Essay 6 of 12
The Way of Discipline – The Dalai Lama
“There are no problems in life outside of the mind.”— Tara Singh
It is sometimes stated that different religions each have their own special contributions to make. Christianity emphasizes devotion, while Islam concentrates on surrender. Buddhism, on the other hand, has its own essential gift: discipline.
The Dalai Lama's way does not have any shortcuts. It centers on work. Consistent, regimented, sincere, work. The content you will see below are my impressions from the film The Wisdom of Happiness, in which Richard Gere participated as an emcee of sorts. However, the quotes offered presently all come directly from the Dalai Lama, specifically his explanations provided within the film.
Before beginning, it is noteworthy – and not surprising for those who are familiar with his teachings – that the Dalai Lama is simply uninterested in comparisons between sects of Buddhism, or between Buddhism and other religions. His statements are consistently lucid and direct. He is certainly not absorbed in intellectualism. He is, very simply, concerned with content. He deals with universal truth.
Helping Others
A good place to start is in the traditional Buddhist ideal of bringing others to enlightenment – the bodhisattva ideal. In a very direct sense, this amounts to helping others. Here we have the same message from the Dalai Lama in providing assistance to others as provided by an American recovering alcoholic in the 1930's in the "Big Book" of Alcoholics Anonymous. The related chapter in the present collection entitled "The Magic Bullet" clarifies the absolute power that helping others may be expected to provide in the goal of happiness. It is an obvious, simple relationship that requires no explanation, although it does require emphasis, owing to its essential, central role in our quest for happiness.
A Practical Orientation
There is nothing about God here. We are looking directly at cause-and-effect relationships in the observable world. The Dalai Lama has some problems with this world, as do we. “There is too much stress, too much competition…” he says.
If I were asked “what word did you find to be the most often relied upon by the Dalai Lama in conveying his message?” the answer would be this:
Compassion.
Compassion is the key factor, he maintains. Serving others brings an increase in inner strength. He explains, “We are like herds of animals: we live together, share together, and develop a sense of community. We are one hundred percent equal. Basic human nature is more compassionate than what we normally see these days in observing contemporary human behavior. We are slighting our own human nature through lack of discipline in our behavior.”
He continues, “Children don’t care about differences between people. War is always about ‘we’ versus ‘they,’ leading us to exploit and bully others, but in children this ‘us’ versus ‘them’ foundation for violence is not found. If we carry the principle of compassion forward into our lives for twenty minutes per day, our lives will change.”
Just look
The Dalai Lama instructs us that when a negative emotion arises, we tend to allow the entire mind be affected. The whole mind is then taken over by negative thought patterns. Decisions made in these conditions are often wrong, and result in frustration, helplessness and demoralization. They are harmful to our health and undermine the effective functioning of our immune system.
He says,
“We lose our ability to see objectively. We become slaves to destructive emotions, which create suspicion, destroying openness and trust. Suspicion in turn causes judgment: An inner door closes, bringing about difficulty in communicating with others. Our successful lives depend on these ‘others,’ yet because we allow these destructive emotions to rule us, we end up with more fear and anxiety directed toward them.”
“When we experience a negative emotion, we should try to separate it out and simply watch that emotion.” (This theme has come up before and it will come up again. Just looking – observing from a place of nonjudgmental awareness – will bring about the dissipation of the unwanted emotion.) When you just look at a negative emotion, it reduces its intensity.
Go to the source
The Dalai Lama places an emphasis on science, specifically blending science with mental discipline to clear the way for kindness and compassion:
“One source of inner peace is our innate ability to utilize our native intelligence by putting it to use as our ability to investigate. We allow ourselves to become swayed by appearances; positive appearances create attachment, while negative appearances cause fear and anger,” he says.
He continues,
“The mind is very strong – it can control the brain and its emotions. It needs to be trained to resist the lure of appearances. This can be done with science, which operates within our own native intelligence.”
“The mind can be taught to combine positive, constructive means of investigation. We can therefore join the effects of compassion with the logical approach of scientific investigation to eliminate the destructive effects of negative emotions. It will require tremendous determination and will power to bring together the compassion of Tibetan Buddhism with the logical approach of science to increase and strengthen the constructive capabilities of the mind, but if we use self-confidence, it can be done.”
Why? Because “the very purpose of our life is happiness and joyfulness. Proper constructive use of the mind is the path.”
Begin with self-love
“We cannot develop compassion in the context of self-hatred. Realize ‘I am a human being’ and ‘I deserve happiness.’ Cultivate self-love. If we generate maximum care for ourselves, we can extend this care to others. Be wise selfish, not foolish selfish. Taking care of others brings maximum benefit to the self. In this sense, then, altruism is enlightened self-interest. Help others to benefit yourself.”
Meditation
The Dalai Lama emphasizes that “Happiness only comes from within.” This, of course, is a theme we have encountered over and over.
“When there is worry, investigate through meditation. Ninety percent of negative emotion is mental projection and is not based on reality, so the problem is internal, not external. The destroyer of our inner peace is not external, but rather our own internal enemy.”
The Dalai Lama explains how mental discipline leads to compassion, which in turn generates happiness:
He adds, “Concentrate on breathing: Inhale, hold/retain, exhale. Through meditation we can develop compassion. Thinking about the suffering and pain of others expands compassion. Through meditation the mind becomes open, wider. When you think about others the mind becomes wider. Training the mind in this way develops compassion and is the key factor for a happy life and peace of mind.”
“Meditation is a thoughtless state of mind. But we cannot remain thoughtless so we use analytical meditation: Ask, ‘Where is ‘I’ (self) besides the body? But you cannot find ‘I’ – there is no independent self. The real troublemaker is a self-centered attitude, the (false) belief in a separate, independent self. But everything is interdependent.” (Note: These same points are made by Ramana Maharshi in “The Way of Wisdom” chapter.)
Forgiveness through compassion
The Dalai Lama addresses the issue with the Chinese in a manner that clearly reveals his enlightened mind:
“We have no negative feelings regarding the Chinese hardliners. Everyone with a mother has the seed of compassion. We look at the Chinese as actors, engaging in actions of anger, fear, hatred and violence. We take their anger, fear, hatred and violence and give back to them patience, tolerance and compassion. [Note: This is the Buddhist meditation practice of tonglen.] Once you start doing this you get compassion that is genuine, unbiased, unlimited and infinite. In this way your enemy becomes your best teacher for learning how to develop loving kindness.”
“A meaningful dialog requires a very calm mind. This is the only way to develop a mutual understanding and inner disarmament. It is the only way to synthesize new ideas.”
He summarizes as follows:
- Our brains must be combined with warm-heartedness -- when we add a sense of moral principle the brain becomes constructive;
- We need to think more carefully, in a long-sighted way, without attachments. We can then extend love to others, with patience and a determination to make a peaceful society;
- We can develop positive emotions with nonviolence, compassion and self-confidence;
- You yourself is the master of yourself. Anger, jealousy and fear are bound to happen, but only on a surface level. They come and go, come and go… But no matter the circumstances, deep inside you can sustain inner peace, inner calmness.
- You can have peace of mind all the time. When in doubt, use maximum brain all the way: Combine smart brain with warmheartedness: with these two wings you can fly!
- Serve others, help others – never bring harm to others.
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