World Religions Buddhism

Saving the climate is our common duty. With each passing day, climate change is causing Pacific islands to disappear into the sea, accelerating the extinction of species at alarming proportions, and aggravating a water shortage that has affected the entire world. In short, climate change can no longer be denied - it threatens our existence on earth.

Reincarnation has been a popular belief in cultures throughout the world for many millennia. The possibility that we lived before and may be born again, whether as a human or in some other form of existence, continues to fascinate us and features heavily in popular novels and movies, and also as a subject of recent scholarly studies. Although Buddhism is one of the religious traditions best known for asserting rebirth, the history and scope of Buddhist approaches to the idea has not received comprehensive treatment—until now.

In 1943, Austrian adventurer Heinrich Harrer escaped from a British internment camp in India and traveled through the rugged Himalayas seeking refuge from the war. He ended up in the Forbidden City of Lhasa in Tibet, with no money or permission to be in the country. His intelligence and his European ways intrigued the curious young Dalai Lama, and Harrer became his tutor and trusted confidant.

Robert Thurman examines one of the most sacred texts of Mahayana Buddhism, The Vimalakirti-nirdesha Sutra. To any Buddhist practitioner, particularly those of Vajrayana Buddhism and Zen, this sutra is of the utmost importance. Unlike most sutras, its central figure is not a Buddha, but an ordinary man, who, in his mastery of the doctrine and religious practice, personifies the ideal lay believer, assuring commoners that they can reach levels of spiritual attainment comparable to those accessible to monks.

In 1933, British author James Hilton introduced the world to a new destination for journeys of the imagination: the hidden valley of Shangri-La. In doing so, Hilton built upon pre-existing fantasies, stereotypes and archetypes, many of which were centuries old, but Hilton also created something new in the form of a vision which captured the imagination of his contemporaries and has remained ever since.

In Isabel Losada's extraordinary For Tibet with Love, she explores whether it's possible for an ordinary person to change the world, just a little, and if something so serious can be achieved with joy in one's heart. From visits to Nepal and Tibet, to meetings with the Chinese ambassador and Tibetan awareness-raising groups, Isabel single-handedly hatches a stunning PR coup involving Nelson's Column, a 15-meter banner and a base-jumping parachutist that captured headlines worldwide.

Already a major international best seller, now available in English for the first time: In An Appeal to the World, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet illuminates the way to peace in our time, arguing for a form of universal ethics that goes beyond religion - values we all share as humans that can help us create unity and peace to heal our world. "All people are united in the pursuit of happiness and the desire to avoid suffering," His Holiness reminds us. "This is the source of humanity's greatest achievements."

Como aceitar a si mesmo num mundo em busca de perfeição? O monge zen-budista Haemin Sunim ensina a arte de cuidar de si mesmo e de se relacionar com os outros com a sabedoria e a delicadeza que o tornaram conhecido no mundo todo. Tratando de temas como aceitação, cura, coragem, família, fracassos, empatia e perdão, ele apresenta suas reflexões sobre como enxergar o mundo e a si mesmo com maior compaixão.