Awakening Kindness: Finding Joy Through Compassion for Others

In Nawang Khechog's view, one of the wonders and marvels of being human is that we can choose to nurture and cultivate kindness, compassion, and love. These precious human values are the foundation of true happiness and are at the core of humanity's possibility of peaceful coexistence with one another, with other species, and with our environment.

Based on his eleven years as a monk, studying Buddhist philosophy and meditation with the Dalai Lama, as well as his own highly regarded workshops, Awakening Kindness details the many ways we can enrich our lives by simply being kind to each other and ourselves. Nawang includes a range of simple meditations, mantras, and practices that are easy to incorporate into even the busiest modern life.

Filled with the philosophy of many cultures and religions, and touching on everything from human nature as it's portrayed in film to scientific support of our limitless capacity for love, kindness, and compassion, Awakening Kindness takes the reader on a life-changing journey where we all can take part in creating a culture of kindness.

Nawang Khechog was a monk for eleven years, including four years as a hermit meditator in the Himalayan foothills personally sponsored by His Holiness the Dalai Lama; he has studied Buddhist philosophy and meditation with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, as well as many other Tibetan masters, and now fills a truly unique spot in Buddhist culture as a teacher, performer, practitioner, and Tibetan freedom fighter, as well as being a Grammy-nominated musician whose latest solo CD, Tibetan Meditation Music, hit number nine on the Billboard charts, he has sold several million of his CDs world-wide.

Having spent more than thirty years in India as a Tibetan refugee, Nawang now seeks strength and tranquility in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and continues his performances and sharing the value of universal kindness and compassion in workshops across the country.

Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. He frequently describes himself as a simple Buddhist monk. Born in northeastern Tibet in 1935, he was as a toddler recognized as the incarnation of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama and brought to Tibet's capital, Lhasa. In 1950, Mao Zedong's Communist forces made their first incursions into eastern Tibet, shortly after which the young Dalai Lama assumed the political leadership of his country. He passed his scholastic examinations with honors at the Great Prayer Festival in Lhasa in 1959, the same year Chinese forces occupied the city, forcing His Holiness to escape to India. There he set up the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamsala, working to secure the welfare of the more than 100,000 Tibetan exiles and prevent the destruction of Tibetan culture. In his capacity as a spiritual and political leader, he has traveled to more than sixty-two countries on six continents and met with presidents, popes, and leading scientists to foster dialogue and create a better world. In recognition of his tireless work for the nonviolent liberation of Tibet, the Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. In 2012, he relinquished political authority in his exile government and turned it over to democratically elected representatives.

His Holiness frequently states that his life is guided by three major commitments: the promotion of basic human values or secular ethics in the interest of human happiness, the fostering of interreligious harmony, and securing the welfare of the Tibetan people, focusing on the survival of their identity, culture, and religion. As a superior scholar trained in the classical texts of the Nalanda tradition of Indian Buddhism, he is able to distill the central tenets of Buddhist philosophy in clear and inspiring language, his gift for pedagogy imbued with his infectious joy. Connecting scientists with Buddhist scholars, he helps unite contemplative and modern modes of investigation, bringing ancient tools and insights to bear on the acute problems facing the contemporary world. His efforts to foster dialogue among leaders of the world's faiths envision a future where people of different beliefs can share the planet in harmony. Wisdom Publications is proud to be the premier publisher of the Dalai Lama's more serious and in-depth works.