Hh Dalai Lama Quotes

I defeat my enemies when I make them my friends.

When we feel love and kindness toward others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace.

Live a life that transcends your own!

If, with a warm heart and patience, we can consider the views of others and exchange ideas in calm discussion, we will find points of agreement. It is our responsibility—out of love and compassion for humankind—to seek harmony among nations, ideologies, cultures, ethnic groups, and economic and political systems.

HH Dalai Lama: Some forms of meditation are very difficult. One of my close friends was a very good meditator who attempted to cultivate single-pointedness of mind. He had the experience of spending a few years in a Chinese prison, and he told me that the meditation was actually harder than being a prisoner. The point is that he had to be constantly aware and attentive without losing his attention even for a moment. A constant vigilance was required. One factor that needs to be taken into account is the intensity and quality of the meditator’s motivation. In the traditional Buddhist context, meditators are highly motivated individuals who have a deep appreciation of the framework of the Buddhist path and an understanding of its causes and effects: If I do this, this will happen. They understand the nature of the path and its culmination. There is a deep recognition that the fulfillment of one’s aspiration for happiness really lies in the transformation of one’s undisciplined state to a more disciplined state of mind. These individuals take into account all of this context, so when they engage in meditation, they have a tremendous sense of dedication, joy, a very strong motivation, and sustained enthusiasm. But if you just tell a child, with no context at all, to start meditating, there will be no incentive, no inspiration. Robert, you made the comment that in small doses, stress can actually raise dopamine levels, which we assume corresponds in the rat to a heightened sense of well-being or pleasure. I wonder whether there might be an analogue in meditation, specifically in the training of single-pointed attention, or samadhi, which is not uniquely Buddhist. As one trains incrementally in developing attention, a quality arises that is described as suppleness or malleability of the body and mind, and is often conjoined with a sense of well-being, perhaps even bliss. It happens very strongly when one achieves a high state of samadhi, but even incrementally along the path, there are many surges of this type of malleability together with a kind of bliss. This may be an interesting area of research, to see from the neurophysiological perspective what some of the unexpected events are that come out of such attentional training.

I would ask you to expand on what the goal of meditation is from your perspective. HH Dalai Lama: The objective of spiritual practice in the traditional context of Buddhism was well summarized by Ajahn Amaro in the framework of the three trainings: ethical discipline, cultivating concentration, which is the meditation practice, and, based upon that, cultivating insight. At the initial stage, because some of our impulsive behavior is destructive and damaging, we need to find a way to restrain ourselves from engaging in these impulsive, destructive actions. This first stage of training is where we deliberately adopt a set of precepts or a code of life, which is the training in ethical discipline. Since these impulsive, destructive behaviors really stem from a restless, undisciplined state of mind, we need to find a way of dealing with them directly. But our normal state of mind is so dissipated and unfocused that the mind cannot deal with mental problems immediately. Therefore one must first cultivate a degree of mental stability, an ability to focus. This is where the second training in concentration or meditation comes in. On that basis, once we have a certain degree of stability, then we are able to use our mind, empowered with a focused attention, to deal with destructive emotions and habitual thought patterns. The antidote that overcomes the negative and destructive tendencies of the mind is insight.

HH Dalai Lama: For me, analytical meditation is more useful, just analyzing the pain. For example, when you experience a trauma, that experience has already occurred. I mentioned at the beginning that many problems are essentially due to ignorance. Ignorance brings with it an unrealistic attitude. And unrealistic attitude brings a lot of mental problems. Accept reality, and approach it more realistically. If something can be done, there’s no need to worry. If it cannot be done, there’s no use worrying. Finished. One source of problems is grasping at some sort of enduring permanence. Another source of problems is extreme self-centeredness. For each of these mental ailments, we need different approaches, different antidotes to transform and shape the mind. That’s my view. To realize intelligence more effectively, I prefer a sound sleep more than meditation!

HH Dalai Lama: Sometimes I think modern scientists approach a particular area with pinpoint focus, trying to find some absolute, independent answer. That’s impossible! Even looking further and further into the smallest of particles, their very existence depends on other particles and is momentarily changing. You can’t find something absolute and permanent. That’s true even of matter or gross energy, and mind is more subtle. It is very difficult to understand phenomena, particularly mental phenomena, in an isolated context without looking at their relationship to many other factors. One really needs to have a more comprehensive or integrated view, rather than trying to find an absolute location.

Because of the interdependent nature of everything, we cannot hope to solve the multifarious problems with a one-sided or self-centered attitude.

मला कळलं, आयुष्य नीटपणे जगायचं असेल तर, माझ्याजवळ काय आहे, याचा मी विचार करायला पाहिजे. अजूनही मी काय करू शकतो हे मी पाहिलं पाहिजे. माझ्या बाबतीत

Coming back to the issue of helplessness, the teachings talk about different levels of compassion and different kinds of compassion. There is the compassion where we feel we can do something about the situation, and the compassion where we feel we can’t do anything. I wonder if His Holiness would speak about that, because it is such a powerful consideration. Does compassion change to something else in those circumstances, or is it supported by our wisdom, our insight into emptiness? What sustains compassion when we feel helpless? HH Dalai Lama: As you are aware, in the Buddhist texts there is a recognition of a type of compassion that is reinforced and complemented by the faculty of wisdom. In the texts this is sometimes referred to as “compassion endowed with the wisdom of emptiness.” The idea is that when compassion is complemented and reinforced by the faculty of wisdom, the individual has the ability not only to empathize, but also to understand the causes and conditions that led to that suffering, and to envision the possibility of freedom from that state. Therefore, this compassion complemented by wisdom is thought to be very powerful and much more effective. It is a more forceful state of mind. Generally, compassion is characterized as a state of mind that wishes to see the other free of suffering. In that sense, an individual who experiences compassion can also feel a sense of helplessness. That type of compassion may be primarily a form of empathy, with the wish that other persons be free of suffering, but it can be more powerful when it’s not simply a wish to see others free from suffering, but also has the added dimension of willingness to help others be free of suffering. Here, it is wisdom or intelligence that plays the pivotal role in allowing a compassionate wish to translate into altruistic action, and it is a more powerful type of compassion. The texts also speak of boundless compassion and great compassion. Great compassion is defined as the forceful compassion that gives rise to the altruistic aspiration to seek enlightenment for the benefit of all. According to the Mahayana Buddhist texts, when an individual has generated great compassion within himself or herself, then Buddha nature has been awakened or activated.