Wake Up to What Matters
A Guide to Tibetan Buddhism for the Next Generation
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2.0 • 1 Rating
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
An introduction to the Dharma for millennials by a young Tibetan lama.
This unique and fresh presentation of Tibetan Buddhism provides all the tools a millennial needs to navigate the Buddhist path in a modern world. The twenty-five-year-old lama, Avikrita Vajra Sakya, was born and raised in America and now lives in a monastery in India, training in and teaching meditation and Buddhist philosophy to hundreds of monks and nuns. He has thousands of students all over the world, with over 100,000 people following him on Facebook. His style of writing is frank and open, hitting straight to the heart of young people's concerns for why they should bother with a spiritual path in the age of cell phones and shopping malls.
There is no other book like this available that makes such a direct argument for being a twenty-first century Buddhist, whether you are living in Seattle or in a Himalayan hermitage. Fundamentally, we all have the same hang-ups and all equally have the potential to become buddhas ourselves by cultivating loving-kindness, compassion, and wisdom. And this book teaches readers to do just that.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Buddhist monk Sakya explores Mahayana Buddhism, "the altruistic system of Buddhism for attaining full awakening to benefit all sentient beings," in his welcoming and lucid debut. Rather than "a totally secular and materialist or psychotherapeutic approach" to the ancient teachings, Sakya instructs 21st-century Buddhists on fundamental principles, such as the Triple Gem: "the Buddha who shows us the path; the verbalized and realized Dharma, which is the path; and the Sangha, especially the companionship of aryan bodhisattvas, who assist us on the path." Rather than the traditional eightfold path, Sakya explains the five progressive paths of bodhisattvas in the Mahayanistic tradition, as well as the nature of bodhi (enlightenment), the conditions that strengthen and impede bodhichitta ("the altruistic determination for full awakening"), and the six transcendent perfections, or the paramitas. Sakya particularly shines in the chapters which explore the power of compassion and the "inner demons" of bodhisattvas (such as misknowing, anger, pride, and doubt). This thorough yet approachable treatise on Mahayana Buddhism will be invaluable reading for newcomers to the religion.
