Buddhist teachings employ the symbol of a winged bird to illustrate the two most important realizations cultivated on the path to enlightenment: wisdom and compassion. Awakening the Mind, Lightening the Heart is the Dalai Lama's gentle and profoundly eloquent instruction for developing the basis of the spiritual path: a compassionate motive. With extraordinary grace and insight, His Holiness shows how the Tibetan Buddhist teachings on compassion can be practiced in our daily lives through simple meditations that directly relate to past and present relationships.
The second volume in the landmark Library of Tibet series, Awakening the Mind, Lightening the Heart examines the next step of the Path: Compassion. Based on a classic fourteenth-century Tibetan poem famous for its ability to awaken compassion in the human heart, this elegant primer combines the mind training and stages of the path traditions of Tibetan Buddhism with enduring simplicity and illuminating prose.