Freedom Through Understanding: A Buddhist Path to Happiness and Liberation

by Thubten Yeshe, Thubten Zopa, Nicholas Ribush (Editor)

"Buddhism isn't some fanatical religious trip. It's a philosophical way of living life. And also, to study Buddhism you don't need to believe in something extreme. It's a matter of investigating, examining and experimenting on yourself. It's not just belief. Without understanding, belief can be very dangerous. So what Lord Buddha emphasized was that understanding is the path to liberation, knowledge is the path to liberation." (Lama Thubten Yeshe)
"The practice of religion, spirituality or Dharma has to be a method that completely destroys all suffering, a method that brings about the complete cessation of suffering, and not just temporarily. That depends upon completely eradicating the root of all the billions of sufferings that exist—ignorance and all the other delusions that spring from the root of ignorance. True peace is received whenever we completely eradicate this root of suffering. In other words, cessation of ignorance, attachment and anger is real freedom, true peace—the peace that never changes; the peace that once received can never change, is everlasting." (Lama Zopa Rinpoche)
In Lama Yeshe’s and Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s first trip to Europe they offered a weekend seminar based on their famous month-long Kopan meditation courses. Preceded by Lama Yeshe’s lecture on meditation at Kensington Town Hall, these teachings at Royal Holloway College, Surrey, encompass the entire Buddhist path to enlightenment. This short course was also videotaped and is available on a historic DVD also entitled Freedom Through Understanding.
This title was published by the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, a non-profit organization established to make the Buddhist teachings of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche freely accessible in many ways, including on our website for instant reading, listening or downloading, and as printed and electronic books. Our website offers immediate access to thousands of pages of teachings and hundreds of audio recordings by some of the greatest lamas of our time. Our photo gallery and our ever-popular books are also freely accessible there. You can find out more about becoming a supporter of the Archive and see all we have to offer by visiting the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive website.

Genres: Buddhism, Philosophy

188 pages, Paperback

First published July 28, 2009

About the author

Lama Thubten Yeshe was a monastic teacher of Tibetan Buddhism most closely associated with the Gelug school of the Dalai Lamas. He established the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), and was succeeded in leadership of that organization by his heart-disciple Lama Thubten Zopa in 1984.

Reviews

[Thong Lam]

The book review of Freedom Through Understanding

Freedom Through Understanding: The Buddhist Path to Happiness and Liberation by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. The book emphasizes that true happiness and freedom can be achieved through understanding the mind and transforming negative emotions into wisdom and compassion.

Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche explain that real happiness does not come from material things but from training the mind. They show that problems in life are created mainly by negative thoughts such as anger, jealousy, and attachment.

Lama Yeshe was a Tibetan Buddhist teacher and one of the most influential modern lamas. He was known for explaining deep Buddhist philosophy in simple, practical language that people from any culture can understand. He was born in 1935. Furthermore, he left Tibet after the Chinese invasion and later taught in Nepal and many other countries. In 1969, he founded the Kopan Monastery near Kathmandu. Which became famous for its annual meditation course for Western students.

Lama Zopa was born in 1946 in Thame village, which is located in Nepal. He was recognized as a reincarnated lama at a young age. Reincarnated as a Laudo Lama. Lama Zopa studied Buddhism in Tibet and later continued his studies in India. After the Chinese occupation. There he met his main teacher, Lama Yeshe. With whom he later co-founded the FPMT.

The book teaches that real happiness and suffering come from the mind, not from outside conditions. True freedom is found by transforming the mind through wisdom and compassion rather than chasing material comforts. Meditation is presented as a practical tool to observe thought, develop inner peace, and train the mind. They emphasize using daily problems as opportunities to practice patience, compassion, and understanding. By balancing wisdom with compassion, anyone can live a more meaningful life and move forward in enlightenment.

I feel that book is not just Buddhist philosophy but also a guide for living with purpose, reminding us to make life meaningful by caring for others and training the mind.

True peace com only when we eliminate ignorance, attachment and anger. This is real freedom the peace that never changes. By Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

[Imogen Logan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book, first Buddhist read, read this in two days during a Buddhist monastery course in Kopan, Kathmandu. Was spitting straight facts and I really enjoyed it. Read it so fast bc there was a lot of free time and contemplation hours 😍

Perfect non fic book to bring me back down to earth

[Vinayak Viswanath · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good collection of talks by Tibetan Buddhist masters with emphasis on the facets of the mind and ways to control it for eternal happiness

[Henry Lucas · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Freedom Through Understanding" is a great introduction for beginners into some basic and advanced concepts of Buddhism. The book is a translation of various seminars given by several Tibetan monks explaining how Buddhism can impact all of us and describing its philosophies. This book is good for anyone of any religion or age who is willing to ponder some of the deeper philosophies of life and of Buddhism. I loved the book. Nearly every sentence I read could be deeply reflected on and language was very understandable.

[Vikrant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant start to Buddhism philosophy

[Dawn Saquin · Rating 5 out of 5]

- 3 main delusions in the world: Attachment, Anger, Ignorance.
- "All your problems–mental, external, internal, whatever you consider to be a problem, everything–comes from attachment."
- Great to reflect on the concept that we are in charge of our own happiness; external situations may be terrible, but internal is controlled by ourselves.