Cultivating a Daily Meditation: Selections from a Discourse on Buddhist View, Meditation, and Action

by Dalai Lama XIV

During April 1985, and again in October 1986, His Holiness the Dalai Lama delivered a series of discourses on Buddhist view, meditation and action.
These discourses and the ensuing discussions were recorded and later edited to produce this informative account of the Buddhist teachings and how they may be applied in daily life.

Genres: Buddhism

131 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Jetsun 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.

Reviews

[Kristi Gasteiger]

Got this when I was 18 - a beautiful basic for understanding Buddhism and Meditation.

[Erika Cucchiara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting book, but I learned very little about meditation. I learned a lot about Buddhism and compassion. I think it is a good read; it has some really good teachings that can help you live a happy life. I found it a bit difficult at times.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot in this book to meditate on.

[Josh Giunta · Rating 3 out of 5]

The thoughts in this book are transcribed speeches, so the organization is a little convoluted... and I wouldn't say it is a very good 'how to' book on meditation. It is more of a guide of Buddhist principles.... which of course are worth meditating on, but it's not really a good instruction manual.

DL is a spiritual bad-ass, and I'm not going to to talk smack about his beautiful ideas, only his form of organization.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another of my favorite buddhist books. When i first read it it made little sense, but after some furter reading i understood that whole thing and i have to say that it is one of the simplest best books on tibetan buddhism.