For this summary of The Four Noble Truths by The Dalai Lama. I’ve gone through the ‘popular highlights’ section of the Kindle version to extract the sections that were most highlighted by readers from all over the world. 

These passages were highlighted hundreds of times. If that many people took the time to highlight these words, it means there is some value or wisdom therewithin. 

For the first part of this summary of The Four Noble Truths by The Dalai Lama, I’ll quote the popular highlights and provide some commentary on what each means to me. Then, in the second part, I’ll provide what I feel are the most practical or salient points from the book in a quick bullet format. 

In this summary, I’ll not delve into the concept of The Four Noble Truths in much detail. To learn more about those, check out our article The Eightfold Path: Guidance For Life’s Challenges.

This post contains affiliate links, which help us keep the blog afloat. Click here for more information.

Summary of The Four Nobles Truths by The Dalai Lama

“Non-violence essentially means that we should do our best to help others and, if this is not possible, should at the very least refrain from harming them.” 

We’re all imperfect, so even if we strive to help others and act with compassion, we will fall short. When this happens—when we fail to help others—we must at least refrain from harming them or making a bad situation worse. To do this, we can remove ourselves temporarily from the situation or stay silent. 

“Whatever identity we give things is contingent on the interaction between our perception and reality itself. However, this is not to say that things do not exist. Buddhism is not nihilistic. Things do exist, but they do not have an independent, autonomous reality.”

This is useful commentary on the nature of interconnection, which is the idea found in Buddhism (and, to some extent, in Stoicism) that we are all fundamentally connected. Here, The Dalai Lama is reminding us that our perceptions of reality and reality itself are vastly different things. 

But, without contemplating this, it’s easy to go through life feeling as though the interpretations our brain makes about reality are reality itself. Even in the scientific literature, we can find many studies showing that our brain’s interpretation of reality is often false, largely due to the fact that it tries to make everything fit within the confines of language. 

So, although your perceptions are uniquely yours, we ultimately share one single reality, which should be a binding and unifying realization for humanity. 

Related article: No Self In Buddhism & Science: Tame The Ego, Start Living

“When you realize that everything we perceive and experience arises as a result of the interaction and coming together of causes and conditions, your whole view changes.” 

Cause and effect comes up a lot in Buddhist philosophy, especially as it pertains to Karma. Essentially, everything has a cause or a reason behind it. Contemplating this can change your perspective, because when things happen to you, whether good or bad, you can accept them more gracefully with the understanding that there were causes and conditions that pushed them into your life.

Related article: Karma In Buddhism: Sowing The Seeds Of Love

“Our negative emotions are so powerful that constant effort is needed in order to counteract them. If we practice consistently, then we can definitely change.” 

This passage reminds me of Right Effort, which is one of the paths of the Noble Eightfold Path. This teaching is useful because we may be deceived into thinking that living mindfully is a soft and easy exercise that simply happens by reading about mindfulness and by meditating. This is a delusion, because in reality mindfulness and one’s ability to observe emotions non-judgmentally rather than clinging to or rejecting them is not easy to practice consistently. It requires effort, determination, and discipline. But, I believe that this is better than the alternative, which is a life of rushing, endless striving, bottomless craving, and fearful aversion. 

“The second level of suffering, the suffering of change, refers to experiences we ordinarily identify as pleasurable. However, in reality, as long as we are in an unenlightened state, all our joyful experiences are tainted and ultimately bring suffering.”

At first glance, this passage seems incredibly depressing. All our joyful experiences ultimately bring suffering? Then what’s the point? What he’s saying here is akin to something we’ve all heard before: money can’t buy you happiness. We know that people get used to having luxurious and comfortable things. The bar for what is exciting or exotic rises ever so slightly with each acquisition or purchase. 

This isn’t just about money and the things it can buy, either. This teaching also pertains to relationships. We all know about the honeymoon phase of a sexual relationship. In the first weeks or months of a new relationship with someone you’re attracted to physically and emotionally, you’re practically high on a drug. To avoid this futile pursuit of happiness, we must recognize the impermanent nature of all things. We must temper our lusting and longing with the sincere recognition that this will change or end sooner or later. 

