The Four Noble Truths
A Guide to Everyday Life
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
The Buddha’s profound teachings on the four noble truths are illuminated by a Tibetan master simply and directly, so that readers gain an immediate and personal understanding of the causes and conditions that give rise to suffering as well as the spiritual life as the path to liberation.
Experiential teachings on the Dharma by the Tibetan master Lama Zopa Rinpoche, written in a lively manner to inspire and motivate both general readers and experienced Buddhist practitioners to persist in understanding the nature or truth of suffering, its causes, and the remedies to secure the end of all suffering—the four noble truths of the path, the Buddha’s psychological method for us to break free from suffering. Speaks intimately and directly to the reader about how the principles of the four noble truths are to be applied to one’s day-to-day spiritual life as the path to liberation.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Using a mix of personal stories, familiar fables, simple analogies, and a touch of gentle humor, Zopa (How to Enjoy Death), a Tibetan Buddhist scholar, skillfully explains how Buddhism's four noble truths (suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path to end suffering) offer hope for genuine happiness. As cofounder of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, Zopa is well positioned to illustrate the Buddhist view that delusion and karma (which literally means action) operate to perpetuate suffering through multiple lifetimes. In a sometimes stern tone, he explains that circumstances in one's life are the result of actions in this life or previous lives, and that negative karma can lead to rebirth in the nonhuman realms. A well-organized master class based on 45 years of Zopa's teachings, the book covers a range of key Buddhist ideas such as the five aggregates and interdependent origination. He also explains the basic Mahayana tradition of pursuing enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings. Though treatments of some complex topics such as Vajrayana and the path of tantra are hard to follow, this useful book clearly explains the Buddhist belief that the mind creates suffering through the mistaken notion of the self's inherent existence. Buddhists and readers looking to understand the four noble truths better will get much out of Zopa's book.
