THE COMPASSIONATE LIFE, by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

THE COMPASSIONATE LIFE

by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Giving and receiving affection is the key to happiness, and compassion is the key that opens our hearts to affection. Illuminating themes touched upon in The Good Heart and The Art of Happiness, this generous and gentle book contains some of the most beloved teachings on compassion that the Dalai Lama has ever offered. Touching and transformative, The Compassionate Life is a personal invitation from one of the world's most gifted teachers to live a life of happiness, joy, and true prosperity.

Collected here are four of the Dalai Lama's most accessible and inspiring teachings on compassion. The purpose of life is to be happy--therefore, we must devote ourselves to developing our own peace of mind and this is achieved by caring for the happiness of others. Our own happiness cannot exclude that of others. His Holiness offers specific practices for developing loving-kindness and compassion in even the most difficult situations.

"Into this deceptively simple little book, the Dalai Lama has poured the goodness of his own heart and the distilled wisdom of lifetimes of work and teachings. It is all here, everything we need to enact in our own lives, even in the most trying of times, if we are to realize our own beauty and that of others, and the possibilities of true happiness and peacefulness in this very life, right here and now. This sorely-needed prescription for sanity and kindness in the world is unbelievably simple and unbelievably important--and therefore a practice worthy of our wholehearted commitment."--Jon Kabat-Zinn, author of Wherever You Go, There You Are

"In The Compassionate Life the Dalai Lama argues convincingly that putting others before ourselves is the key to both a happier life and a better society, and offers proven Buddhist techniques for how we can cultivate the mind of compassion and equanimity."--Melvin McLeod, Editor, the Shambhala Sun magazine

Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, is the spiritual and temporal leader of the Tibetan people. Since fleeing the Chinese Communist takeover of Tibet in 1959, he has dedicated his life to teaching compassion and understanding, placing special attention on interreligious dialogue and the sciences. His tireless efforts to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict in his homeland earned him the Wallenberg Award (conferred by the U.S. Congressional Human Rights Foundation), the Albert Schweitzer Award, the Congressional Medal of Honor, and the Nobel Peace Prize.