Ordinary Wisdom: Sakya Pandita's Treasury of Good Advice

by Sakya Pandita

Book Overview

A popular guide to the art of living, the Sakya Legshe--or "Treasury of Good Advice"--has been fundamental to the development of Tibetan culture and character. As in Aesop's Fables, Sakya Pandita uses proverbs and stories to address the basic question: "How are we to live peaceably with ourselves and with others?"

This is the only available English translation of the Sakya Legshe--a book that reveals the heart of the Buddhist way of life.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0861711610
• ISBN13: 9780861711611
• Release Date: March 2000
• Publisher: Wisdom Publications
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

A Most Useful Book of Wisdom

I cannot recommend this book enough. As a work of philosophy, it belongs up there with the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, the Dhammapada, anything by Plato, Balthazar Gracian, and the Book of Proverbs in the Bible. And like the Meditations or the Dhammapada, it can be applied to one's daily existence in truly important ways. It should be included in Philosophy courses in college or even High School courses if at all possible. Get this quote: 'These days negative karma is causing the entire environment to be filled with evil, and individuals are preoccupied with unwholesome influences. This produces deceptively attractive situations that are a mixture of good and bad, where words and actions contradict each other.' Britney Spears, are you listening?This is a reference book for life.

An extraordinary contribution to Buddhist Studies.

Ably translated by John T. Davenport, Ordinary Wisdom: Sakya Pandita's Treasury Of Good Advice is a compendium of profound, down-to-earth, and practical Buddhist advice on the art of living, as pertinent today in the West as has been for many centuries past in the East. Sakya Pandita uses proverbs and stories to address the basic questions of human existence and purpose. His inspiration and advice are hallmarked with humor and grace as he comments on such universal issues as achievement and failure, anger and kindness, deceit and desire, intelligence and foolishness, wealth and wisdom. Ordinary Wisdom is an extraordinary contribution to the growing library of Buddhist literature available for the Western reader.