A Profound Mind, The Dalai Lama

If you are a beginner to Buddhism, I would recommend another book before diving into this one. I have practicing Buddhist concepts and ideals for over 20 years, and this is for the advanced practitioner. Where to begin? There is no beginning actually, and no end, so I’ll just provide highlights. Self-cherishing is what motivates us to satisfy ourselves in all possible manners and to protect ourselves from any challenge to our happiness. Our misery is thus seen to originate from causes – physical, verbal, and particularly mental actions perpetrated by us – that stem from our grasping at a core self. By internalizing our knowledge of the 4 noble truths of Buddhism we can overcome suffering to the extent that there is no more; we can eliminate the origins of suffering so that there is nothing to eliminate; we can cultivate a path to the point that there is no longer a path to cultivate. A Buddhist practitioner aspires to attain freedom by eliminating its root cause, our fundamental ignorance of the lack of inherent existence in everything we perceive. We are bound in repeated existence by this ignorance as it impels other afflictions such as attachment, anger, pride, and jealousy. It is this bondage by our afflictions that we seek to end. The essence of all Buddha’s teachings is aimed at countering our grasping at a sense of self and at self-cherishing thoughts…. And bring this joy to all aspects of our life – while eating, walking down the street, or talking to friends.