Using the traditional Tibetan Buddhist framework of the Four Reminders the preciousness of human birth, the truth of impermanence, the reality of suffering, and the inescapability of karma Khandro Rinpoche explains why and how we could all better use this short life to pursue a spiritual path and make the world a better place. She says, "Think of all the time you've wasted hesitating or feeling distracted, or expending useless energy feeling jealous or angry, or being selfish. At the time of death, you'll look back and it will all seem like a dream."

The book includes contemplative exercises that encourage us to appreciate the tremendous potential of the human body and mind. They focus on how we can learn to see this life as a gift and how, by achieving peace in our own lives, we can bring a seed of happiness to other people.

Although raised in Asia, Khandro Rinpoche is well-versed in Western culture, which allows her to translate Tibetan Buddhist wisdom to Westerners with remarkable authenticity and immediacy. She is also one the most highly trained living Tibetan masters and has been teaching in the United States and Europe for over fifteen years, during which time she has attracted thousands of students. She brings a unique feminine perspective to the wisdom tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.

This Precious Life, Khandro Rinpoche, Shambhala Publications, Paperback, 190 pp., $18.95

Born in India in 1967, Khandro Rinpoche is the daughter of Tibetan meditation master His Holiness Mindrolling Trichen and is herself a renowned teacher in the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. She is the head of a Tibetan Buddhist nunnery in India and divides her time between teaching in the West, running the nunnery, and supporting charity projects for Tibetan refugees in India.

Foreword by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
Acknowledgments
Editor's Preface
Supplication
The Four Reminders
Introduction: Approaching the Gateway

Part One
First Thought: The Preciousness of a Human Birth
 1 Irreversible Concidence
 2 The Eighteen Qualities of a Precious Human Existence
 3 The Eight Freedoms
 4 The Ten Endowments
 5 A Human Birth, So Difficult to Obtain

Part Two
Second Thought: Impermanence
 6 The Great Impermanence of Death
 7 The Wisdom of Discernment
 8 Training in Awareness

Part Three
Third Thought: The Suffering of the Six Realms
 9 The Six Realms of Existence and Karma
10 The Three Lower Realms
11 The Three Higher Realms
12 The Six Realms: Not Solid - and Not to Be Taken Lightly

Part Four
Fourth Thought: Karma
13 The Law of Karma
14 Creating Positive and Negative Karma
15 The Ten Unvirtuous Actions
16 The Fruition of Negative Karma
17 The Ten Virtuous Actions and the Fruition of Positive Karma
18 Karma and Reincarnation
19 Purification of Body, Speech, and Mind
20 The Fruition of Contemplating the Four Reminders
21 Selflessness in the Beginning, Middle, and End

Part Five
Refuge
Entering the Gateway
Concluding Dedication

Appendix A: The Practice of Meditation
Appendix B: Resources for Further Practice and Study
Bibliography
Glossary
Editor's Acknowledgments
Index