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The Dalai Lama's Book of Wisdom
The only little gift book by His Holiness, this volume offers wisdom to calm and inspire as it provides simple advice on the importance of compassion and forgiveness.
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
About the author
Dalai Lama XIV
1,115 books5,754 followersJetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso (born Lhamo Döndrub), the 14th Dalai Lama, is a practicing member of the Gelug School of Tibetan Buddhism and is influential as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, the world's most famous Buddhist monk, and the leader of the exiled Tibetan government in India.
Tenzin Gyatso was the fifth of sixteen children born to a farming family. He was proclaimed the tulku (an Enlightened lama who has consciously decided to take rebirth) of the 13th Dalai Lama at the age of two.
On 17 November 1950, at the age of 15, he was enthroned as Tibet's ruler. Thus he became Tibet's most important political ruler just one month after the People's Republic of China's invasion of Tibet on 7 October 1950. In 1954, he went to Beijing to attempt peace talks with Mao Zedong and other leaders of the PRC. These talks ultimately failed.
After a failed uprising and the collapse of the Tibetan resistance movement in 1959, the Dalai Lama left for India, where he was active in establishing the Central Tibetan Administration (the Tibetan Government in Exile) and in seeking to preserve Tibetan culture and education among the thousands of refugees who accompanied him.
Tenzin Gyatso is a charismatic figure and noted public speaker. This Dalai Lama is the first to travel to the West. There, he has helped to spread Buddhism and to promote the concepts of universal responsibility, secular ethics, and religious harmony.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, honorary Canadian citizenship in 2006, and the United States Congressional Gold Medal on 17 October 2007.
Tenzin Gyatso was the fifth of sixteen children born to a farming family. He was proclaimed the tulku (an Enlightened lama who has consciously decided to take rebirth) of the 13th Dalai Lama at the age of two.
On 17 November 1950, at the age of 15, he was enthroned as Tibet's ruler. Thus he became Tibet's most important political ruler just one month after the People's Republic of China's invasion of Tibet on 7 October 1950. In 1954, he went to Beijing to attempt peace talks with Mao Zedong and other leaders of the PRC. These talks ultimately failed.
After a failed uprising and the collapse of the Tibetan resistance movement in 1959, the Dalai Lama left for India, where he was active in establishing the Central Tibetan Administration (the Tibetan Government in Exile) and in seeking to preserve Tibetan culture and education among the thousands of refugees who accompanied him.
Tenzin Gyatso is a charismatic figure and noted public speaker. This Dalai Lama is the first to travel to the West. There, he has helped to spread Buddhism and to promote the concepts of universal responsibility, secular ethics, and religious harmony.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, honorary Canadian citizenship in 2006, and the United States Congressional Gold Medal on 17 October 2007.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 149 reviews
May 14, 2018
"The essence of Buddhism is kindness, compassion. This is the essence of every religion."
I don’t really consider Buddhism a religion. I consider it a way of thought, a means of training your mind in order to become a better person. It’s about acting in the right way, in a way beyond one’s self, in order to benefit others.
I have read so many books on Buddhism and I will likely read many more. The essence of it can never be conveyed in words accurately. True Buddhism is derived from action and thought. Words on the page are lifeless when it comes to such a profound philosophy. Its power resides in action and will, a will to make the world a better place.
And it really does begin with the small things, the little acts and the simple kindnesses. The Dalai Lama’s Book of Wisdom shows us exactly how possible it is.
It’s a lovely little book full of many wise quotes: it’s food for the soul.
I don’t really consider Buddhism a religion. I consider it a way of thought, a means of training your mind in order to become a better person. It’s about acting in the right way, in a way beyond one’s self, in order to benefit others.
I have read so many books on Buddhism and I will likely read many more. The essence of it can never be conveyed in words accurately. True Buddhism is derived from action and thought. Words on the page are lifeless when it comes to such a profound philosophy. Its power resides in action and will, a will to make the world a better place.
And it really does begin with the small things, the little acts and the simple kindnesses. The Dalai Lama’s Book of Wisdom shows us exactly how possible it is.