Summary of The Four Nobles Truths by The Dalai Lama: The Key Takeaways 

• There are three levels of suffering: 1) the suffering of suffering (the resistance rather than acceptance of suffering); 2) the suffering of change; 3) the suffering of conditioning (habits, routines, and trauma). 
• Intention is a critical aspect of karma. Also, how we feel about our actions (e.g. remorse) after having committed them also affects karma. 
• “The most important thing to know is that afflictive emotion is our ultimate enemy.”
• Realizing that there is no intrinsic reality to events and things (the Buddhist concept of emptiness) automatically helps you realize that no matter how strong emotions feel, they have no valid basis. 
• Following the Buddhist path is not about creating and forging new qualities in ourselves. Instead, it’s about uncovering the existing potential for wisdom that naturally resides within us. 
• True compassion comes at a cost. We must be willing to take on the responsibility to help others, and doing this usually costs us our time. 
• True compassion does not entail pity. Looking down at others, even if from good intentions, is not an effective way of acting compassionately. We must approach compassion with respect for the other, with a sense of equality between all beings. 
• True compassion should be unbiased. If we feel more compassionate towards our close friends than we do towards strangers, then our compassion is incomplete. 
• To take on the immense challenge and responsibility of attempting to reduce the suffering of others, we must be confident and fearless in our approach. 
• Thinking that compassion is selfless is wrong. Love must first be directed towards oneself in order to act outwardly with compassion. 

I hope you enjoyed this summary of The Four Noble Truths by The Dalai Lama. For more book summaries, click here to check out our book summaries playlist on YouTube. 

I’ll leave you with a quote from the book, which I feel encapsulates the ultimate simplicity and utility of Buddhism: 

“The Buddhist approach presents a very clear method. First, we try to consider all sentient beings as equal. Then we consider that the lives of all beings are just as precious as our own, and through this we develop a sense of concern for others.”

Early in his career as a neuroscientist, Chris Niebauer was dismissed for exploring a connection between findings in neuroscience and ancient Buddhist wisdom. The idea of non-duality, or ‘no self’, is a concept in Buddhism, which says that there is no author of our thoughts—there is no pilot steering the ship of existence. In neuroscience, we can point to specific areas of the brain responsible for almost every human function, except for the sense of self. In No Self No Problem, Niebauer illuminates the idea that much of our suffering arises from nothing more than pattern recognition and language. He does not maintain that the sense of self doesn’t exist, but that we need to stop taking it so seriously. In this summary of No Self No Problem: How Neuropsychology Is Catching Up To Buddhism, I’ll share what I believe are the most practical takeaways.

This post contains affiliate links, which help us keep the blog afloat. Click here for more information.

Summary of No Self No Problem by Chris Niebauer

Niebauer contends that virtually all our mental suffering is caused by our firm attachment to the sense of self—the sense of ‘me’. He points out that although the idea of an independent self can seem incredibly real, neuroscience has yet to identify any area of the brain in which it resides.

Believing wholeheartedly in the fictions we tell ourselves about our sense of self leads to suffering.

“Why are you unhappy? Because 99.9% of everything you think, and of everything you do, is for yourself—and there isn’t one”

– Wei Wu Wei

Much of what we believe about our sense of self comes from the language-centered and pattern-recognizing left brain.

The left brain uses language and pattern recognition to make sense of the world, but language and patterns do not truly exist in the natural world. They exist only as mental constructs. This applies equally to the sense of self—it is a mental construct whose purpose is to help us relate to patterns, but it does not exist in the physical world.

The left brain makes value judgments about the world and about ourselves. When we learn to observe the ‘interpreter’ that is our left brain, we can take these value judgments and interpretations less seriously. The left brain also gets things wrong. Its attempts to identify patterns and then describe them with language often fail to reflect reality.

Categories, beliefs, and patterns (including the ones we notice about ourselves) only truly exist in our minds.

Right brain consciousness is less bound by value judgments. Mindfulness is a good tool for experiencing this level of consciousness.

Right brain consciousness is often portrayed as unconscious, but this is inaccurate. It is involved in empathy and seeing wider perspectives, among other things.

Language is like a map. We could have called a bed a donkey in the English language, but it would still be a good place to sleep. The left brain mistakes the map for the territory all the time but never realizes it. As it relates to the sense of self, the best example of this is mistaking our inner self-talk (the map) with who we really are (the territory). This is partly why the illusion of self is so difficult to see.

Much of our suffering comes from the failure to see language as a mere interpretation of reality. Instead, we usually confuse language for reality itself.

“There is no ‘me’ without ‘not me’.” The left brain creates the illusion of self by relating to differences between you and others. It then furthers the delusion by mixing in memories and preferences.

No matter how many goals we achieve, the self will never be satisfied, because the self must continue to think in order to exist, so it will always move the goalposts.

A healthy attachment to the sense of self means viewing thoughts as “happenings” rather than absolute truths.

I hope you enjoyed this summary of No Self No Problem by Chris Niebauer. For more book summaries, click here to check out our book summaries playlist on YouTube. 

Click here to learn more about or purchase No Self No Problem by Chris Niebauer on Amazon

I thought I would do something different for the summary of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations. I’ve gone through the ‘popular highlights’ section of the Kindle version to pull out the most highlighted sections by thousands of readers from all around the world. 

Some of the key points from Meditations that I’ll be sharing in this summary of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius have been highlighted over ten thousand times! 

