The Power of Compassion: His Holiness the Dalai Lama

I have the book and audiobook and it’s noseworthy

The audio version is abridged so you don't get to hear everything that is in the book version. It is read by Sir Derek Jacobi, although he has not been given credit in the bibliographic information here! Sir Derek Jacobi has a wonderfully soothing and expressive voice, allowing him to deliver the Dalai Lama's messages with the sensitivity I'm sure they deserve.This audio contains messages on a great many topics other than compassion, but perhaps all the issues are meant to relate back to the main topic. Some of the essays address issues of Buddhist philosophy which were pretty much over my head since I am not a Buddhist, but a Southern Baptist. Some of the main points I got from the essays were: be tolerant of other people's religions, sex without commitment and responsibility is "awful", people should use birth control since the world can only support a finite number of humans, all nations should disarm themselves to prevent war, in order to foster compassion we should think of every human being as having an equal right to happiness, that we should think positive thoughts and smile to have a good influence on others. Even if you are not Buddhist I think this is worth listening to as it will broaden your horizons and might give you some new ideas. I gave this item 4 stars because it was abridged which takes away from the full impact of the work.

I loved this book. I didn't know what compassion was until I read this book. It is true that there is a definition in the dictionary, but unless you can get some data around it, it is meaningless. If you are curious about compassion, the Dalai Lama or Buddhism, it is a must read - even though it is hard to find!