It’s a lovely little book full of many wise quotes: it’s food for the soul.
December 20, 2015
Oct 2015
Well the media has made it seem a little less shocking to criticise the Dalai Lama than it did a few months ago, when I read this. I don't give much credence to one-off gaffes like that: most people deserve a bti of leeway - but it just makes it seem not-unconscionable to dislike this book. In any case, I doubt the man himself would consider a 100-page little thing that sits beside the counter in bookshops to be the sum of his philosophy.
I read this on the heels of the short classical Buddhist textThe Dhammapada, which I was also less than fond of. I'd accumulated all these Buddhism books in 2007, and in summer 2015 was looking at them in summer simply as short books I owned and hadn't read yet – it also ended up as a reassessment of my feelings about Buddhism. I'd never been A Buddhist per se (I'm both an atheist and a pagan… which makes sense to me, anyway) but did find some aspects of Buddhism useful, particularly the meditation, and whilst I find plenty to disagree with, bits and pieces of Buddhist philosophy still have something to do with who I am now.
It was surprising just how trite much of the contents of this little book was.
It also talks from within the philosophy, within the feeling of things – most pages contain a few sentences which I can see making sense as a reminder to people who already feel these things, but they give absolutely no indication of how to get there. For instance in the talk of accepting hardships of various sorts, it's assumed the person knows * how * to accept.
Western psychology can make this much more explicit using concepts such as the grief cycle; or controlling one's exposure to an idea and using various comforts / self-soothing, and talking or writing about things … until your emotional tolerance is increased (whilst having accepted also that it doesn't have to increase – one of those paradoxical ideas which, it becomes apparent over years, does tend to help). If you read widely enough, support is evident for individual variation and flexibility: that some people benefit from expressing strong feelings as it lessens them, but at other times and for other people it may inflame them. And philosophies are much richer (though I rarely like reading formalised philosophy texts) where there is space to question ideas, and competing viewpoints exist: arguments for and against acceptance – for instance that it might be quite right and understandable to be angry about some great unfairness, and that this anger might provide energy for causes and ideas beyond oneself. Particularly pertinent where neoliberalism increasingly seeks to co-opt ideas from traditions as various as buddhism, stoicism and cognitive behavioural therapy into a concept of what is correct and productive thought for the twenty-first century worker bee.
I found that buddhism can encourage repression of negative feelings: when I got into it I very rarely hated people and didn't really comprehend a lot of the general lack of understanding of others in society. But every now and again I would get enraged by something to an extent which was a nuisance. I realised later I needed to allow myself to feel more negatively more often and to rant about some things so I wasn't suppressing so much into a little rolled up ball that would occasionally explode. (I usually find ranting entertaining in others, anyway.) Buddhist philosophy was the wrong approach for me. And I think popular Western books on it do a disservice by not addressing the possibility that people need to allow themselves to feel negative emotions more – they are all about quietening them down, as if people were all the same.
The Dalai Lama's Tibetan Buddhism is different from the traditions behind many popular Buddhist meditation classes in UK Buddhist Centres and the guides associated with them, such as those by Paramananda. This difference in traditions may be why, towards the end of this book, he recommends a couple of types of meditation which are far from ideal for a novice who is depressed or has other reasons to feel bad about themselves. In other – quite frankly more responsible - sources I've previously read on Buddhism, these are considered advanced.
you visualise your old self, the embodiment of self-centredness, selfishness and so on, and then visualise a group of other sentient beings. Then you adopt a third person's point of view as a neutral, unbiased observer and make a comparative assessment of the value… You will naturally begin to feel more inclined towards the countless others. Whilst there are plenty of politicians, bankers and horrible bosses whom we'd like to start thinking this way, it's pretty bloody obvious there are also a lot of people that's only going to make feel worse. Likewise 'the practice of giving and taking. Using visualisation, it basically involves taking upon yourself all the suffering pain, negativity and undesirable experiences of other sentient beings… Probably not one for those already struggling to cope with their own misfortunes and those of the people immediately around them, eh?
