Lama Yeshe (1935 - 1984) was born and educated in Tibet. He fled in 1959 and later established the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, an international network of Buddhist projects. This lively and enlightening collection of his essays edited by Josh Bartok and Nicholas Ribush begins with an entertaining piece about making chocolate the most important thing in our life and then basing our happiness on getting as much of it as we want. However, like other similar pleasures, chocolate comes and chocolate goes. It provides only a transient happiness. Lama Yeshe prefers the deep abiding joy that comes from your own mind: "This kind of happiness is always with you, always available."
In this little book of Tibetan Buddhist wisdom, Lama Yeshe shows how the principle concern of Buddhism is the mind. In various chapters he covers the dissatisfied mind which puts a pall over everything, the head as the seedbed for problems, the dangers of bowing down to attachment, the ego's need to be right all the time, and the travesty of expectations. One antidote to these is checking the mind through meditation. Another is to stop blaming others for your flaws and inadequacies. Meditation enables you to live in the present moment and to embrace everything equally.
