Practicing Wisdom

Rating:
Summary: Excellent introduction to Emptiness
Review: This book is truly remarkable, even among the excellent books written by His Holiness. It is a transcript of teachings he gave in the early 90s on the 9th chapter of Shantideva's classic "Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life" (Bodhisattvacaryavatara). The 9th chapter is a very difficult chapter to read, because it deals with the understanding of ultimate reality according to the Madhyamika (Middle Way) tradition. However, this is a most important topic, since liberation can only come from realization of emptiness. Therefore, commentaries are essential.

His Holiness already published some of his talks on the 9th chapter as a small yellow book called "Transcendent Wisdom". This current book is perhaps much better for a general audience, though, because it is so clearly written and ably translated by Geshe Thubten Jinpa. It is so clear, that even difficult subjects appear comprehensible. Also, each chapter ends with a brief meditation on the preceding topic. That really helps one to ground one's knowledge and achieve insights.

I have already recommended this book to several other people, and have heard very positive responses. If you are interested in this topic, or Shantideva's text, this book is a very good choice.

By the way, the translation of choice for Shantideva's book is the one by the Padmakara translation group, published by Shambhala. That is the one used in this book. However, even if you haven't read Shantideva's work, or don't have it, the full text of chapter 9 is given here, and therefore this book can stand alone as well.