Wisdom from the Dalai Lama!

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I found these quotes on a website; I wanted to remove redundancy (despite the fact that judicious repetition is a principle of effective teaching).

Dalai Lama:

“All major religious traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and forgiveness; the important thing is they should be part of our daily lives.

“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.

“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.

“I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. I do not judge the universe.

“If you have a particular faith or religion, that is good. But you can survive without it.

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

“In the practice of tolerance, one's enemy is the best teacher.

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.

“My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.

“Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend - or a meaningful day.

“Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them.

“Sleep is the best meditation.

“Sometimes one creates a dynamic impression by saying something, and sometimes one creates as significant an impression by remaining silent.

“The purpose of our lives is to be happy.

“The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness.

“The ultimate authority must always rest with the individual's own reason and critical analysis.

“This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.

“Today, more than ever before, life must be characterized by a sense of Universal responsibility, not only nation to nation and human to human, but also human to other forms of life.

“We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot survive without human affection.

“We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.

“Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace.

“Whether one believes in a religion or not, and whether one believes in rebirth or not, there isn't anyone who doesn't appreciate kindness and compassion.

“With realization of one's own potential and self-confidence in one's ability, one can build a better world.”

There are some interesting ideas here that you might miss:

(1) It seems clear that what he is teaching is not really a religion.  Buddhism, as taught by some teachers is a moral code.  There are no temples, and the philosophy is kindness.  The principle used to be called compassion, but kindness seems to get the idea across a lot more simply.

(2) Be kind not only to people, but to animals.  In lesser religions, heaven is reserved for humans.  But the Hindu framework on which Buddhism is structured allows for transmigration of animal souls as well.  If you take away the mythology, you are left with the principle that you must treat all life as well as you treat human life.  Being carnivores (or omnivores), we find this difficult to understand, or at least to adopt.  But at another level, it may be understood to mean: be kind to the Environment or the ecology.  We all live or die together.

(3) The seeds of kindness are grown in gratitude.  Christians know this well, but somehow Christians have learned how to be thankful without feeling the need to give back proportionally.  (That's probably true of institutional Buddhists as well; institutional religion is utterly empty.)

(4) There is a suggestion that, just as it is more blessed to give than to receive, it is as great a pleasure to be kind as to receive kindness.

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