I’m a crazy cat lover and a lover of all things mystical so this book makes my heart purr.

It’s about His Holiness the Dalia Lama rescuing a starving and pitiful kitten he finds on a street in New Delhi and takes to his home in the Himalayas. This is a very sweet and warmhearted story told from the cat's bird eye view as she spies on his meetings with Hollywood celebrities, VIPs, and philanthropists.

It’s a through-the-back-door crash course in Buddhism.

This, the biography of a 14th-century Tibetan Buddhist master, might seem out of place for a list that is about modern-day adaptations of ancient philosophies. However, I wanted to include it as a reminder that while philosophical reform can be all well and good, sometimes the masters of yesteryear are those from whom we still have the most to learn.

I find this book magical: its lucid descriptions of the rich intellectual and spiritual tradition of 14th-century Tibetan culture, its monastic curriculum and debates, and the evident commitment to enlightenment among its many protagonists, all of these things have much to teach us moderns who might just have a tendency to get a little cute when we think that we know best.  

I once saw the 10th Panchen Lama give a very rare press conference in Beijing. This remarkable Tibetan endured years of imprisonment for writing a report describing mass arrests, political executions, and man-made starvation in Tibet in the early 1960s. The report makes it clear that the famine and the eradication of religion was a deliberate policy. It was quite likely that more than any other group the Tibetans suffered more than any other group in China. Although he was at times criticised as a collaborator, compared to the Dalai Lama, who escaped to India, the report reveals that there was no escape from this genocide for any Tibetan.

This book opened a window into another world for me. Heinrich stopped his journey and became part of that extraordinary world as tutor and friend to the Dalai Lama. His writing of his years there created a spell of exotic mystery. That world is no longer in existence, but the city continues to be a magnet for travellers. I tried to get to Lhasa in 1984 but got arrested by Chinese police. Instead of jail, they made me write outlines 200 times that I’d turn over a leaf and not go to Lhasa. So still in search of new worlds, I went off to Yunnan’s mountain top hidden monasteries. And I treasure the memory of Heinrich’s book as an insight into a world that has gone forever.

Who better to explain the Tibetan ecosystems that are vital to all of Asia? And to offer solutions.

A millennium before national parks and nature reserves appeared in the West, Tibetans had a system in place: they did not call regions national parks, but they decreed these areas were to be left alone, which is pretty much the same thing. The Dalai Lama elaborates on the Tibetan Buddhist concept of interdependence, whereby all creatures, plants, and phenomena depend on each other.

He proposed that Tibet be turned into a large biosphere, a Zone of Peace between China and India, set aside to preserve the Third Pole. Though his vision was rejected by the Chinese, in 1989, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize due to this vision—the first ever awarded on the basis of environmental initiatives.

I was an angsty, trouble-making, “pain in the ass-essement” of a student. A mischief maker. A frequenter of the principal's office. Then junior year, I find myself at a rummage sale holding a book with a cheesy, smiley Buddhist on the cover about happiness. Maybe it was curiosity (or what I’d later realize was depression) but I felt I had to buy the book. No book has changed my life more.

Co-written by H. H. the Dalai Lama and psychiatrist Dr. Howard C. Cutler, this book is a pragmatic, down-to-earth exploration of how our thoughts – our reactions to hardships – can shape our well-being. Not preachy, nor touchy-feely, this book can explain how to acknowledge the challenges of life while taking our happiness into our own actions. If you’re going to suffer (and in teaching, you will suffer), why not take a masterclass on how to find happiness within… show more.

I fell in love with the Dalai Lama while reading this book. While telling his own story, he makes it clear that the most important knowledge a human being can have is not amenable to the usual idea of scientific inquiry, which typically involves analyzing external phenomena. I learned about how inner awareness yields to contemplative investigation in the Buddhist tradition, enabled by the development of refined attention through meditation. As I read this book, I could feel the love that remains when all judgment about ourselves and others is finally released.  

This book is a collection of conversations between the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu.

I picked it up because of my interest in joy and was curious about their perspectives. I found their words to be accessible and practical. It is a book that I give as a gift because I think all of us can learn from their experiences and wisdom.

This book beautifully demonstrates the power of compassion, which goes hand-in-hand with mindfulness. It tells the story of the Dalai Lama’s life, with a focus on how his mom helped him cultivate compassion and how that seed of compassion lives in all of us.

I think this book is great for kids who learn best through storytelling, and I like that it offers exposure to Tibetan Buddhism, Eastern culture, and the Dalai Lama as a historical figure for children and adults of all backgrounds and religions.

Did you ever want to escape your life? Like that soap commercial, “Calgon, take me away!” That just so happens in this book. The Pope and the Dalai Lama decide they need a break from their high-profile lives and just want to slip away into society. To be unnoticed and ordinary. So they don a disguise and escape the Vatican in a Maserati? Thus begins this story, a part whimsical, part spiritual road trip touring Italy, detailing cultural and political differences alongside the identities with which we define ourselves and that one difficult question gets asked, exactly where and how far does one person’s tolerance or openness end? This delightful story kept me captivated while sharing spiritual inspirations and words of hope and kindness.