About 1,000 years ago, the great Indian pandit and yogi, Dipamkara Shrijnana (Atisha), was invited to Tibet to reestablish the Buddhadharma which had been suppressed and corrupted for almost two centuries. One of Atisha's main accomplishments in Tibet was his writing of the seminal text A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, in which he extracted the essence of all 84,000 teachings of the Buddha and organized them into a clear, steplike arrangement that makes it easy for any individual practitioner to understand and practice the Dharma. This genre of teachings is known as lam-rim, or steps of the path, and forms an essential part of every school of Tibetan Buddhism. In this book His Holiness the Dalai Lama gives a commentary to not only Atisha's revolutionary work but also to Lines of Experience, a short lam-rim text written by Lama Tsong Khapa who was perhaps the greatest of all Tibetan lam-rim authors. In bringing together the teachings of Atisha, Lama Tsong Khapa and His Holiness the Dalai Lama, this book offers listeners one of the clearest and most authoritative expositions of the Tibetan Buddhist path ever published. It is highly recommended listening whether you are at beginning, the middle, and the end of the path. These teachings were given by His Holiness in Los Angeles in 2000 and were sponsored and published by Thubten Dhargye Ling in partnership with the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. The Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive (LYWA) is the collected works of Lama Thubten Yeshe and Kyabje Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche. The Archive was founded in 1996 by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the Archive�s spiritual director, to spread the Dharma for the happiness and benefit of all beings in as many ways as possible.
Illuminating the Path to Enlightenment, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Brilliance Audio, MP3 CD, 2016, 10 hours, $9.99
Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. Born in northeastern Tibet in 1935, he was as a toddler recognized as the incarnation of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama and brought to Tibet's capital, Lhasa. In 1950, Mao Zedong's Communist forces made their first incursions into eastern Tibet, shortly after which the young Dalai Lama assumed the political leadership of his country. In 1959, Chinese forces occupied the city, forcing His Holiness to escape to India. There he set up the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamsala, working to secure the welfare of the more than 100,000 Tibetan exiles and prevent the destruction of Tibetan culture. In his capacity as a spiritual and political leader, he has traveled to more than sixty-two countries on six continents and met with presidents, popes, and leading scientists to foster dialogue and create a better world. In recognition of his tireless work for the nonviolent liberation of Tibet, the Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. In 2012, he relinquished political authority in his exile government and turned it over to democratically elected representatives. He is the author of numerous books, including "The Good Heart", "The Meaning of Life", "The World of Tibetan Buddhism", and "The Compassionate Life".
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