." Half of the world lives in abject poverty and barely has enough food to survive the day. If you have access to a computer and running water, you are way ahead of the game!

To help you focus, the book lays out, in order of severity, the list of activities to wean yourself off of. These start with killing, then go into stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, divisive talk, harsh speech, senseless chatter, covetousness, harmful intent, and finally wrong views.

The book provides great summaries at the end of every chapter to help you review what was said. I liked one of the meditation exercises. You start by focusing on yourself - sending yourself love, acceptance and joy. Do that for a few sessions. Then at the next session you think about your best friend - send her those waves of love. After a few more sessions move on to other best friends. Slowly work your way outwards until you are sending love to the whole world, and relaxing in the quiet sensation. It really will affect how you relate to others!

Highly recommended.

There are many books on Buddhism these days. Of these, many sacrifice accuracy for clarity. Many more ignore the full power of Buddhism by watering down core beliefs for an audience looking for simple answers. This book rises far above these shortcomings.

'Becoming Enlightened' successfully describes the complete breadth of the Buddhist approach. Most importantly, the book bridges cultural and historical difficulties that readers often encounter by reading source texts. 'Becoming Enlightened' speaks clearly, but not simplistically, on what you need to do to truly be a Buddhist on the path. Even more comprehensive than Hopkin's `How to' series, I find this book to be a remarkable text for the modern reader.

There is great value if you truly reflect on this text.

I would also recommend Guy Newland's book 'Introduction to Emptiness.' In a similar manner, difficult concepts are explained within our cultural and historical context.

Tibet is famous throughout the Buddhist world for introducing in layman's terms, the practice of enlightenment. The Dalai Lama shows us in a comprehensive yet simplistic way, the practical methods of learning to cope with daily stress from the complexity of today's society, and the benefits these practices can reap once the ancient art of enlightenment is achieved. In this short but concise book, he outlines practical ways to end our suffering through promoting kindness & tolerance, and by putting an end to the many actions that can cause our emotions to spin out of control. He displays candidly how we all get stuck by not taking time to use logic & reason, or to meditate when we become mired in the mud of our problems. Our behavior can often hurt our lives and those around us that we love when we don't take proper time to evaluate situations that are escalating out of control, or when we become so caught up in our own traumas we forget other people in our lives.

He teaches us to shift away from tunnel-visioning and narrow mindedness to a more `big picture' awareness. He asks us to be more in-tuned to the heartache and suffering of others around us, to extend more kindness with a listening ear that will support our loved ones in times of need, versus allowing ourselves to focus on our own lives, egos, and personal gains or successes. The act of caring and sharing that will ensure a path to a more calmer life, is the pervasive theme here in this thought provoking book. The Dalai Lama approaches the reader with a step by step plan that introduces us to the basics of the Buddhist practice of enlightenment by discussing the topics of religion, death and dying, altruism, karma, acts of compassion, and of the ways we create our own suffering through repeated behavior that is not beneficial.

Many chapters detail the Dalai Lama's perceptive and personal views on how people today need to embrace & cherish other races, cultures, and religious diversity. Changing our behavior to show more respect & patience towards the unfamiliar, and welcoming unknown philosophies including other people's attitudes on life, love & the pursuit of happiness, can guide us further towards becoming more insightful individuals. The reader will soon grasp the concept his holiness easily conveys and can soon appreciate the wisdom he offers us all. To not just live in the moment but to plan for the future, to be free of endless suffering and angst & to hone our senses regarding life and death and to the fact we are here on this earth a very short time, is a key factor in this wonderful book. He urges us to veer away from a materialistic world and to swerve instead on to a path of appreciating the small things this world has to offer by taking time to "smell the roses" while we are here, instead of racing through life at top speed.

Point by point, paragraph after paragraph, the Dalai Lama generously offers many easy to accomplish tasks that can have us all practicing selflessness, appreciating our friends and family more by offering them our hearts and minds more often, and gives us his unending wisdom towards a better life of reduced suffering. We all need more inner peace, and a personal world of harmony and love. Reading Becoming Enlightened is a way to begin that journey.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama offers a wonderful practical guide to becoming enlightened that if followed may not actually lead to enlightenment but would most assuredly lead to a much better world. The Dalai Lama's method of listing and sub-listing all of the required steps may seem a little compartmental at first and somewhat anti-Buddhist (at least to a Westerner) but really this method is how such doctrines (or sutras) were orally communicated through many generations. And it is with a feeling of honor and respect that I read this book, as if a new sutra (albeit a copyrighted sutra) had been penned for all Buddhists to incorporate into their daily contemplation and study. If you are just beginning your study of Buddhism, this book will state much, explain some, and leave much unexplained, for Buddhism is really quite unexplainable, filled with rich dialogue and seeming contradictions, a forever journey in our own limited time and space. To help explain this concept further I highly recommend "Buddhism The Religion Of No-Religion" by Alan Watts. On the other hand, it you are seeking ideas to support your positive personal efforts, His Holiness the Dalai Lama offers sound, helpful and genuine advice from a Tibetan Buddhist perspective.

I've been reading and studying Eastern ideas for 30 years now and I have to say that this book is in the top 3 that I have ever read. The sometimes difficult and nebulous ideas of Cessation, Karma and Nirvana are made to be within practical reach.

This ambitious account delves much more deeply than I expected into Buddhist philosophy, drawn from ancient teachers such as Tsongkhapa and Nagarjuna. It sums up Tibetan concepts, as expected, but given its rarified explorations of higher-level approaches to liberating one's self from suffering and embracing the rejection of lust, hatred, and ignorance, it may not be the best place to begin, despite its welcome approach for all readers.

