On October 19, 2008, I attended for the seond time the weekly Lesson at the Rashi Gempil Ling Buddhist Temple in Howell NJ. After the Lesson, I perused the display of books and asked which would be the best one to read first. The unanimous choice was Principle Teachings of Buddhism. Reading this small yet weighty book is proving a wonderful discipline for me, for I tend to read quickly, taking in whole paragraphs in my eye at once. But this definitely NOT the way to approach this book! One must [...]

A comprehensive, weighty look at Buddhism from the master who taught the first Dalai Lama. The reason it didn't get 5 stars is because it was so difficult to read and understand--take a LOT of thought. I had not known about the 3 paths: renunciation, wish (for enlightenment for all), and right view.

I recently reread chunks of this book. It's small, but it packs in all of the primary teachings from Lam-Rim Chen-Mo in one place. The book is actually a commentary by Pabongka Rinpoche on the Lam-Rim as laid out by Je Tsongkhapa.

The commentary is good. The text is 14 concise points that say all that matters and all anyone needs. I refer back monthly and it only gets better.

supplementing my meditation per venerable phuntsok's suggestion.