If that many people took the time to highlight the same section, it must mean that it contains some valuable wisdom.

This post contains affiliate links, which help us keep the blog afloat. Click here for more information.

Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations summary

For this summary, I’ll provide the Marcus Aurelius quotes in their entirety and add my own commentary for each one. 

“It is, in other words, not objects and events but the interpretations we place on them that are the problem. Our duty is therefore to exercise stringent control over the faculty of perception, with the aim of protecting our mind from error.” 

Here, Marcus Aurelius encapsulates a fundamental concept of Stoicism, which is that nothing except our character can be judged as good or bad. He makes this point inadvertently by reminding us that only our judgment of events can determine their quality. 

“Stop allowing your mind to be a slave, to be jerked about by selfish impulses, to kick against fate and the present, and to mistrust the future.”

Aurelius is imploring us to remain steady in the present moment. We must embrace the unknown, have confidence in our ability to handle future challenges, and above all, remain present in the process of working on what we can control here and now.

“Concentrate every minute like a Roman—like a man—on doing what’s in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice. And on freeing yourself from all other distractions. Yes, you can—if you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered, irritable.”

Often, we treat certain tasks and activities as stepping stones toward something else. We rush to complete them so that we can move on. Here, Marcus is urging us to focus on the process and treat every task as if it were the most important. He also implores us to stop making excuses. 

“You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.” 

This is a classic, memento mori quote from Marcus Aurelius. Life is finite, and we only get so many chances to act in harmony with our values. 

“The longest-lived and those who will die soonest lose the same thing. The present is all that they can give up, since that is all you have, and what you do not have, you cannot lose.” 

This reminds us of the paramount importance of present moment mindfulness because the present is where life happens.

“Don’t waste the rest of your time here worrying about other people—unless it affects the common good. It will keep you from doing anything useful. You’ll be too preoccupied with what so-and-so is doing, and why, and what they’re saying, and what they’re thinking, and what they’re up to, and all the other things that throw you off and keep you from focusing on your own mind.” 

This passage contains two important lessons. The first is quite clear: don’t worry about other people. Instead, focus on yourself. The second is a reminder of the ultimate purpose of Stoicism, which is to make the world a better place. Therefore, we can and should concern ourselves with others when we are certain that speaking up or taking action will make the world better. 

“Forget everything else. Keep hold of this alone and remember it. Each of us lives only now, this brief instant. The rest has been lived already, or is impossible to see.” 

Again, Aurelius urges us to live in the present moment. This call to mindful awareness is yet another striking similarity between Buddhism and Stoicism. 

“Choose not to be harmed—and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed—and you haven’t been.” 

We need to constantly remind ourselves of our intention to live without attachment to our ego. All our lives, we’ve been conditioning our ego to take center stage, so it requires a constant reminder of our intention to deflate it. Once we do develop non-attachment to the ego, we will be less susceptible to insult and injury. 

“So remember this principle when something threatens to cause you pain: the thing itself was no misfortune at all; to endure it and prevail is great good fortune.” 

The ancient Stoics, including Marcus Aurelius, taught that we should be grateful for challenges because they are the most important means of testing our philosophical practices. If not for challenges, we wouldn’t know how far we’ve come or where to improve in our practice. 

“The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts.” 

This well-known Marcus Aurelius quote reminds us that we do have some agency over our thoughts. With practice, effort, and compassion for ourselves, we can try to replace negative thoughts with positive ones. 

Summary of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations: The Key Takeaways

• Only our character can be judged as good or bad.
• Worries about the future and regret about the past are the biggest impediments to living in the present moment. Embracing fate and having confidence in yourself is the key to remaining present. 
• Focus on the process and treat all tasks with the utmost care. 
• Remember that life is short, and let that reality motivate you to live well.
• The present moment is the most precious thing a person has. 
• Don’t focus on others, unless they are causing harm to the world.
• With less attachment to the ego, we are less susceptible to the praise and criticism of others.
• Be grateful for challenges because they are valuable testing and learning opportunities.
• Make an effort to have positive thoughts. 

I hope you enjoyed this summary of Marcus Aurelius’ meditations. For more book summaries, click here to check out our book summaries playlist on YouTube. 

Part of his Mindfulness Essentials series, in How To Fight, Thich Nhat Hanh teaches us to resolve conflict by watering the roots—by tending to the source of tension in our relationships. Too often, we blame the other person in interpersonal conflict. We point fingers because we have misunderstood aspects of our own suffering and craving. Nhat Hanh gives us the tools to take care of our own suffering in a way that ripples outward, eventually soothing the suffering of others and smoothing our relationships. In this summary of How To Fight by Thich Nhat Hanh, I’ll share what I believe are the most practical takeaways.

