A review by alexreverie
The Art of Happiness by Dalai Lama XIV

3.0

An adult student of mine enthusiastically recommended this book, touting its instructions on overcoming suffering as a must-read. I have to say that after setting such high expectations for the book, I was disappointed. There is nothing particularly groundbreaking in The Art of Happiness, as it's mostly the Dalai Lama conceding that there are two sides to everything. The cooperating author also uses this book as a way to expose his own imperfections and reflect on them, which is not necessarily helpful to everyone else.

I suppose I compared this book too much to No Death, No Fear by Thich Nhat Hanh, which uses much more powerful allegory to get the spiritual message across. Would have liked more of that in this book.