Review of An Open Heart: Practising Compassion in Everyday Life by The Dalai Lama, Edited by Nicholas Vreeland, Afterword by Khyongla Rato and Richard Gere

This review first appeared in the October 2001 edition of Good Reading The practise of compassion is always relevant, but now the words of His Holiness The Dalai Lama in his latest book, An Open Heart, are more timely than he could have imagined. 'The concept of 'us' and 'them' is almost no longer relevant, as our neighbour's interests is essentially caring for our own future. Today the reality is simple. In harming our enemy, we are harmed.' Bookshops these days are swamped with books on Buddhism, and indeed books by His Holiness. This is one is special. It does not pander to western sensibilities to the point of reducing spiritual teachings to therapeutic manuals or New Age feel good texts. While His Holiness spoke for a Western audience, and the teachings were then edited, the authenticity of his voice, and of Tibetan Buddhism, comes through. An Open Heart is based on a series of teachings on compassion given in New York City in 1999. The teachings are complex, though there is simplicity at the heart of them. While having much to offer someone new to Buddhism, it is a work more easily embraced by those who have already begun to explore. While the core of the teachings is straightforward An Open Heart makes clear that the development of a compassionate nature and the engaged practise of compassion are a lifetime's work. His Holiness lays out guides to different meditations such as Compassion, Equanimity, Emptiness and Bodhicitta, as well as describing the pleasures of such states. There is selfishness on the path to selflessness: selfish because shrugging off ego and attachment, and truly loving others, makes you feel good. Often seen as antagonistic to pleasure, these teachings suggest the great pleasures to be found in shifting one's focus. We move from the obvious: 'I believe that every human being has an innate desire for happiness and does not want to suffer.' To the visionary: '[our] purpose is to reaffirm and stabilise our aspiration to attain Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings.' And the beauty of these teachings is that while you are left in no doubt you are choosing a hard path, it makes the path seem possible. Published by Hodder Headline, October 2001. RRP $24.95

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