Drawn from His Holiness’s talks in New York City in August of 1999, An Open Heart is a clear and simple introduction to the core of Buddhism. The book lays out a course of meditations, from the simplest to the most challenging, that will enable anyone of any faith to see their minds more clearly and to open their hearts. And coming from a man whose entire life has been a testament to the power of open-heartedness, the life-impulse to be imbibed and lived in these talks is both substantial and highly instructive.

In his three talks at the Beacon Theatre, he wove together the contents of two texts, the Middle-Length Stages of Meditation by the 8^th-century Indian master Kamalashila and The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas by the 14^th-century Tibetan practitioner Togmay Sangpo. On the last day, a Sunday morning, more than 200,000 people congregated in Central Park’s East Meadow to hear him speak on Eight Verses on Training the Mind, a poem by the 11^th-century Tibetan sage Langri Tangpa. It was a day of immense blessing.

Among the topics in these talks, which have been edited into chapters, are: the desire for happiness, karma, the afflictions, compassion, cultivating equanimity, the nine stages of calm-abiding meditation, Buddhahood, and generating Bodhicitta (the wish to become illumined for the benefit of all beings everywhere).

I am not unique; I have no special privilege. You are not unique, nor do you hold special privileges. My aspiration to be happy and overcome suffering is part of my fundamental nature, as it is part of yours. If this is so, then just as we do, all others have the right to be happy and overcome suffering, simply because they share this fundamental nature. It is on the basis of this fundamental equality that we develop equanimity toward all. In our meditation we must work at cultivating the attitude that “Just as I myself have the desire to be happy and overcome suffering, so do all others, and just as I have the natural right to fulfill this aspiration, so do all others.” We should repeat this thought as we meditate and as we go about our lives, until it sinks deep into our awareness.