Suggested Reading List - Intermediate Books

Ethics for the New Millennium
by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
     "Compassion is what makes our lives meaningful. It is the source of all lasting happiness and joy. And it's the foundation of a good heart, the heart of one who acts out of a desire to help others. Through kindness, through affection, through honesty, through truth and justice toward all others we ensure our own benefit. This is not a matter for complicated theorizing. It is a matter of common sense. There is no denying that consideration of others is worthwhile. There is no denying that if society suffers we ourselves suffer. Nor is there any denying that the more our hearts and minds are afflicted with ill-will, the more miserable we become. Thus we can reject everything else: religion, ideology, all received wisdom. But we cannot escape the necessity of love and compassion"
Riverhead Books, New York, NY, USA, 1998, 322 pages, hardbound.
US$24.95 ISBN #157322-025-6
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Essence of Refined Gold
by the Third Dalai Lama, Commentary by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
Compiled, Edited and Translated by Glenn. H. Mullin
     "The Third Dalai Lama's famous work is a powerful exposition on Atisha's A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, the basis of the Lam-Rim teaching. Continuing this living tradition, the present Dalai Lama provides and extensive "commentary to the meaning" of the text, drawn from his own penetrating experience. The discourse, which comprises the main body of this text alternates between personal reflections, direct spiritual advice and scriptural quotations. He presents the spirit of the Third Dalai Lama's brief work with an amazing ease and fluidity that is accessible to all."
Snow Lion, Ithaca, NY, USA, 1982, 270 pages.
US$12.95 ISBN #0-937938-29-7
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A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of Night
by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
     "His Holiness presents here a detailed manual of practical philosophy based on The Way of the Bodhisattva (Bodhicharyavatara), a well-known text of Mahayana Buddhism written by Shantideva. The Dalai Lama explains and amplifies the text, alluding throughout to the experiences of daily life and showing anyone how to develop bodhichitta, the wish for perfect enlightenment for the sake of others."
Shambhala Dragon Editions, Boston, MA, USA, 1994, 141 pages.
US$10.00 ISBN #0-87773-971-4
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Introduction to Tantra
A Vision of Totality
by Lama Yeshe
Compiled and Edited by Jonathan Landaw.
     "No other member of the tradition has ever talked about Tantra with such clarity, coherence and simplicity, and no one has summarized the essence of Tantra so well as Thubten Yeshe does here."
Wisdom Publications, Boston, MA, USA, 1987, 173 pages.
US$12.95 ISBN #0-86171-021-5
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Echoes of Voidness
by Geshe Rabten
Translated and Edited by Stephen Batchelor
     "Voidness is at the very heart of Buddhism. It is one of the most widely known yet least understood philosophical concepts. Here, Englishman Stephen Batchelor provides a solid framework for understanding it. He presents voidness from its three different perspectives -- devotional, logical and experiential -- using the explanations of Geshe Rabten, a contemporary Tibetan master, as well as those of two early scholars, Chandrakirti and Je Tsong Khapa."
Wisdom Publications, Boston, MA, USA, 1984, 147 pages.
US$9.95 ISBN #0-86171-010-X
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The Tantric Distinction
An Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism
by Jeffrey Hopkins
     "Enlightenment is shown here demystified and a possibility for each individual. The entire Buddhist path is laid out as a living experience -- all in the context of the final path being the tantric one: the most skilful and expedient way of utilizing one's experiences to penetrate through to the nature of reality and to cut, once and for all, the very root of one's own suffering. Anyone wanting to understand the Mahayana Buddhist path couldn't wish for a better book."
Wisdom Publications, Boston, MA, USA, 1984, 176 pages.
US$9.95 ISBN #0-86171-023-1
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