After quite a few introductions and some advanced texts about Buddhism reviewed, I came to this with interest. I've weighed in on Amazon about the Dalai Lama's other works "Beyond Religion," "The Universe in a Single Atom" and "The Way to Freedom." I've also reviewed his adventures as told by Stephen Talty in "Escape from the Land of Snows," and Tetsu Saiwai's manga graphic novel on the same. Also, Robert Thurman's books about the DL interested me, and Pico Iyer's interviews in "The Open Road."

I say this to set in context my repeated textual encounters with the Dalai Lama; after a while, his familiar stories and often cogent examples tend to blur or repeat somewhat altered in his talks as edited by his translation team, so this does not diminish but enhance the motifs he returns to as he emphasizes his teachings. He is accessible and his topics are diverse and well-chosen, but it's not an easy read. More than once, this jumps about in challenging fashion.

Following a great overview of how "religion" differs from or resembles certain Buddhist interpretations, the DL leaps about in what seem more like transcribed talks from various places and audiences. Some are considerably more intricate than others, and it's a long way into this work before even a basic Buddhist introduction to doctrine is given. The delayed nature of this exposition of basics, rather than a "chronological" approach from the life and times of the historical Buddha forward into his legacy and then Tibet's refinement of the concepts, adds another layer that may discourage newcomers to these complex ideas and subtle moral lessons, often drawn from enumerated lists of three-this and ten-that that fill many pages, in a somewhat scholastic and dry method that hearkens back to perhaps traditional ways of inculcating doctrine, but which seem to smack of the seminar or treatise.

Jeffrey Hopkins, one of the first American students of Tibetan Buddhism (along with Thurman), renders this teaching in a similarly academic manner. On the audiobook I heard this as, Professor Hopkins reads it in an avuncular, teacher-like tone. I rewound many passages, to get the meaning clear or to stop my mind from drifting, as this naturally contemplative theme, combined with some difficult points, demanded close attention. This is not to diminish the value of this work, but I wanted to advise audiences that this is quite a lot of important material, conveyed in an equally mature, and perhaps not the easiest, fashion, for those entering the high summits of Buddhism with such a compact but dense volume.

Over the years I have found myself looking for some sort of spirituality or connection to a higher plain. With many of the mainstream religions I've found an emphasis on following rules and less emphasis on guiding a person to inner strength and morality. After watching a documentary on BBC about Buddhism and the history of, I decided to do a little more research on the history and teachings.

After looking over a plethora of books I came across Becoming Enlightened and read the product description as it described...

"Drawing from traditional Buddhist meditative practices as well as penetrating examples from today's troubled planet, he presents step-by-step exercises designed to expand the reader's capacity for spiritual growth, along with clear milestones to mark the reader's progress. By following the spiritual practices outlined in Becoming Enlightened, we can learn how to replace troublesome feelings with positive attitudes and embark on a path to achieving an exalted state -- within ourselves and within the larger world."

From reading the above I had assumed that the book itself was more of a step-by-step guide to the path of spiritual enlightenment. However after reading it I found it as more of a cliff-note version of the buddhist teachings. Its structure is setup as follows; a header that tells what is next to be mentioned and then two to three paragraphs about the header subject. At first I had thought that this was just a foundation to which more in depth knowledge would be passed on later in the book, however this theme is throughout. Later in the book things do seem to be more informative but I did find some of what was being said was a little hard to follow or was completely over my head as a beginner.

The book itself is translated by Jeffery Hopkins, PH.D. and perhaps some is lost in translation, however I find most of my problem lies in the basic structure of the presentation. I would have preferred something more along the lines of; subject: history of, what can be gained from, step-one,two,three-etc., and final thought before moving on to the next subject.

Perhaps after reading more on the subject from different literature I may gain better knowledge in order to understand what is presented in this book. If you may know some books that describe what I'm looking for please suggest them.

All Feedback is Appreciated. Thanks and Peace be onto you.

Its a fantastic book for anyone who has interest in learning about the core teachings of budhism and understand a little more about the Dalai Lama, this thoughts and life. Truly inspiering.

This book gives an insight of both the buddhist doctrine and the way to become open-minded. Selflessness and compassion are just two key things in their teaching which all of mankind needs to understand. This book as it states teaches the stages of the path to full realization of our potential. Very good reading and if put into practice it would help mankind in improving themselves. I am a Roman Catholic and I think its one of the books all should have regardless of whatever religion you might belong to.

Buddhism reveals reality to be something other than the commonplace reality most of us exist within. We are rather like fish in a great ocean with no understanding of the chemical composition of water. The key to becoming enlightened is practicing abandonment of an absolute (independent) reality and replacing it with a dependent-arising reality. This reality that comes into being through our thoughts and actions. It exists, but not without being continuously re-created. Through it we learn our true nature, which is altruistic intent. As we cease to engage in fruitless "afflictive" emotions, our compassion increases. Destructive karmas (actions) are lessened, as is suffering (ours and others), ultimately leading to higher levels of re-incarnation and enlightenment.

I was not a Buddhist before reading this book (or I should say, listening to this audio book). I am surprised at how well the Dalai Lama understands the Western mind in order to convey these ideas so clearly. He is able to convincingly associate Buddhist analysis with modern quantum mechanics and relativity. It is remarkable to me that ancient Buddhism perceived a reality in tune with the often strange world of quantum mechanics. It is a realisation of the true nature of things. Stepping through the "looking glass" of Buddhist thought in pursuit of enlightenment is the first step toward nirvana (cessation).