Becoming Enlightened

Becoming 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. Becoming Enlightened provides 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.

Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D., served for a decade as the interpreter to the Dalai Lama. A Buddhist scholar and the author of more than twenty books and translations, he is professor emeritus of Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at the University of Virginia, where he founded the largest academic program of Tibetan Buddhist studies in the West. Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, is the spiritual and temporal leader of the Tibetan people. His tireless, efforts on behalf of human rights and world peace have brought him the Wallenberg Award, the Albert Schweitzer Award and the Nobel Peace Prize.