Pamela Leavey

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Category: Dalai Lama

Dalai Lama Shares His Views on Happiness and Compassion in Talk on ‘Beyond Religion’

On Sunday, I drove into Boston to hear His Holiness the Dalai Lama speak on the subject of his latest book, Beyond Religion. A performance by Massachusetts’ own James Taylor national treasure, opened the event. The event was well attended with an estimated sold out crowd of 2500.

With everyone in the ballroom standing, as His Holiness stepped onto the stage, the Dalai Lama took his seat on the stage and signaled to the crowd to sit.

“Very strong light,” he said as he put on his customary visor cap that he wears often when speaking on a well lighted stage. He then walked over to Friar Thomas Keating and Brother David Steindl-Rast, the two Catholic priests also on the discussion panel and pulled their Monks’ hoods up to shield their eyes from the strong light as well. His Holiness is well known for his sense of humor which is often directed towards himself, and one finds him chuckling with glee when he steps into the mode of the holy trickster.

Tibetan exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama bows to an audience as he takes the stage at the start of an event called "Beyond Religion: Ethics, Values and Well-Being," at a Boston hotel Sunday. (Steven Senne/AP)

Steven Senne/AP – 

Expressing his joy in the Catholic Priests joining him for the discussion, the Dalai Lama said, “These days I feel I am quite old, but with them… I am young!” (more…)

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Food For Thought: Patience

Awesome words of wisdom from His Holiness…

The practice of patience protects us from losing our composure. In doing that it enables us to exercise discernment, even in the heat of difficult situations. It gives us inner space. And within that space we gain a degree of self-control, which allows us to respond to situations in an appropriate and compassionate manner rather than being driven by our anger and irritation. ~~ His Holiness The Dalai Lama

(Photo: White Crocus on Point Shore in Amesbury, MA ~ c. Pamela J. Leavey 2012)

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Food For Thought: Compassion

Compassion is vital in our day to day existence…

The human capacity to care for others isn’t something trivial or something to be taken for granted. Rather, it is something we should cherish. Compassion is a marvel of human nature, a precious inner resource, and the foundation of our well-being and the harmony of our societies. If we seek happiness for ourselves, we should practice compassion: and if we seek happiness for others, we should also practice compassion. ~~ His Holiness The Dalai Lama

When we ourselves our struggling we must remember that we are still capable of having compassion for others. It is in that compassion that we lift ourselves up and we lift up those to whom we give our compassion.

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Food For Thought

Via His Holiness The Dalai Lama on Facebook…

“There is a saying in Tibetan that “at the door of the miserable rich man sleeps the contented beggar.” The point of this saying is not that poverty is a virtue, but that happiness does not come from wealth, but from setting limits to one’s desires, and living within those limits with satisfaction.”

So true…

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Food For Thought

Via His Holiness The Dalai Lama on Facebook…

“Generosity is the most natural outward expression of an inner attitude of compassion and loving-kindness. When one desires to alleviate the suffering of others and to promote their well-being, then generosity – in action, word, and thought – is this desire put into practice. It is important to recognize the “generosity” here refers not just to giving in a material sense, but to generosity of the heart.”

We so often equate generosity with a monetary or material worth, but in truth a single smile, a good thought towards someone, a visit, time spent with a loved one who is ailing, all of these things are generosity in action.

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The Dalai Lama Stresses Ethics and Values at MIT

Last week, I drove down to Massachusetts so that I could attend the inaugural event at MIT’s Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values.

My interest in attending the event was two fold:

  • First —  To hear the Dalai Lama speak because I feel he is one of the great spiritual leaders of our times.
  • Second — Because I feel strongly about the objective and mission of the Center, which is to “inspire a new generation of 21st century leaders with compassionate responsibility for the global and long-term social, economic, and environmental impacts of their decisions.”

The Center’s inaugural event at MIT was quite different from the large event at Gillette Stadium on Saturday that drew a diverse crowd of nearly 16,000.

Dalai Lama

Peppering his talk on promoting ethics and compassion, with his wonderful sense of humor, my first impression of His Holiness, was that he possesses a quality of pure happiness and joy, that I would liken to the happiness that is reflected in a small child. When we are young we are far more open and joyful than we are as adults, because we are not burdened and encumbered with the problems that age and responsibility set upon us. (more…)

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