Joyful Path of Good Fortune

I put this audio on in the car and it makes any distance driving a profound experience. The reader's voice is excellent. No matter how many times I listen to it, it always bring me joy and clarity. Highly recommended! It mirrors closely with J. Tsongkapa's teaching of Lam Rim Chen Mo.

Path of Good Fortune is a book you need to own. It outlines Buddhist psychology and philosophy in a clear and concise manner. What is most important about this book to me is that the advice found within its pages has helped me to bridge the gap between the meditation bench and the real world. I read it as part of a regular practice of meditation and yoga. I am on my third 'read', but each day it seems as if I find something fresh, new, and meaningful in this book. It is one of those books that seems to know what you need to hear, it seems to answer your questions as if it could hear your heart speak.

This book (as do all GKG's books)is easy to read, easy to undrestand and easy to use. I've read dozens of books on Buhddism and meditaion, and athough many were quite good, none were as useful as this one book. It spells everything out in plain English and offers a realistic working guide apply theese concepts to anyones life of any already existing faith. I see thing s so much differently now. And as a result I don't get so frustrated with people or situations that only a few short months ago would made me completely NUTS. The more I put to use what I've read, the more relaxed and peaceful my mind gets! And ALL of my relationships, both personal and professional, have benefited greatly as a direct result.

This excellent and complete work by one of our times most prolific writers on the subject of Buddhism takes the reader from Buddhism 101 through the Intermediate Steps to the meaning of Full Enlightenment.Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, in "Joy Path of Good Fortune" teaches the reader the "Stages of the Path" (known in Tibet as the Lamrim) He uses terms that will guide as he gives the reader the feeling that the dharma is being provided them by a true "enlighten being."I found the book to a single source for the new student of Buddhism and a necessary reference book for the Buddhist Teacher. It's appendixes and glossary would be reason enough for a Buddhist to purchase this valuable book.As a long time practicing Zen Buddhist that is just beginning to study Tibetan Buddhism, I recommend this book for those that want to live in the eternal now as they walk their own joyful path.

There are a handful of lamrim texts in English to choose from these days, and this is the best. A serious practitioner of Mahayana Buddhism can hardly speak enough praise for the lamrim approach, for it contains the essence all Buddha's 84,000 teachings in a condensed and logical order that lends itself wonderfully to easy study and practice. The tradition of lamrim began with Atisha, who was invited to Tibet from India in the 11th century. Padmasambhava had first brought Buddhism to Tibet a few generations earlier, but it had quickly begun to degenerate and decline. Atisha rejuvenated it and started the Gelug or Kadam tradition. One of the hallmarks of this tradition is lamrim, a synthesis of the Vast Path (method) teachings and the Profound Path (wisdom) teachings, which Atisha first laid out in his "Lamp on the Path to Enlightenment". Other great teachers within this tradition, such as Je Tsongkhapa and Je Pabonkhapa, have written subsequent lamrim texts, and so this treasure by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso is a part of that tradition. Geshe Kelsang has always sought to bring the Mahayana (sutra) and Vajrayana (tantra) teachings and practices of Tibet to Westerners in a form that is entirely suitable to them, just as Atisha brought these teachings to the Tibetans long ago. He succeeds wonderfully with Joyful Path of Good Fortune. All lamrim texts contain the same essential points, but here these common points are rendered in clear and concise English that is a pleasure to read, and which makes even some of the most difficult points readily understandable to Westerners. The progression flows through the introductory and preliminary teachings, then on to the teachings for a person of Initial Scope, a person working to secure a good rebirth in their next life by practicing pure moral discipline and going for refuge to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. Next are the teachings for the Intermediate Scope, for people working to gain for themselves permanent liberation from all the sufferings of this world. Then the book proceeds on to the Great Scope teachings of the Mahayana, for those who are motivated to become a completely enlightened Buddha in order to save all beings from their suffering. Although the Tibetan Vajrayana (tantra) teachings are only mentioned in passing in this book, all the Mahayana (sutra) teachings are so beautifully and helpfully laid out that I cannot think of a better text to guide one's daily study and practice of the basic sutra teachings. In fact, a companion text by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Meditation Handbook, is specifically designed to help one put these teachings into a daily meditation practice. You can't go wrong here. Highly recommended.