The only bit I found insightful was the couple of pages on the difference between 'compassion' and 'attachment' in friendships and other relationships. This is attachment in the Buddhist sense more than the Bowlby sense, but there's an overlap: this attachment is all about how the person makes you feel about yourself rather than what's in their best interests and how they feel. It's a dichotomy I've thought about a fair bit as in parts of my family I've always felt very much like an attachment-object rather than a person who's compassionately understood, and I felt I could understand the other point of view whilst they seemed unable to see mine, or remember its existence more than fleetingly. I also don't think it was until my thirties where I was able to be in love and feel a considerable amount of compassion for that other person, understanding their interests separately (rather than an un-felt intellectual knowledge that these interests existed, combined with an embarrassment with myself for not being more selfless). Jointly, these led to an epiphany that what one person may experience as love may or may not be felt as love by the love-object, or may or may not be useful to another person. On sites like this I see a lot of statements that “what X Character felt wasn't love, it was infatuation/obsession; love is this particular mature idea I adhere to now that I am 40 and married with a 2.4 child family” etc etc: it's a denial of certain forms of experience, and a way of telling others they are unable to know themselves. If a person considers it love, it is for them as far as I'm concerned – but that's a completely separate matter from how it affects the love-object. (And being-in-love can sometimes be hard work for one's friends who listen to the saga.) Anyway, the problem with the Buddhist ideas briefly outlined here are that they seek to dispense with the 'attachment' as much as possible rather than simply to augment the compassion so the two can co-exist. It also doesn't consider the pleasure that may exist in mutual attachment and liking. Buddhist approaches are often concerned with smoothing over emotional experience as much as possible, rather than enjoying the pleasures of a life that's a little more of a rollercoaster than their ideal. This smoothing is the right thing for some people, and some do need to tone these feelings down a lot in order to enjoy life (and some forms of psychotherapy have drawn on Buddhism to this end) – but as a general approach to life for the average person, there is significant denial of pleasure in it.
A book I read part of a few years ago, The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt, put forward the idea that Buddhism's quest to smooth over the drama of life arose because the religion was formed at a turbulent time in history, when life was much less predictable and more dangerous than it was for the average middle-class westerner at the time of writing. With a certain amount of bathos given that he was writing just before the late-00s recession and the continuing loss of economic security for many, he said that this was overkill for many such people. (Even at the time of writing he implicitly overlooked the situation of many poorer people.) But I still sort of agree – that it might take too much pleasure out of life, and that – whilst there certainly are limits and some things are too much for almost anyone – there is enjoyment to be found in the swings and roundabouts of a normal life.
Also read the same day, and liked better: The Dalai Lama's Book of Love and Compassion.
Well the media has made it seem a little less shocking to criticise the Dalai Lama than it did a few months ago, when I read this. I don't give much credence to one-off gaffes like that: most people deserve a bti of leeway - but it just makes it seem not-unconscionable to dislike this book. In any case, I doubt the man himself would consider a 100-page little thing that sits beside the counter in bookshops to be the sum of his philosophy.
I read this on the heels of the short classical Buddhist textThe Dhammapada, which I was also less than fond of. I'd accumulated all these Buddhism books in 2007, and in summer 2015 was looking at them in summer simply as short books I owned and hadn't read yet – it also ended up as a reassessment of my feelings about Buddhism. I'd never been A Buddhist per se (I'm both an atheist and a pagan… which makes sense to me, anyway) but did find some aspects of Buddhism useful, particularly the meditation, and whilst I find plenty to disagree with, bits and pieces of Buddhist philosophy still have something to do with who I am now.
It was surprising just how trite much of the contents of this little book was.
It also talks from within the philosophy, within the feeling of things – most pages contain a few sentences which I can see making sense as a reminder to people who already feel these things, but they give absolutely no indication of how to get there. For instance in the talk of accepting hardships of various sorts, it's assumed the person knows * how * to accept.