This post contains affiliate links, which help us keep the blog afloat. Click here for more information.

Summary of How To Fight by Thich Nhat Hanh

The problem with how we engage with conflict is that we’re too focused on fighting with the other person rather than understanding our own feelings about the situation. This is like running after the person who set your house on fire rather than returning home to put out the flames. 

When we feel anger boiling up inside us, the first thing to do is pause. Stop and return to your breathing. Refrain from doing or saying anything under this condition.

The ability to pause in a moment of anger is profound. It gives us the opportunity to spread compassion and understanding in the world rather than anger and suffering.

Focusing on the breath amidst the grip of anger is not an act of suppression. It is an act of awareness. When we recognize our anger, we can embrace it with gentle understanding.

Mindfulness allows us to stop wrestling with our anger and simply say hello to it.

Loving speech is the way to navigate difficult interpersonal situations.

Finding stillness for yourself is critical for developing the kind of mindful awareness needed to pause during an interpersonal conflict. 

Loving speech can (and often does) mean apologizing without the need to explain or justify.

Loving speech also means telling the truth and speaking in a way that inspires hope, joy, and confidence in others. 

Before reconciliation with another can begin, you first need to develop an intimate understanding of your own feelings.

Victim number two: Remember that another person’s anger or resentment toward you is first caused by their own suffering. Because that person doesn’t know how to handle their suffering, they remain the first victim of it. You are only victim number two.

Killing anger: We kill our anger by smiling at it. We hold it tenderly, rather than rejecting it. This is a means of transforming anger rather than suppressing it. 

I hope you enjoyed this summary of How To Fight by Thich Nhat Hanh. For more book summaries, click here to check out our book summaries playlist on YouTube. 

Click here to learn more about or purchase How To Fight by Thich Nhat Hanh on Amazon.

Discover the other books in this series on Amazon: 

1. How To Sit
2. How To Eat
3. How To Love
4. How To Walk
5. How To Relax
6. How To See
7. How To Smile
8. How To Connect
9. How To Focus

How can a problem be an advantage? In The Obstacle Is The Way, Ryan Holiday shows us how we can turn challenges into opportunities by developing the right mindset. This is not a new idea. Nearly 2000 years ago, Marcus Aurelius said, “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”  Through his unique blend of inspirational storytelling and ancient Stoic philosophy, Holiday guides us to better understand our relationship with adversity, pain, perseverance, and resilience. In this summary of The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday, I’ll share what I believe are the most practical takeaways.

This post contains affiliate links, which help us keep the blog afloat. Click here for more information.

Summary of The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday

Process focus is essential to working through or around obstacles. Break challenges into smaller tasks and work on them mindfully one by one.

Focus on finishing. When applying process focus, a useful technique is to identify small bits that need to be finished, and work with singular focus to finish them one at a time.

When something or someone moves against you, the best thing to do is accept it. The Stoics called this The Art of Acquiescence. It teaches us to accept things that are beyond our control rather than fighting them. It is not, however, passive acceptance—it is not giving up. The Art of Acquiescence is accepting the obstacle so that we can find another way around. 

Interjecting your ego into a tough situation only makes it tougher. Without ego getting in the way, there are no good or bad situations; only situations.

Hardships can become a source of strength. One way to flip hardship on its head is to have a purpose bigger than yourself. Then, when you’re feeling broken, you can keep going because the desired outcome is not for you, but for the betterment of others.

Most obstacles can be deciphered by answering this question: “Will I let this break me?” If you choose to respond ‘No’, then you will find a way.

Creativity and patience will help you immensely in surmounting obstacles. There is almost always a path forward. Sometimes, we just need the right perception or more time to see it.

Many obstacles can be solved before you even encounter them. Triumph over challenge comes in the planning phase. Look for ways to mitigate and avoid, but, ultimately, be absolutely sure that your goal is bigger than any obstacle that you may encounter.

Remember that overcoming this obstacle today may teach you the skills to never need to face that same or similar obstacle again in the future.

We should always expect that there will be obstacles. We also understand that obstacles can actually empower rather than impede us. Sometimes, there are hidden opportunities within an obstacle. Other times, calling upon our inner resources to remove or bypass the obstacle teaches us new lessons about ourselves or reminds us of our strength. 

Struggle can actually raise the ceiling on our abilities. Psychologists call it adversarial growth and post-traumatic growth. 

Summary of The Obstacle Is The Way: Popular Quotes 

“The path of least resistance is a terrible teacher.”

“Focus on the moment, not the monsters that may or may not be up ahead.”

“Where the head goes, the body follows. Perception precedes action. Right action follows the right perspective.”

I hope you enjoyed this summary of The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday. For more book summaries, click here to check out our book summaries playlist on YouTube. 

Click here to learn more about or purchase The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday