Teachings From HH Dalai Lama
By: Anders Sporring
Tags: Faith, Dalai Lama, Happiness, Quotes, Christian

Teachings From HH Dalai Lama

Ten Quotes from his book The Art of Happiness A Handbook for Living (Part one)

Photo by Sounak Mondal on Unsplash

A short introduction

I do not doubt my Christain faith anymore, and I read my bible every day. I recently passed reading one thousand days in a row (For me is that really major). Growing up in a priest family in the countryside of Sweden, the church was a central part of my life from the beginning. But of and on during the years I have had doubt and not feeling at peace with my spiritual life.

And during one of those phases, and there was a major change in my life. I got the book Happiness by HH Dalai Lama from a friend of mine (Thanks to Magnus!). And it was a savior for me, I carried the pocketbook with me everywhere. In fact, the first exemplar of the book, in the end, fell apart and I bought a new one. I also gave my father that book during his last six months of his life. He said that he wasn't sure he would read it, but when my father had passed I found that book, with a bookmark at the end, and I felt so happy to know he had read it.

So what is happiness to you? How do you find it in your everyday life? How can you increase that sense of self and let others feel it? Let me know what your thoughts are on this in the comments.

The Selection

I have selected a couple of my favorite quotes from HHL Dalia Lama’s book Happiness that means a lot to me, and I will carry those with me for the rest of my life. And yes, I go back to this book now and then to find inspiration for my life forward.

“By mobilizing our thoughts and practicing new ways of thinking, we can reshape our nerve cells and change the way our brains work.”

When I think about this quote, I always think about the joy of learning new things, experience new things tasting new tastes. To have a learning mind gives me happiness and joy, and to share that knowledge makes it even better. The more we learn the more our neuro links in our brains increase and in that way our heart, compassion, and happiness grows.

“If you can, serve other people, other sentient beings. If not, at least refrain from harming them. I think that is the whole basis of my philosophy.”

Philosophically I share this, I hate it when I have hurt people even if it’s unintentional. So how can we avoid hurting/harming others? We can train our emotional skills and let them flourish. It’s not that hard, just increases your heart's ability to read other's feelings. And that way all our happiness grows.

“Regret with dignity and grace.”

Never let regret cloud your life and your journey through it, 'cause it’s like diving down the rabbit hole that’s a bottomless pit. You CAN’T change the past, so let it stay there; In the past!

“The more honest you are, the more open, the less fear you will have, because there’s no anxiety about being exposed or revealed to others.”

Anxiety is one of our time's great plagues (I’m suffering myself from agoraphobia and anxiety), we have so much fear and terrors from what’s happening in our lives. But the fact is, we can't control every aspect of it.

“Our attitude towards suffering becomes very important because it can affect how we cope with suffering when it arises.”

Suffering is something we all go through at times, but if we rise about it we can more easily handle it.

“I think that in many cases people tend to expect the other person to respond to them in a positive way first, rather than taking the initiative themselves to create that possibility. I feel that’s wrong, it leads to problems and can act as a barrier that just serves to promote a feeling of isolation from others.”

Not all can have good people skills and know-how to ‘read’ others but we can all train and teach our hearts to be more open for others.

“So let us reflect on what is truly of value in life, what gives meaning to our lives, and set our priorities on the basis of that. The purpose of our life needs to be positive. We weren’t born with the purpose of causing trouble, harming others. For our life to be of value, I think we must develop basic good human qualities-warmth, kindness, compassion. Then our life becomes meaningful and more peaceful-happier.”

What are our core values? If we don’t know that, we need to find out. One way is to sit down and write down them, but the best way is to have an open heart and feel how you should act in every aspect of your life. Don’t try to construct your feelings, feel them instead. Respect other's feelings and support them as good as you can.

“Compassion can be roughly defined in terms of a state of mind that is nonviolent, non-harming, and nonaggressive. It is a mental attitude based on the wish for others to be free of their suffering and is associated with a sense of commitment, responsibility, and respect towards others.”

We can all increase our compassion towards others and have a more open attitude. A ‘non’ attitude if you want, train your heart to be both giving and receiving in a higher sense.

“The highest happiness is when one reaches the stage of Liberation, at which there is no more suffering. That’s genuine, lasting happiness. True happiness relates more to the mind and heart. Happiness that depends mainly on physical pleasure is unstable; one day it’s there, the next day it may not be.” “Happiness is determined more by one’s state of mind than by external events.”

Don’t let your attitudes or stubbornness stand in way of your happiness, better express your feeling and win, than holding back and lose and close your heart for happiness more and more. It will only make your chances for true happiness wither and disappear. Stand tall and walk in joy over your life!