Caveat: as I see it, one could view the DL as a Tibetan Pope, in the medieval sense ... the pinnacle of a theocracy under which all people do not at all share equal access to economic and other opportunities.

So it is rather easy to map all that on to the worst of the worst in Liberal Democratic terms.

Of course there is more to it than that: He and his respected fellows are expert (in the eyes of many) spokesMEN (of course) within the reasonably open world of Buddhist discourse.

Also, is it true that to Western audiences his (stereotypical?) paternal Asian persona of a chuckling gentle self-deprecating, even 'cute', leader maps on to Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, and Father Christmas?

And as the darling of a raft of celebrities, whose judgement is sometimes a little average?

In an era when there is no lack of Greco-Roman (especially US) energy flowing into taking Asian traditions, (Buddhism, Taoism, but not squat toilets!! Huh?) into a process of plucking out the plums and developing hi-speed paths to enlightenment and ..."come to my website and sign up for the CD set".

(Is that the world's longest sentence?)

Also, of course (? :-) that for many people all the above relates to thoughts about inner peace and happiness, where the poor remote Tibetans opened their homes to one of my twee Han Bejingese young woman friends in a way that left her feeling very 'warm-hearted',( ... a stereotypical usage among Chinese learners of English ...)leaving us, with our 8x average personal environmental impact, feeling uneasy about pointing the finger at people in caste-iron (oppressive?) social structures.

"It's their choice ... leave them alone!" Well no, it's not, actually!

And then the regional history, especially referred to by Beijing, and of which I have little knowledge, and little trust in the competing self-interested accounts (and not an overwhelming interest :-( ).

Who fought who(m) and who won, etc.?

Given all that, DL has a lot of interesting things to say, in the nicest possible way.

Given that this book follows the 'No.1 Bestseller 'The Art of Happiness' on personal living, to now attempt to discuss issues such as 'prejudice', 'the roots of violence', 'fear', and 'extreme nationalism' is a chewier task.

Good for him!

He heads toward BIG words such as 'hope, optimism, and resilience', 'humanity', 'empathy', and 'compassion'.

Double good for him!

It's at this point that pundits tend to go vague, and it will be interesting to see whether this happens here in this bi-lingual discussion between His Holiness and His Psychiatristness, Howard C. Cutler, the interviewer.

(Good for him too! :-)

I hope that the rest of the book is as engaging as the first 20 pages. :-)

Update: It's either read-it-in-a-flash, or like most such books, putting each page into practice could take a lifetime.

Relating on a basic human level, knowing your neighbors, suffering with the selfish and insensitive, forming communities without creating warring factions. Totally practical, very much dirt under your fingernails stuff.

And given all that ... is it ultimately a little stodgy, or is 'stodgy' in the eye of the reader?

Unbearably difficult. Exquisitely ... to the point.