Western psychology can make this much more explicit using concepts such as the grief cycle; or controlling one's exposure to an idea and using various comforts / self-soothing, and talking or writing about things … until your emotional tolerance is increased (whilst having accepted also that it doesn't have to increase – one of those paradoxical ideas which, it becomes apparent over years, does tend to help). If you read widely enough, support is evident for individual variation and flexibility: that some people benefit from expressing strong feelings as it lessens them, but at other times and for other people it may inflame them. And philosophies are much richer (though I rarely like reading formalised philosophy texts) where there is space to question ideas, and competing viewpoints exist: arguments for and against acceptance – for instance that it might be quite right and understandable to be angry about some great unfairness, and that this anger might provide energy for causes and ideas beyond oneself. Particularly pertinent where neoliberalism increasingly seeks to co-opt ideas from traditions as various as buddhism, stoicism and cognitive behavioural therapy into a concept of what is correct and productive thought for the twenty-first century worker bee.
I found that buddhism can encourage repression of negative feelings: when I got into it I very rarely hated people and didn't really comprehend a lot of the general lack of understanding of others in society. But every now and again I would get enraged by something to an extent which was a nuisance. I realised later I needed to allow myself to feel more negatively more often and to rant about some things so I wasn't suppressing so much into a little rolled up ball that would occasionally explode. (I usually find ranting entertaining in others, anyway.) Buddhist philosophy was the wrong approach for me. And I think popular Western books on it do a disservice by not addressing the possibility that people need to allow themselves to feel negative emotions more – they are all about quietening them down, as if people were all the same.
The Dalai Lama's Tibetan Buddhism is different from the traditions behind many popular Buddhist meditation classes in UK Buddhist Centres and the guides associated with them, such as those by Paramananda. This difference in traditions may be why, towards the end of this book, he recommends a couple of types of meditation which are far from ideal for a novice who is depressed or has other reasons to feel bad about themselves. In other – quite frankly more responsible - sources I've previously read on Buddhism, these are considered advanced.
you visualise your old self, the embodiment of self-centredness, selfishness and so on, and then visualise a group of other sentient beings. Then you adopt a third person's point of view as a neutral, unbiased observer and make a comparative assessment of the value… You will naturally begin to feel more inclined towards the countless others. Whilst there are plenty of politicians, bankers and horrible bosses whom we'd like to start thinking this way, it's pretty bloody obvious there are also a lot of people that's only going to make feel worse. Likewise 'the practice of giving and taking. Using visualisation, it basically involves taking upon yourself all the suffering pain, negativity and undesirable experiences of other sentient beings… Probably not one for those already struggling to cope with their own misfortunes and those of the people immediately around them, eh?
The only bit I found insightful was the couple of pages on the difference between 'compassion' and 'attachment' in friendships and other relationships. This is attachment in the Buddhist sense more than the Bowlby sense, but there's an overlap: this attachment is all about how the person makes you feel about yourself rather than what's in their best interests and how they feel. It's a dichotomy I've thought about a fair bit as in parts of my family I've always felt very much like an attachment-object rather than a person who's compassionately understood, and I felt I could understand the other point of view whilst they seemed unable to see mine, or remember its existence more than fleetingly. I also don't think it was until my thirties where I was able to be in love and feel a considerable amount of compassion for that other person, understanding their interests separately (rather than an un-felt intellectual knowledge that these interests existed, combined with an embarrassment with myself for not being more selfless). Jointly, these led to an epiphany that what one person may experience as love may or may not be felt as love by the love-object, or may or may not be useful to another person. On sites like this I see a lot of statements that “what X Character felt wasn't love, it was infatuation/obsession; love is this particular mature idea I adhere to now that I am 40 and married with a 2.4 child family” etc etc: it's a denial of certain forms of experience, and a way of telling others they are unable to know themselves. If a person considers it love, it is for them as far as I'm concerned – but that's a completely separate matter from how it affects the love-object. (And being-in-love can sometimes be hard work for one's friends who listen to the saga.) Anyway, the problem with the Buddhist ideas briefly outlined here are that they seek to dispense with the 'attachment' as much as possible rather than simply to augment the compassion so the two can co-exist. It also doesn't consider the pleasure that may exist in mutual attachment and liking. Buddhist approaches are often concerned with smoothing over emotional experience as much as possible, rather than enjoying the pleasures of a life that's a little more of a rollercoaster than their ideal. This smoothing is the right thing for some people, and some do need to tone these feelings down a lot in order to enjoy life (and some forms of psychotherapy have drawn on Buddhism to this end) – but as a general approach to life for the average person, there is significant denial of pleasure in it.
