A Book Review of "Everyday Enlightenment" (By V. Kodai)

A Book Review of Everyday Enlightenment

(By Vimal Kodai)

His Holiness the Gyalwang Drukpa's Everyday Enlightenment

His Holiness the Gyalwang Drukpa, has hereby successfully attempted to display most of the fundamental teachings of the Buddha in this very masterpiece of his—Everyday Enlightenment. He brings upon many disciplines from Buddhist literature while he applies them to circumstances which put a halt to the true causes of turmoil in human beings’ lives. His Holiness has thoroughly and concisely combed through many notions of life’s problematic events as per those faced daily by human beings. There are many elements of truth and particles of spiritual knowledge which are well presented by this spiritual leader in order to deal with such matters. Gyalwang Drukpa instructs mere basic principles which are of great relevance to us, humans. These are spiritual evidence which handle happiness, harmony, and peace of mind, compassion, self-growth, motivation and spiritual enlightenment in the lives of human beings. His Holiness the Gyalwang Drukpa is very cautiously emphasizing on the happiness which comes from within ourselves versus external influences that lead to personal satisfaction. Gyalwang Drukpa carefully portrays a holistic approach to the idea of seeking for the Buddha within, the spiritual friend within, and, the teacher within. His Holiness gives solutions which restore states of unrest in the daily lives of humans: common sources of nuisances to the lives of humans are well depicted and solutions to such matters are clearly indicated in his book. Gyalwang Drukpa attaches a firm relationship to what the developed mind is really about. He gives many likable amazing examples on how compassion is truly created in the lives of humans. Also, he indicates that the latter should adopt such a characteristic for the sake of enhancing life’s minute treasures and wonders by using the spiritual principles taught by the Buddha. Gyalwang Drukpa indicates that fear, ego, anger, anguish and the feeling of being controlled by others always impact on either man’s peace of mind or on his state of tranquility. 

His Holiness the Gyalwang Drukpa

His Holiness also reveals that karma is nothing but our "actions" (physical, mental and spoken) and that its causes and effects (good and/or bad) depend on the motives which reside behind of our deeds. Gyalwang Drukpa stresses on the idea of gaining true wisdom within the self by our thorough acceptance of spiritual enlightenment in our everyday life. Everyday Enlightenment is a book which replenishes and fulfills all the spiritual knowledge attached to human beings’ daily lives. It creates a deep impact in the lives of those who read it by its complete acknowledgment of compassion as being the most persistent and most definitive requirement which better the lives of human beings. His Holiness has brought a real life spiritual journey, all of it in this very monumental book of his. Everyday Enlightenment is a book which has profound teachings to us all: it has high moral values, high spiritual values, high social values and insightful inspirations which shed light on our pathway to spiritual enlightenment.

A COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE BUDDHIST PATH (By Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen)

A Book Review
of
A Complete Guide to the Buddhist Path
(By Vimal Kodai)

A COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE BUDDHIST PATH 
(By Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen)

Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen

With great and thorough attention paid to Drikung Bhande Dharmaradza’s written work, The Jewel Treasury of Advice, Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen provides a concise but complete guide to the Buddhist Dharma in his presentation of A Complete Guide to the Buddhist Path. The author of this book gives a complete understanding of Buddhism’s most profound knowledge while he takes us from the birth of Buddhism (Prince Siddhartha’s acquiring sublime Dharma) to the full and vast elaboration of the practice of Dharma—what its entire significance and teachings hold to all Buddhists and to all of humanity. Each verse taken from The Jewel Treasury of Advice has a direct connotation with all the realistic, simple, but profound significances of the purpose of each human being on our planet. Living day by day without fear, living with no such isolation from the spiritual world, and, finding causes as well as true meanings to one’s purpose on this planet are all but pure and selfless addresses depicted from A Complete Guide to the Buddhist Path. This book sheds light to the broad and in-depth significations of what human beings should truly adapt to. It indicates with a firm and specific goal that there is more to life’s cause of being beside all the riches and materialistic pleasures and desires which surround a human being in his daily life. A Complete Guide to the Buddhist Path strikes as being a book that attracts its audience with all the proverbs, sayings and main introductory verses which are displayed at the beginning of each chapter.

A layout and chart of the fundamental Buddhist teachings

The Eightfold Path: The 8 pathways to sublime Dharma

Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen’s A Complete Guide to the Buddhist Path provides a very profound and in-depth approach to Buddhist literature with such simplicity and such modesty that it gains great momentum in the realm of all the many faculties affecting humankind in his day to day living. A Complete Guide to the Buddhist Path brings great meanings to humanity’s purpose and cause of being in our world. It also provides symbolic and direct understanding of the purpose of the human body which every human being is wearing very cherishingly. Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen sheds new lights to the subject taken up by Drikung Bhande Dharmaradza from the latter's The Jewel Treasury of Advice. Both of them have so immensely worked in portraying the purpose of being human with such meaningful and worthwhile writings. This book brings so much light to the mere reader: a strong, a very intense and profound spiritual connection with the Buddha in the within is sensed. All the littlest fragments of the book have such crucial significances to serve as the ultimate purposes for all of humankind and what the latter is bound to abide by and live with as he tags along with daily life and day to day living. A Complete Guide to the Buddhist Path is not only a book which inspires a man, it doesn’t simply motivate its readers, but it creates a profound and direct impact on each and every one of its readers with such intensity and tremendous spiritual knowledge that it forces a human being to live in a world filled with selflessness, modesty and compassion. I think that with such a book in the market, the quest for all the reasons of us being humans, and our search for solving the true mysteries behind our wearing this human body, will first and foremost result in our acquiring bright and illuminated solutions to problematic and obscure pathways featuring in our lives. Thus, Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen’s A Complete Guide to the Buddhist Path promotes us to devoting ourselves to much endeavoured actions towards our neighbours and close ones so that we may live for the solemn purpose of bettering every human being’s existence on our planet.