Sure we all want to attain enlightenment and reach nirvana, thereby escaping the endless cycle of death and reincarnation, but who has the time? Well, now walking the noble eightfold path just got a little easier, thanks to the Dalai Lama app, available for free in the app store.
The Office of His Holiniess the Dalai Lama has released ‘Dalai Lama’, a new iPhone App now available for download at the Apple App Store https://t.co/F7V8IpkgDl. With Dalai Lama stay up to date with what His Holiness is doing, his travels, and his teachings. pic.twitter.com/zQnY5QNP8j
— Dalai Lama (@DalaiLama) December 14, 2017
The app is the first of its kind to come directly from the office of the Dalai Lama and, according to its description, has everything the aspiring Tibetan Buddhist needs when he/she is on the go.
Dalai Lama, the official app from the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, lets you stay up to date with what His Holiness is doing, his travels, and his teachings. Get official news, videos, and photos from His Holiness’s Office, including live video streams when they are available.
FEATURES
• Stay up to date with official news
• Get His Holiness’s official schedule of events
• Browse through photo galleries
• Watch videos of His Holiness’s events, including live video streams
• Learn about His Holiness’s life
• Read His Holiness’s teachings
So far, with sixty-three ratings in, the app has a very respectable 4.9 out of 5 stars, but The Daily Dot decided we should still take it for a spin, and see if it does indeed help with our spiritual enlightenment.
First things first. The icon for the app is a photo of the smiling Dalai Lama himself. Not only is this pleasant to look at, it also makes the app really stand out, and therefore easy to find when you’re stressed at work need a bit of Buddhist wisdom to get you through the day.
Although you’ll probably want to nest it with your other religious apps to save space.
The app’s landing page shows you a featured picture as well as the latest news, video and the Dalai Lama’s upcoming schedule.
You also get a scrollable menu at the top with options for
- Home
- News
- Schedule
- Live
- Dalai Lama
- Teachings
- Search
The Home button obviously takes you back to the landing page. News takes you to a list of the latest news about the Dalai Lama (although it should be noted that means news coming from his offices. This is not where you’ll find the latest CNN article about the Dalai Lama). Under “Schedule,” you’ll find where to find His Holiness in person. The Photo section has a lot of functionality and contains hundreds of beautiful images.
Clicking on any photo toggles the captions on and off so you can see a clean version if you want to use the photo as, say the background on your phone. There is also a share button located in the upper right-hand corner so you can quickly send the photo to a friend or share it on Facebook.
The photos are supposedly divided by category, but currently, clicking on any category just takes you to a list of all the available photo albums. Also scrolling down at first seems to show an endless number of albums, but they actually start to repeat and there are only about 20. Certainly confusing until you notice what’s going on.
The Video section, as you might expect, contains videos of the Dalai Lama speaking. This is probably the aspect of the app most serious Buddhist will be interested in. Many of the videos are over two hours long and show His Holiness speaking in public on a number of topics. Many feature the Dalai Lama speaking English or with English translators on hand. Subtitles are also available and can be turned on and off.
The video section has the same functionality (and problems) as the photo section, and contains an impressive amount of content.
The Live section is a little disappointing. I’m sure we were all hoping for a live 24-hour “Lama Cam” but, as of right now, it just lists the next opportunity to see His Holiness live. If you’re wondering, that’s on Dec. 20 at the Sera Monastery in India. This information is also available under the Schedule section, which makes the Live section seem a bit unnecessary.
The “Dalai Lama” section contains a short biography, as well as more in-depth sections, including his day-to-day life and a question and answer section. This is where you go to really get to know His Holiness
The Teaching section is text-based and contains subsections like “Training of the Mind” and “Words of Truth” as well as a whole section full of practical advice about attending public talks (bring a cushion and a sunhat).
Finally the Search section, which would be super useful on an app loaded with as much content as this one, currently doesn’t work. All searches return the message “There was an unexpected network error. Please try again later.”
Overall the app is loaded with content and fairly easy to navigate, although it would be nice if clicking at the top took you back to the home screen (right now, you need to scroll all the way over to get back to the Home button) There are also the aforementioned problems with the Photo, Video, and Search tabs.
Most of the pictures and videos seem to be from the past year or so, which is good, although it would be nice to get some more historical content. The app just launched, so we’ll probably see improvements and fixes in the coming weeks and months. The second incarnation of the app should be amazing.
Perhaps the apps biggest flaw is one that the developers can’t fix. It is not available in China’s version of the app store, and therefore most people in Tibet will be unable to use it.
Rating: 4.5/5