The Dalai Lama: A Path to Greater Happiness

1595 Words4 Pages

The Dalai Lama is a profound believer of peace, compassion, love and nonviolence. He is considered by Tibetan Buddhists to be the reincarnation of the Buddha of Compassion and was meant to lead the people. Even though he has had a tough time throughout most of his life time and has struggles to free his homeland from the Chinese occupation he has consistently opposed the use of violence. “He has instead advocated peaceful solutions based upon tolerance and mutual respect in order to preserve the historical and cultural heritage of his people.” (The Dalai Lama A Simple Path and An Open Heart pp. 800).Dalai Lama, since then, began teaching about the Four Noble Truths, in order to demonstrate that they offer an insightful path to greater happiness for individuals, and for humanity.

The first noble truth is The Truth of Suffering. Dalai Lama says that we face three different types of sufferings: the suffering of suffering, the suffering of change, and all pervasive suffering. An example of the first category of suffering can be poverty and disease in countries, where these two can be eliminated and improved. The suffering of change can be seen in such places where poverty is not much of a problem. For instance, we may be happy of overcoming a problem an ancestor faced but when we least expect it new problems will arise. People who suffer from pervasive suffering can be those in developed countries who have everything and become bored of the feeling of happiness and begin to seek the feeling of equanimity.

The second noble truth is The Cause of Suffering. Dalai Lama states that “ … the ultimate cause of suffering is the mind; the mind that is influenced by negative thoughts such as anger, attachment, jealousy, and s...

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...and tension. We would not have any basic human problems. People would have serenity and be content with the world. The world we live in would be the total opposite of today. Society wouldn’t have any crime, violence, war, or disasters. Human beings would not be facing each other with hatred, jealousy, greediness, and all those negative attitudes towards people.

Works Cited

Susan McLeod, John Jarvis, Shelley Spear Writing About the World "The Dalai Lama A Simple Path and An Open Heart" Thomson Wadsworth, Third Edition. 2005 pages 800-8005

Lama, Dalai. “ His Holiness the Dalai Lama” Web. 8 Apr. 2015.

http://www.dalailama.com/messages/world-peace/a-human-approach-to-peace

Lama, Dalai. “ Four Noble Truths.” Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. 2005. Web. 8 Apr. 2015.

http://www.lamayeshe.com/index.php?sect=article&id=380

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