Customer Reviews

The Way to Freedom: Core Teachings of Tibetan Buddhism

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Freedom is always thought to be do whatever you want to do, say whatever you want to say, go wherever you want to go, and think whatever you want to think. However, that's not ultimate freedom but simply freedom of the way we live and think.

In this book, you can find the way to the ultimate freedom, the freedom of thoughts and the mind. After all these years of living, all of us are, borrow a term from the field of cognitive psychology, "conditioned" to think, say, behave in certain ways. No matter how we think we are "free" to do or think about certain things, we have already been conditioned through social learnings or our other experience. The truth, so to speak, is to unlearn all these and see the world from a totally different perspective. After reading this book, you will learn that things are not necessarily what they appear or you perceive them to be. All are in the working of the consciousness and the mind.

If you want to find what is the ultimate freedom, the freedom of all worldly bondage, the freedom of the mind, you are looking at the right book. Buddhist beliefs are not myths. They are so accessible and easy to understand, no one should feel threatened by the fact that it is associated with a religion. I would recommend it to everyone, including believers of other religions.

This book is an excellent introduction to Buddhist thought. As someone who is just beginning to explore the precepts of Buddhism, this book gives a great summary of the basics. However, its true gift is that it challenges anyone who reads it to begin making changes in themselves in a way that would bring a positive influence in the world.

If you are going to buy only one book about Buddhism, choose this one. You will feel as if His Holiness is talking with you personally, speaking directly to your heart, and the truth of His words will strike a very deep cord in your heart. This book left me with tears in my eyes many times, tears of intense emotion, happiness and fulfillement. I am a better person for having read it and there is no way I can properly express my gratitude to HH for having wrote it.

I read this book at a time of crisis in my life and it was as if it had been written just for me! As someone who has had a strong interest in religious philosophy all my life and who has been particularly interested in Buddhism, I found in this book, the wisdom and the compassion I needed to confirm my own path toward personal freedom. A good antidote to the cynicism and adversarialism surrounding us. I think I'll read it again!

Tenzin Gyatso provides a clear and compassionate introduction to the Mahayana school of Buddhism. The book is practical, yet contains sufficient information about the basic teachings of the Buddha. A valuable introduction by H.H. - written in his usual kind and compassionate style, which is so reflective of the manifestation of the Bodhisattva Chenrezig. A valuable guide and fine addition to most any library.

"The Way to Freedom" is an wonderful introduction to Tibetan Buddhist Teachings. It introduces karma, suffering and death in a captivating, thought-provoking, inspiring, and easy to read style.

Anything written by His Holiness the Dalai Lama is worth reading. You don't have to be Buddhist, heck, in fact, you can be an atheist and still find guidance and solace in the words of the DL.

If I had to claim an organized religion, it would be Buddhism, but, as it is, I am a Lincolnite (When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That is my religion. --Abraham Lincoln). So, since Lincoln's theological writings are limited, I find guidance for my existance through Buddhist philosophy.

If you're a Westerner who just can't handle the liturgy and Christ-centeredness of our Country, then try anything by the Dalai Lama.

Reading this short introduction to the heart of dharma, it struck me: the author uses "we" to include himself amidst his fellow humans who by definition according to the tenets of his teaching, long to become freed from our "untamed mind." You often forget, given the esteem in which the author's held by many, that he's still caught up in the same karmic whirlwind as anyone else. This down-to-earth acknowledgment of basic shortcomings of human character permeates this short treatise. He also raises insightful comparisons, based on first-hand knowledge to be sure, of how idealism and good intentions, as with Mao and Chinese Communism, can lead one awry if one's inner nature cannot find its own unselfish fulfillment. This perspective enriches the relevance today, sadly, of this 1994 edition. It's based on Tsong-kha-pa's 15 c. "Lam Rim," or "Stages of the Path to Enlightenment," itself an elaboration of Atisha's 11c. "The Lamp on the Path..."

