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Written by The Dalai Lama (real name Tenpin Gatos or Tenzin Gyatso) - Edited by Nicholas Vreeland - Audio book narrated by Nicholas Vreeland with an afterword by Richard Gere - Unabridged Nonfiction - 2 CASSETTES - 3 hours

Publisher, Time Warner Audio Books (September 2001)

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The Dalai Lama, Tibet's leader-in-exile and greatest spiritual teacher, is someone who can help ordinary, everyday people.

A Nobel Peace Prize winner, the author of numerous bestselling books, a thinker, and a leader, The Dalai Lama continues to be a global voice of spiritual awakening. He continues to work tirelessly on behalf of the Tibetan people and speaks out for human rights worldwide. He is a preeminent spiritual leader among other global leaders such as the Pope and Nelson Mandela.

An Open Heart clearly lays out a course of meditations, simple to challenging, that will enable anyone of any faith to become a more compassionate person. What are these meditations? Basically, they are a series of mental training techniques involving self-reflection, focus, reason, and persistence.

So what then is an open heart?

In the Buddhist worldview, the mind is located in the middle of the chest. Therefore, for a Buddhist, an open heart is an open mind, and a change of heart is a change of mind. In order to become more compassionate people, we have to train our minds. You do not have to be a Buddhist, though, to learn the practice of letting go of bad habits and becoming lighter and less dragged down by anxieties and greed. Happiness and practicing compassion spring from an open mind.

About the Author: The Dalai Lama: Recognized at the age of two as the reincarnation of the thirteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso was brought to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and enthroned two years later as the fourteenth Dalai Lama. In 1959, following the Chinese suppression of the Tibetan national uprising, he was forced to seek asylum in India. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, His Holiness is today universally acknowledged as one of the world's foremost spiritual leaders.

The Dalai Lama was invited to New York City in 1999 on the eve of the millennium by The Tibet Center and The Gere Foundation to give a series of talks and teachings at the Beacon Theater and to speak in Central Park. He spoke simply and powerfully about the Buddhist practice of compassion over the course of several days. An Open Heart is drawn from these talks. The tremendous response to this particular visit resounded that America was at a critical turning point in its embracing of Buddhism. Over 200,000 people turned out on August 15, 1999, a Sunday forecasted for rain, to hear him speak in Central Park.

About the Editor: Nicholas Vreeland: Nicholas Vreeland has been a practicing Tibetan Buddhist monk since 1985, when he was ordained by The Dalai Lama and entered Rato Monastery in India. Since 1998 he has been Director of The Tibet Center.