A book I read part of a few years ago, The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt, put forward the idea that Buddhism's quest to smooth over the drama of life arose because the religion was formed at a turbulent time in history, when life was much less predictable and more dangerous than it was for the average middle-class westerner at the time of writing. With a certain amount of bathos given that he was writing just before the late-00s recession and the continuing loss of economic security for many, he said that this was overkill for many such people. (Even at the time of writing he implicitly overlooked the situation of many poorer people.) But I still sort of agree – that it might take too much pleasure out of life, and that – whilst there certainly are limits and some things are too much for almost anyone – there is enjoyment to be found in the swings and roundabouts of a normal life.
Also read the same day, and liked better: The Dalai Lama's Book of Love and Compassion.
January 3, 2018
I don't know which made me happier~ this little volume of wisdom or finding it on my 18 year old grandson's book shelf.
Though this is a fairly easy, quick read, you can also spend a lot of time really pondering the thoughts and doing self-examination. This is one of those books that I could revisit time and time again.
My favorite passage is on Page 94.
"It must be said that genuine compassion is not like pity or a feeling that others are somehow below you. Rather, with compassion you view others as more important than yourself."
Regardless of your faith, this is a wonderful read.
Though this is a fairly easy, quick read, you can also spend a lot of time really pondering the thoughts and doing self-examination. This is one of those books that I could revisit time and time again.
My favorite passage is on Page 94.
"It must be said that genuine compassion is not like pity or a feeling that others are somehow below you. Rather, with compassion you view others as more important than yourself."
Regardless of your faith, this is a wonderful read.
June 26, 2012
What a terrific little reference book. Perfect reminders that you can pick up and read any time.
November 29, 2012
Practical, universal wisdom for any person regardless of religion.
April 22, 2019
Year's ago, I read a book by the Dalai Lama for a club I was in at the time. Don't ask me what the title was. That's why I started doing Goodreads, so I would have an electronic list of what I have read. In any case, this one was a birthday gift (Thanks again, Kate!), and I've been reading it off and on since February when I sit down to meditate. I recommend it to anyone who is curious about the Dalai Lama's Buddhist teachings. They are much more straight forward than you would suppose.
March 7, 2020
This was a short book containing excerpts from the Dalai Lama’s writing and was a good introduction to his guidance, the main philosophies of Buddhism and the troubles in Tibet.
August 17, 2021
Great. “ As long as space endures, as long as sentient beings remain, until then, may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world “ Shantideva’s
November 12, 2018
It’s a great book to pick up every day and read a couple of pages to get inspired. I really enjoyed going through the different chapters, reading about his teachings and taking a step back / deep breath to reflect on them. Highly recommend.
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September 15, 2010I love the teachings of the Dalai Lama and find great peace in immersing myself in his books.
July 18, 2012
It is more than a religious book; it's an abridged guide of how to live.
November 24, 2015
"Gota após gota, o oceano se forma. Não olhe longe demais, mas comece a viagem agora."
January 19, 2020
Great little book that I keep in my handbag.
March 18, 2024
Great pocket book
February 3, 2017
Excellent tiny book full of bit sized wisdom.
March 17, 2018
Great for dipping into when you want a little bit of peace & inspiration
February 7, 2017
For a pocket-sized book, this took me quite some time to read. On almost every page, there is a reason to pause and reflect. It prompts internal dialogues many times its own length! I'd struggle to call it only thought provoking. The brief expositions cause the reader not only to examine their thoughts but also to examine their feelings - the instinctive, emotional and spiritual responses to these teachings. This is a book well worth reading and picking up again periodically to review its impact.
