This extraordinarily clear exposition on the wisdom section of the Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life is based on an oral teaching given in India by His Holiness the Dalai Lama before an audience of thousands of Tibetans and Westerners in 1979. Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life is one of the most important texts in the Mahayana tradition of Buddhist practice. Its ninth chapter, the section on transcendent wisdom, is known among Buddhist scholars as a challenging exposition of Madhyamika philosophy, difficult to understand without a commentary. This invaluable volume, with its precise elucidation of core issues of Tibetan Buddhism, stands as a key work in Buddhist literature. In this book we have the Dalai Lama at full strength...a profound work. --Parabola