Becoming Enlightened

In How to Become Enlightened, the Dalai Lama returns to the cornerstone of Buddhism, laying out an accessible and practical approach to enlightenment.He first presents the stages of Buddhist practices, which are aimed at increasing a person’s spiritual capacity. These reflections are formulated with step-by-step exercises to help listeners expand their perspective, taking into account how present actions influence future experience. This shift to a longer range perspective—from concentrating on the pleasures of the moment to concern for the future—constitutes the first phase in transforming one’s spiritual perspective. The next section deepens this perspective by exploring counterproductive emotions and how to overcome an exaggerated sense of one's status, that of others, and that of objects of lust and hatred. The meditative steps presented in this section lead to direct realization of the true status of persons and objects so that, gradually, various levels of afflictive emotions are removed and replaced by positive emotions.In the final section, the Dalai Lama paints a moving picture of the attitude of altruism that causes listeners to expand to the highest level of spiritual endeavor. Here the emphasis is on developing totally unbiased compassion through a gradual series of cause-and-effect exercises. The Dalai Lama focuses on how to produce, maintain, and increase such a broad attitude while avoiding what undermines it.             How to Become Enlightened will provide listeners with clear steps to mark their growth and progress, and comes alive through personal anecdotes and intimate accounts of the Dalai Lama’s experiences as a life-long student, a meditator, a political leader, and an international figure working with other Nobel Peace Laureates to address crises around the world.