3 Review(s)

Originally written for Tibetan lay people, Opening the Eye of New Awareness is a succinct, thorough overview of the doctrines of Buddhism as they have been practiced for a thousand years in Tibet. In his first book on Buddhist philosophy to appear in English, the Dalai Lama discusses the need for religious practice and the importance of kindness and compassion, and a new introduction by the translator places these teachings in their proper historical context. Completed in 1963, just four years after his escape from Tibet and four years after completing his religious education, it is a work of consummate scholarship — not an edited transcript of public lectures, but His Holiness's own summation of Buddhist doctrine and practice. Nowhere in his many subsequent works does one find a more clear and concise exposition of the essentials of Buddhist thought.