Rate this book

A Profound Mind: Cultivating Wisdom In Everyday Life (2011)

by Dalai Lama XIV(Favorite Author)

3.4 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0385514670 (ISBN13: 9780385514675)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Harmony

review 1: I've been practicing/studying Buddhism on my own for about six years. I have read many different books on Buddhism and have had a particularly difficult time grasping the ideas of emptiness and dependent origination on both an intellectual and spiritual level. I have much more studying and meditating to go before I fully understand these topics, but for some reason while reading this book, something just clicked in my head and those topics started making more sense. While there was some difficult material that I didn't really grasp, I think the Dalai Lama did a really good job presenting Buddhist teachings and various Buddhist philosophies in this book. Though this book is geared for general readers, I would not recommend this to someone who is just starting to study B... moreuddhism. It's not particularly difficult, but I know that I would have walked away frustrated if I had picked up this book six years ago.
review 2: I do enjoy reading the Dalai Lama’s works and this is no exception. It is, however, hard to review. It is, according to the dust jacket, a comprehensive overview of the most important teachings in Buddhism and that is exactly what it is.Being raised Catholic and growing up in a culture a world away from Buddhist teaching, it is sometimes hard and yet delightfully challenging, to try and wrap my head around these teachings. The idea of emptiness, for example, the thing the Dalai Lama holds as the most important, is mind blowing to me. I felt mind blown through much of this and it will take several more readings I’m sure to really grasp what is being said.I’m not reading this in order to change beliefs (something the Dalai Lama doesn’t find prudent by the way) but rather to understand other ways of thinking and believing. I do find some Buddhist tenants far more in line with my own thinking and others are so different that I’m not entirely sure I understand them completely. That said, the book isn’t hard or inaccessible at all. It’s just learning to think in new ways isn’t always easy. I did like this book a lot. less

Download links for: A Profound Mind: Cultivating Wisdom in Everyday Life

Advertising