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How to See Yourself as You Really Are  By  cover art

How to See Yourself as You Really Are

By: His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Jeffrey Hopkins PhD
Narrated by: Jeffrey Hopkins PhD
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Publisher's summary

In How to See Yourself as You Really Are, the world's foremost Buddhist leader teaches listeners how to recognize and dispel misguided notions of self and embrace the world from a more realistic and loving perspective.

Step-by-step exercises help listeners shatter their false assumptions and ideas and see the world as it actually exists. His Holiness sets the stage for discovering the reality behind appearances. But getting past one's misconceptions is only a prelude to right action, and the final section describes how to harness the power of meditative concentration to the service of love, and vice versa, so that true altruistic enlightenment is attained.

Enlivened by personal anecdotes and intimate accounts of the Dalai Lama's own life experiences, How to See Yourself as You Really Are is an inspirational and empowering guide to achieving self-awareness that can be enjoyed by spiritual seekers of all faiths.

©2006 His Holiness the Dalai Lama. All rights reserved (P)2006 Simon and Schuster Inc. All rights reserved.

What listeners say about How to See Yourself as You Really Are

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

In Defense of the Narrator

I don't want anyone to be put off by the negative review of the narrator given previously. Professor Hopkins is a very effective reader of this book, because he understands thoroughly what he is reading. The only really bad narrator I've experienced while a member of Audible was the actor who read "Lonesome Dove," who clearly didn't pay attention to the words most of the time and faked the intonation. The title of this book makes it sound a bit like a lightweight self-help book, but it's really a wonderful, clear exposition of emptiness and Buddhist philosophy, as one comes to expect from His Holiness. I highly recommend it.

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41 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Buy the Book

I'm having a terrible time getting through this. The narrator is just horrible. There is a lot of valuable information in there but I keep banging my head on the wall and turning it off. I'm going to buy the book and you should too.

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25 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very thorough, but very complex

First off I had no problem with the narrator, he did a good job on a very complex book.

The subject matter of this book is very complex and I would not recommend it to people who are not familier with buddhist concepts. However this book is a treasure of wisdom supported by analytical arguments which are very well structured and arranged.

This is THE best book I have read on this subject, you also REALLY have to concentrate while listening (not a light listen) . After listening (at least twice) you will have a lot of contemplation ahead of you...

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24 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Very Thorough

Yes as per the other comments the narrator is very monotone, but personally I was able to get past that once getting into the meat of the book about 2 hours in. From there on I was continually surprised at how carefully and thoroughly the subjects where explained. I have read a number of books on emptiness but this is definitely the most extensive guide to actual contemplation of the subject. To the point that yes I will be also buying the book to use as a study guide, which in itself is somewhat impractical from an audio book format.

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17 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great Book

I have heard it said by s scholar that His Holiness the Dali Lama thinks that a Western audience would benefit most by understanding emptiness. This book indeed beautifully fulfills his belief.

There really is no technical discussion of the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, karma, rebirth, the Wheel of Samsara, the five aggregates, etc. which can be found it other of his work's. The achievement of this book is to explain a nuanced and technically full expose of emptiness in a brilliantly plain spoken manner.

I enjoyed Mr. Hopkins lively translation and the short chapters regarding a.that at times is torture to read and mind bending to understand. I also found his voice soothing and authorities.

A few extra treats is that the Dali Lama talks a bit about himself in a revealing way. There is no doubt that he wrote this book with in a passionate and truly heartfelt manner. I also found his meditation suggestions after each major topic to be rich and instructive.

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13 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very deep

I went to a retreat based on this book, and we spent over an hour talking about just the first few sentences. There is so much in this book that you'll need to read/listen to it a few times to begin to grasp it as a whole. This book can change your life with a little time, meditation and mindfulness of what is being presented.

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9 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A new perspective

Any additional comments?

I was curious about Buddhism and I bought the Kindle version of this book. I found it to be a good introduction to how a Buddhist views reality. I think the book is well written and easy to understand. However, After finishing the book, I bought the audible version and I am so glad I did! I am now on my fourth pass through the audible version and I am still learning with each pass. His Holiness goes over the main ideas repeatedly and at first this seemed a little annoying to me. However, I remained patient and persistent and I now know why he uses so much repetition. This is a very wise and humble man and the knowledge he wishes to teach us is an amazing gift. I highly recommend this book!

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Unfortunate Narrator

I was really interested in this book - and I think I may purchase it in print form instead. I listen to a lot of audio books and I have a very high tolerance for poor readers but this one was impossible for me to listen to. I struggled through half of it and had to move on to something else. Very disappointing!

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A great book to read for beginning and advanced me

If your looking for a traditional 'self-help' book then keep going. This book is more about core Buddhist principles in the sense that it was more about explaining a theory then directly speaking to you. You will learn things like: People want happiness, not suffering. Lust and hatred are rooted in ignorance. The key to solving this is through meditation.
From here it keeps going. If you want a guide as to why meditation is needed here it is.

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3 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Narration fast and dry; the writing, decidedly wester

The narration is fast, dry, and textbook like, very unlike books any books narrated that were written or coauthored by the Dalai.

The writing structure is also decidedly western.

There are a lot of great messages in the book, but the reader must wait till the build up in the first half of the book is finished to enjoy the messages in the second half and summary portion.

Appreciation for the few beautiful messages this book offers requires the patience of the Buddha (humorous satire intended).

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2 people found this helpful