I bought this for a book club a few years ago and read it but didn't make it to the book club. A great book "Om Mani Padme Hung" The jewel is in the Lotus!

This is an excellent book on Tibetan Buddhism, written by a man who has studied and trained in Tibet and Nepal. I’ve read more than a few books on this subject and this is by far the best. The language is clear and very easy to understand. I enjoyed the descriptions of meditation. If you are interested in this subject this is definitely the book for you. I would love to read more by this author.

This book was a hard read for me. Not because of it, though. I just simply had a hard time reading it. The book is very informative! Everything is broken down into easy to read sections. This is probably the only reason I was able to finish it. (Again, not because of the book.) If you are interested in Buddha, I would highly recommend it. Even if you are not planning on following but just as a curiosity.

As my started/finished dates show, I read this book over a l-o-n-g period of time. I got diverted onto many other books during that time (usually because of book group or academic assignments), and yet I always knew I wanted to finish this one.

Lama Surya Das has as deep and wide a grounding in Buddhism as any contemporary Western teacher. He is an authority you can trust for authentic teaching, and yet being a Westerner himself, he understands our challenges in approaching this ancient tradition. His writing is clear and straightforward, and frequently humorous. He shares quite a number of stories, both traditional teaching stories and stories of his own encounters with Tibetan Buddhism. It is not an "easy, breezy" read - it requires considerable attention and intention, and I think you will find your effort well-repaid.

In every chapter (organized around the eight-fold path), he provides excellent meditation exercises that help you to more deeply absorb and implement the teachings. These are worth the price of the book (and the time it takes to read it) all by themselves.

This book really opened my eyes and helped me regain my spiritual path. You don't have to be Buddhist to benefit from Lama Das's words. If you are interested in uplifting and inspirational spiritual message, I recommend this book.

This was helpful to me in understanding Buddhism better. I've finally got the 8-fold path down and understand the 3 jewels. I get the 4 Noble Truths better. Altogether helpful. I'm glad I read it. I think having it explained by a Westerner was really good for me.

This is my favorite spiritual book ever, and in fact, my favorite non-fiction book of all-time. If I can only suggest one introduction to Buddhism from a Western perspective, this would be it. Lama Surya Das simply and effectively presents the principles and outlooks of the East, with a foot firmly planted in our "real world" of the West.

I always highlight all of my books with my favorite passages and quotes to turn back to. This one has beeen re-read so many times it is highlighted, starred, dog-eared, and post-it-ed for four levels of awesomeness. Cannot recommend highly enough. Absolutely my desert island book.

Nice book with an eloquent and interesting narration. I truly enjoyed the author's style.

But his take on economics is detrimental and, in my opinion, anti-Buddhist. Isn't it the Buddhist concept to discern things, see them for what they are; overcome delusions and ignorance? That's the ideas the author himself repeats over and over again. And yet, when it comes to economics, he misses the point completely.

Ignoring the laws of cause and effect will not lead to bountifulness for all. It's not a matter of opinion. The laws of economics are as inexorable as, if you will, the laws of karma. Here is an excerpt from the "Anti-Capitalistic mentality" that addresses the points raised by the author:

"Nature is openhanded toward every child born. There is plenty of everything for everybody. Consequently, everyone has a fair inalienable claim against all his fellow men and against society that he should get the full portion which nature has allotted to him. The eternal laws of natural and divine justice require that nobody should appropriate to himself what by rights belongs to other people. The poor are needy only because unjust people have deprived them of their birthright.

Every word of this doctrine is false. Nature is not bountiful but stingy. It has restricted the supply of all things indispensable for the preservation of human life. It has populated the world with animals and plants to whom the impulse to destroy human life and welfare is inwrought. It displays powers and elements whose operation is damaging to human life and to human endeavors to preserve it. Man's survival and well-being are an achievement of the skill with which he has utilized the main instrument with which nature has equipped him -- reason. Men, cooperating under the system of the division of labor, have created all the wealth which the daydreamers consider as a free gift of nature. With regard to the "distribution" of this wealth, it is nonsensical to refer to an allegedly divine or natural principle of justice. What matters is not the allocation of portions out of a fund presented to man by nature. The problem is rather to further those social institutions which enable people to continue and to enlarge the production of all those things which they need.

It was not vain disquisitions about a vague concept of justice that raised the standard of living of the common man in the capitalistic countries to its present height, but the activities of men dubbed as "rugged individualists" and "exploiters." The poverty of the backward nations is due to the fact that their policies of expropriation, discriminatory taxation and foreign exchange control prevent the investment of foreign capital while their domestic policies preclude the accumulation of indigenous capital. All those rejecting capitalism on moral grounds as an unfair system are deluded by their failure to comprehend what capital is, how it comes into existence and how it is maintained, and what the benefits are which are derived from its employment in production processes."

There is so much in this book and it all comes through so naturally and easily! For a long time I had been wanting to understand Buddhism a bit better. And this is was a perfect start for it. It makes it approachable and down to earth, and it isn't preachy at all.
I might have decided to become an introverted Buddhist after this book. It does a great job of explaining the basic ideas behind it and probably my favourite part is the meditation exercises it includes.
Will definitely come back to it and I just feel like this book has opened a door through which I really needed to go through.

This took me forever to read as I was having a hard time understanding it all as my basic knowledge is limited. As I read I resonated with bits and pieces of this book but the rest felt like it was beyond my understanding.
I think if you are going to learn about Bhuddhism then this might now be the best book to start with as I am sure there are others that are good start up books. This book can get very heavy and kind of out there.
Start easy then work big.

Couldn't finish it. Too much woo-woo for me.

This book will be kept close at hand as an excellent resource for keeping in touch with the beautiful, peaceful Buddha energy. Many things to try, laid out with clear instructions. Excellent meditation guides - The book is the most Buddhistly abundant book I've read.

I had set this book aside for almost a year - I was halfway through when I was distracted by something very negative I'd come across in a Google search. I don't want to be more specific, but at the time I decided to set this book aside at least for a while. Now I'm more than simply "glad" that I picked it up again.

It is the most inspiring book about Buddha I've ever read.