The evolution of His Holiness’ soul along his current life is depicted in the book’s 3 parts – firstly as a human being, secondly as a Buddhist monk and thirdly as Dalai-Lama, representing the spiritual culture of his Tibetan ethnic origins.
The first two parts start out full of hope – underlining the importance of being and acting human as well as explaining his interest in modern science, which tests reality through empiricism first, just like Buddhism teachings advice.
Religions are like drugs – we have multiple drugs in our pharmaceutical arsenal for different diseases; there is no single drug that heals everything. In the same way, each religion benefited a group of people and there is no need for a universal religion.
I was surprised though by his recommendations that one should first adopt the religion of one’s ancestors and because of this, he feels slightly uncomfortable teaching Buddhism in Europe.
The third part of the book describes the sad reality of Tibetans – speeches quoted from the ’60s show how little the situation has changed there.Living in exile for more than half a century is very harsh – his optimism is even more amazing in these regards.
His speeches are interrupted by short comments by the author of the compilation – framing His words in space and time.
This is not a book to be read on the run during the morning commute – it should be read slowly, word by word, with a cup of hot tea.
The book can be found in a library nearby or on Amazon.
Happy reading!
