DALAI LAMA SHARES HOW TO OBTAIN THE ULTIMATE HAPPINESS

Dalai Lama

DALAI LAMA EXPLAINS HOW ONE CAN OBTAIN HAPPINESS AND PEACE IN AN INTERVIEW WITH ‘LION’S ROAR.’

Most people in the West have been brought up knowing that they have to choose between the well-being of others and their happiness, with sacrificing their own happiness for others being the correct thing to do. However, this doesn’t exist in Buddhism because when you are happy, it doesn’t mean that you are selfish.

Caring about the well-being of others is the best way that you can get to be happy as you get the maximum benefit from being concerned. Your own mental attitude is the source of a happy and healthy body. In fact, having a self-centered attitude where you think only about yourself, brings about loneliness, anxiety, fear and anger which is bad for your health and mind and can damage your immune system. Human beings are social animals, and a happy life depends on an entire community. When you are self-centered, you are narrow-minded and have a negative attitude, but these reduce when you care for others. When we get a genuine human smile, you definitely experience more peace, but an artificial smile shows that they are distant. Children who get total affection from their parents and friends end up happier than those children whose parents who punish them or have a negative face. This is not science, and it doesn’t need any philosophy, but it is something everyone experiences from the beginning of life. The conclusion is that being affectionate and concerned about the well-being of others is the best way to get your own happy life, a healthy body, and live longer. There is no need of tranquilizers or drugs if your heart is filled with affection. Many people in the West doubt that they are good in the midst of all the injustice and suffering. It becomes hard to convince them that human nature is basically good and loving. Look at the children as they play, they don’t consider their differences such as religion or family background, but as they grow they become more concerned about their differences.  All seven billion human beings on the earth are the same, and they all want affection and happiness.

When children are young, affection and compassion of which are the core values are still fresh. In school, they will not focus on these as they concentrate more on material things and money. The education system also doesn’t focus on developing the human brain and also the human values which in turn make them become more materialistic. This forces them to later to try and practice about compassion and forgiveness. Therefore, warm-heartedness is required as a human value.