This textual ambiguity confused me at times. The Dalai Lama includes his own comments, while at other times he paraphrases or summarizes (I suppose, as Tsong-kha-pa's never quoted verbatim) the "Lam Rim." Therefore, when reading, I was unsure who was telling me what. Also, there's no index or glossary; a newcomer like me finds it easy to forget what, for example, the "three trainings" were deep into these short but intricate chapters. (Try Thubten Chodren's "Open Heart, Clear Mind" as another primer, from an American convert who became a Tibetan Buddhist nun; it's also reviewed by me.) Perhaps this Western wish for academic clarification pales before the Eastern message. Not who said what, but what is said remains the "core teachings of Tibetan Buddhism," as the subtitle indicates.

It's an insistent, and often severe message. You close this short explanation better informed about the essence of Buddhism, but also you might be discouraged at how difficult it can be to overcome karmic imprints of bad habits, how deeply scarred we may be from past actions and indeed past lives that pull us back from bettering ourselves now and in the future, and how severely Buddhism regards unethical behavior. The path, we learn, must be taken if we are to escape our suffering, of course, yet it's a daunting labor of endless mindfulness and relentless self-scrutiny. This isn't a feel-good collection of jolly platitudes. Those expecting light inspirational encouragement will instead find stern warnings to begin immediately to practice compassion, engage in altruism, reject delusion, incorporate renunciation, and to prepare for death's separation from all we now hold so dear.

"To practice Buddhism is to wage a struggle between the negative and the positive forces in your mind. The mediator seeks to undermine the negative and increase the positive." (1) So this work begins, and the work of any who take the formidable challenge of living up to the encouragement of, and chastisement of, dharma seriously. The powerful passage on pp. 61-63 imagining our death, from the perspective of a palliative doctor's bland assurances to our self vs. the warnings to prepare for the funeral to our relatives in the next room, captures for me the impact of this catechism. It packs quite a punch behind its innocuous title and unassuming format.

Morality, to the surprise perhaps of some seekers, as the Dalai Lama conveys it, obligates sexual control, meticulous examination of conscience, and scrupulous adherence to right behavior, fulfillment of vows, and committment to the compassionate care of others before one's own satisfactions. It's more in line with ascetic practices in Islam, Judaism, or Christianity than you might expect, with the key difference that sins accrue over eons and no confessor or intermediary's there to ease our burden. There's, by the way, no ecumenical outreach in these pages. From the context and the culture, it appears this is pure Buddhism distilled as strong medicine.

The weight of one's past can prove quite an impediment, and the heroic way to liberation opens, as the author cleverly puts it, with our re-orientation of ends and means to tilt in our favor, and that of everyone else.

"I often remark that if you want to be selfish, you should do it in an intelligent way. The stupid way to be selfish is the way we have always worked, seeking happiness for ourselves alone and in the process becoming more and more miserable. The intelligent way to be selfish is to work for the welfare of others, because you become a Buddha in the process." (154) Shades of Jesus enjoining his followers to make friends with those of this world, so as to acquire treasure in the next life?

'The Way To Freedom' is an excellent introduction to the ideas of Buddhism and although this book focuses on Tibetan Buddhism, many of the ideas and concepts hold true across the various schools of Buddhism. The Dalai Lama's writing is especially clear and insightful in this book and some quite complex ideas are put across in a very accessible and inspirational way. Topics covered include, The basic teachings, death, rebirth, karma, the key four truths that Buddhism is based on and information on the Bodhisattva ideal. This is the first book in the Library of Tibet series and as far as I'm aware only two others were published subsequently which go into greater depth behind the ideas introduced here. For your first taste of Buddhism, or just for an inspirational read for those who need a little boost, this book is just the ticket.

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The book arrived in a timely manner in perfect new condition. It was easy to tell that the book had never been opened. The book itself is an interesting look at Tibetan Buddhism. I learned a lot.