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How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving Relationships

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

In How to Expand Love, His Holiness the Dalai Lama offers a simple yet illuminating program for transforming self-centered energy into outwardly directed compassion. Drawing on exercises and techniques established in Tibetan monasteries more than a thousand years ago, the Dalai Lama guides us through seven key stages. He helps us to open our hearts and minds to the experience of unlimited love, transforming every relationship in our lives and guiding us ever closer to wisdom and enlightenment. (Adapted from source Jan 19, 2026)

Citation

Dalai Lama, 14th. "How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving Relationships." Translated and Edited by Jeffrey Hopkins. New York: Atria Books, 2005.

Table of contents

• Forewordvii
• 1. My Outlook1
• 2. Stages of Development7
• 3. Basic Purity of the Mind15
• 4. Foundational Step: Viewing Friend and Foe29
• 5. The First Step: Recognizing Friends41
• 6.The Second Step: Appreciating Kindness51
• 7. The Third Step: Returning Kindness71
• 8. The Fourth Step: Learning to Love75
• 9. The Difference Between Love and Attachment97
• 10. Love as the Basis of Human Rights113
• 11. Widening the Circle of Love121
• 12.The Fifth Step: The Power of Compassion133
• 13. The Sixth Step: Total Commitment155
• 14. The Seventh Step: Seeking Altruistic Enlightenment161
• 15. The Enormous Power of Altruism189
• 16. Acting with Love199
• Selected Readings211

Interconnections

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Vīrya - Diligence is the joyful and consistent effort applied to virtuous actions and spiritual practice. It acts as the engine that drives progress and prevents laziness or discouragement on the path. Skt वीर्य  Tib བརྩོན་འགྲུས་  Ch 精進  

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Karuṇā - The profound wish for all sentient beings to be free from suffering and the causes of suffering. It is a core virtue in Buddhism and, in the Mahāyāna tradition, develops into 'great compassion' (mahākaruṇā), the driving force behind the pursuit of enlightenment for the benefit of others. Skt करुणा  Tib ཐུགས་རྗེ་  Ch 悲  

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Mettā - The unconditional wish for all sentient beings to experience happiness and the causes of happiness. It is a form of universal, selfless love and is one of the four immeasurables (or sublime abodes). Skt मैत्री  Tib བྱམས་པ་  Ch 慈  

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Prajñā - One of the key terms for wisdom or knowledge, most often having the sense of insight, transcendent knowledge, or perhaps gnosis. In some contexts it can also refer to cognition or intellectual understanding. Skt प्रज्ञा  Tib ཤེས་རབ་  Ch 般若  

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