Beyond Religion

Ethics for a Whole World

By: His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Narrated by: Martin Sheen

Length: 5 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

Emmy Award-winning actor Martin Sheen (The West Wing) lends his distinguished voice to this stirring call to move beyond religion for the guidance to improve human life on individual, community, and global levels, including a guided meditation practice for cultivating key human values.

Ten years ago, in his best-selling Ethics for a New Millennium, His Holiness the Dalai Lama first proposed an approach to ethics based on universal rather than religious principles. Now, in Beyond Religion, the Dalai Lama, at his most compassionate and outspoken, elaborates and deepens his vision for the nonreligious way.

Transcending the mere "religion wars", he outlines a system of secular ethics that gives tolerant respect to religion, but, with the highest level of spiritual and intellectual authority, makes a claim for what the Dalai Lama calls a third way. This is a universal code of ethics that transcends religion boundaries, that recognizes our common humanity and advocates for a global human community based on understanding and mutual respect.

Beyond Religion is an essential statement from the Dalai Lama, a blueprint for all those who yearn for a life fulfilled and a better world.

©2011 His Holiness the Dalai Lama (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"An impressive guide for teaching religious tolerance and respect to readers of all ages." ( Kirkus Reviews)

"This wise, humane book, an original work rather than a collection of talks, is an incisive statement of His Holiness’s thinking on ways to bring peace to a suffering world." ( Publishers Weekly)

well worth the time

I love the Dalai Lama. He is very wise, but speaks very simply. Well worth your time.

A Must Read!

What a better world it would be if everyone read this book.

In today's polarizing world, I found the subject matter of this book very refreshing.

It takes an in depth look at "secular ethics" a system of values grounded in compassion that transcends a particularly faith and focuses on the common principles uniting all humanity.

True words from wisdom

If you could sum up Beyond Religion in three words, what would they be?

A must read!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Martin Sheen. His clarity of voice during the reading.

Have you listened to any of Martin Sheen’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

First one. It was great. I would listen to him again.

What’s an idea from the book that you will remember?

Worldly respect of all things.

Any additional comments?

Great investment of time.

A wonderfully great man....

The Dalai Lama goes way beyond mere religion to universal compassion and takes human caring to a whole new level. He points the way to solve our problems but we're probably not smart enough to follow his advice.

His holiness does it again!

The Dalai Lama's view of a utopian future is one humanity should strive to achieve when we understand that complete compassion is the way to positive change. the message and lessons are terrific and Martin Sheen gives a great read.

Must Read

Thank You, this is a worthy read. I'm going to read and listen several times.

understandable and informative

First, I must show appreciation for the narration. The narrator on this one has a voice that's engaging enough to make the material which can sometimes be a little monotonous to a listening ear, and makes it into something pleasurable to listen to.
As for the words, in this the dalai lama is a fantastic source and voice for what we as humans should be striving for. I personally can see this code of ethics being used widely, as certain parts of it are already growing in my area. The second half of the book, which focuses on how to pull yourself into that code of ethics, is very informative and explains things in a way that even someone who is new to mental cultivation and meditation will be able to understand. A wonderful listen, I highly suggest it.

underrated book from Dalai Lama

lots of ideas Dalai Lama is often referring to in his talks are explained here in details, i found this audiobook useful, will listen it again once the dust settles a bit

An Easy and Informative Listen

This book was given to me as a gift, and I was at first reluctant to pick it up. Once I started digging in, however, I found it memorizing and captivating. The Dalai Lama starts with a basic vocabulary of ethics and morality that starts with our physical sensory input and goes to our enjoyment (or not) of the inputs. From these building blocks, he then goes into how one's moods, innate character, and emotions form our perceptions and projections of everything around us. He contends that in the course of the world, we are but mere blips in the timeline of humanity, so we must use the time well, recognizing that we're connected to everyone else, and learning to expand our compassion and generosity. Finally, the last part of the book walks thru some meditation techniques that allow the reader to build their connectedness and compassion. Recommended!

My First Audiobook

Excellent choice as a first listen. I've never read any of the Dalai Lama's books, but I'm a Martin Sheen fan, and religion/spirituality is one of my favorite topics.

While I'm still in the early stages of the book, I find Martin Sheen soothing and enthralling as narrator; a wonderful choice for this read.

The book,so far, is quite diverse on the aspects it covers; some more captivating than others.

While I was never really interested in audio books (I love my Kindle), I must say, this favorable experience is, so far, leaving me open to the possibility of future "audio reads", albeit on a narrow, extremely selective basis.

I'm extremely pleased that I was drawn to this book as my first audio read, though nowhere near finished.