June 15, 2015
I finished the book a little while ago and would definitely recommend it to ever one. It doesn’t matter what religion you practice, in fact this book references the teachings of all the major religions throughout. For me this book was about putting simple (some are simple, some not so much) practices in our everyday lives that are designed to ease the stresses and frustrations we all face. I’m not suggesting that we all go out and try to become monks, but if there are things we can do to help keep us from going crazy or wanting to kill each other I think it’s at least worth a look. Check it out. What harm could it do? I mean it’s the Dalai Lama.
December 8, 2013
A great book if you are already familiarized with the Dali Lama and his teachings. Yet this shouldn't be treated like a "real" book. It is quotes from different books and sayings by the Dali Lama that relate to joy, death, anger, and giving and receiving. Still they are enlightening words yet may be in different contexts to the reader, it just depends on what you take from it. Basically if you're the kind of person who posts quotes on your Instagram and Facebook page you'll love this mini-book.
February 25, 2022
Dalai Lama is a title of the highest Buddhist leader in Tibet. Dalai Lama XIV is Tenzin Gyatso since 22 February 1940. I haven't read much of his book or listen to his talks. I tried to read his other book "The Book of Joy", but have not finish it because I think he is on the next level of enlighten, kind being.
His words are kind and to the point, he got this calm-peaceful- father-figure vibe. It is however kind of challenging to read his books because it makes me feel like a bad human being. His teaching reminds me how shallow, short tempered and inconsiderate I am as a human.
His words are kind and to the point, he got this calm-peaceful- father-figure vibe. It is however kind of challenging to read his books because it makes me feel like a bad human being. His teaching reminds me how shallow, short tempered and inconsiderate I am as a human.
August 1, 2009
I'm never without this book - it is what I can thumb through anytime, anywhere, and get inspiration about life and it's up's and downs, and how to put them into perspetive. It is torn and tatterd, traveling through life in my purse, but it's always there when I need it! How many books can you say that about? How many people?
September 16, 2007
A good friend gave me this little book to keep with meand refer to while I was going through a very difficult emotional event in my life. I learned so much about what is important and what's not important from the little excerpts in this carry-everywhere book. Everyone, religious or not, should carry this simple book with them to help keep a perspective on life.
January 9, 2010
I've studied a lot of Buddhism (particularly Pure Land within the Mahayana School) and this book gives a very limited overview of the basic tenets of Buddhism. I would suggest reading further in order to gain a better understanding of Tibetan Buddhism and the differences between the various types of this way of life.
February 12, 2013
At only about 200pages long, with every other page highlighting nuggets of Buddhist teaching, this is more like a compact reference handbook. There are great quotes and wisdom, but my only gripe is that they may have been taken out of context and as such, misses out the full meaning of some of the teachings.
January 29, 2015
This was a nice quick read,one that brought up some interesting and great points. It will definitely be a good reference to go back to, to reflect on, to think about.
It doesn't dwell in a specific religion, but more it just gives good tips on being a better person through various exercises and practices.
It is definitely worth spending some time with.
It doesn't dwell in a specific religion, but more it just gives good tips on being a better person through various exercises and practices.
It is definitely worth spending some time with.
June 15, 2015
A great little book that takes a look at developing in the areas of contentment, dealing with anger, and the reality dying as well as other relevant issues. It is wisdom on each of these subjects taken from different writings and teachings, condensed into a topical format. It is designed for practical application.
July 15, 2007
This book has its 'healing' effect. Despite it was a gift from someone that really important in my life, this book means a lot for me. I can't write much here, but if you want to find another source of happiness in your life, this little book of wisdom might give you some.
December 4, 2007
Speeches of the Dalai Lama that were taken out of context and put out in this annoying little book. Unless you are a Buddhist scholar, most of the material will make no sense, because much material is assumed to be familiar to the reader. Blech.
February 25, 2016
There are so many quotes I've collected over the years and many of them are from the Dalai Lama. I appreciate his wisdom and his desire for people to become more compassionate. A quick read but full of thought provoking ideas.
October 7, 2012
Another present from years ago. I got the version printed in 1999. I think the most fun part about this book is you could flip over to any page and find words to ... chew on.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 149 reviews