Book-Smart Sunday

I just finished reading this book yesterday. It's called My Spiritual Journey, by the Dalai Lama with Sofia Stril-Rever. It's the Dalai Lama's story. I've always been kind of fascinated by this man and his story is very interesting. As a child he was discovered to be the reincarnation of the previous Dalai Lama and was trained as a buddhist monk and to be the spiritual leader of Tibet. Sadly, in 1959 he had to flee his country because China invaded. For the last half-century he has lived in exile in India with many more Tibetans living there or elsewhere as refugees, while thousands have died at the hands of the Chinese government in what has been called a genocide.

While I have come to expect such highly religious people to advocate their way as the way, the Dalai Lama actually holds the opposite opinion. While he believes in the power of religion, he doesn't believe that anyone should leave their own religion for his. He also doesn't believe that people need religion at all, only spirituality. His message is of peace, freedom and equality for all people every where. While some sections of the book are pretty repetitive about Tibet and their situation, the book as a whole is brilliant. I think this book is a great read for everyone because he has a brilliant perspective on the need for universal human cooperation and world peace.