From Here to Enlightenment

October 1, 2012
Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Buddhist spiritual teacher the Dalai Lama offers spiritual advice using as his guide what is considered one of the greatest, though controversial, works in the Buddhist tradition, Tsong-kha-pa's Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment. This book is based on the course the Dalai Lama taught in 2008 at Lehigh University, in Pennsylvania. From Here to Enlightenment wraps itself around a single theme, dependent arising, a concept that insists that all things arise and exist only through deep connections and interdependence upon other things. Tsong-kha-pa's work taught that emptiness is the ultimate reality. Here the Dalai Lama asserts not only that on both personal and public levels our choices do matter, and our actions do have moral consequences but also that Tsong-kha-pa's teachings are an integral part of the Tibetan wisdom tradition. The Dalai Lama discusses global responsibility, religious harmony, the meaning of human life, and meditation and serenity, among other topics. Each chapter is followed by a series of questions and answers. Admirers of the Dalai Lama should enjoy this thoughtful volume.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)