In My Own Words

September 1, 2008
Mehrotra assembles a Buddhist primer in this small collection of the Dalai Lama's thoughts on meditation, suffering, karma, enlightenment and other issues. Brevity is the book's greatest strength and greatest weakness: it is accessible, certainly, but the tiny topical sections do little more than scratch the surface of complex issues. His Holiness dispatches with compassion, a foundation of Buddhist thought, in a mere five pages; karmic consequences merit just three. And while the book aims for some practicality-including a chapter on how to meditate, for example-the approach is less hands-on than other Buddhist introductions. Although there are some gems scattered throughout, including a beautiful rumination on death as a spiritual practice, the book's unfocused structure does not make the most of these. All of the chapters have been cobbled together from the Dalai Lama's previous talks (with almost no information about where and when those talks occurred), meaning both that there is no truly original material here and that there is often little connection or flow between one chapter and another.

October 1, 2008
Owing largely to Tibet's precarious political situation and the charisma of the Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism is popular in America, but its ancient texts are at times dauntingly obscure. Brief and remarkably effective, this book covers topics such as happiness, Karma, and meaningful living and dying. Many readers find any work by the Dalai Lama crucial, and this book in particular would be an excellent starting point for new seekers. For most collections.

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