Dalai LamaVerified account

Time is always moving on; nothing can stop it. We can't change the past, but we can learn from it to shape the future. Stress on ‘us’ and ‘them’ is a source of conflict. We neglect basic human qualities of kindness and compassion. Let’s work together to create a happier future.

There's an intimate connection between love and compassion, on the one hand, and genuine happiness, on the other. The indispensability of compassion touches us all, from the very first day of our lives, when we're wholly dependent on the love of our mother or some other caregiver

Self-centredness creates a distance from others, leading to dishonesty, fear and anger. This is how disturbing emotions work. While fear, hatred and anger, are bad for our health, concern for others leads to self-confidence and inner strength, while helping to reduce anger.

As a human being, I am committed to the promotion of what I call basic human values, by which I mean especially compassion. Nurturing the compassionate seed within us and acting out of this innate capacity are the keys to fulfilling our basic aspiration to happiness.

A deep awareness of the goodness of human beings, that they are essentially kind, helpful, and gentle, can give us courage and hope. On a personal level too, such a vision of our basic nature can help promote a greater sense of well-being and connectedness with others.

Even more important than the warmth and affection we receive, is the warmth and affection we give. It is by giving warmth and affection, by having a genuine sense of concern for others, in other words through compassion, that we gain the conditions for genuine happiness.

Sometimes we feel we can’t do much by ourselves, but humanity is made up of individuals; we can make a difference. As individuals we can influence our own families. Our families can shape our communities and our communities form our nations. Together we can make a better world.

It’s not enough to pray for peace of mind, we have to examine what’s disturbing us and eliminate it. In the same way, just wishing to be well won’t cure physical illness; you have to adopt the preventive measures and take the prescribed medicine.

I urge young women to accept leadership roles. We need you to promote love and compassion. Realise my dream—that the 200 nations of the world be governed by women. There’ll be less war, violence, and economic and social injustice because strength is rooted in love and compassion

We all want to live a life free from turmoil, but we need to have a realistic method to achieve our goal. Warm-heartedness is essential—it yields a calm mind and self-confidence, enabling us to act openly, honestly and transparently, free from anxiety, fear and suspicion.

We have two kinds of emotion, those that are destructive, like anger and jealousy, which destroy our peace of mind and damage our health. But we also have other constructive emotions, like compassion, that bring us inner strength.

Look at the world today—violence is rife, weapons proliferate and countries eagerly pursue arms sales. This is a wrong approach. There are other ways to make money. The world needs non-violence and compassion, not in terms of prayers, but as spurs to a different course of action.

The purpose of life is to be happy. This is what all human beings have in common—the wish to lead a happy life. Many think that happiness is to be found outside us in material things, but actually it’s something that comes from within, from warm-heartedness and concern for others

What we need today are universal values based not on faith but on scientific findings, common experience and common sense.

When you have a more compassionate mind, everything appears to you in a more positive light. If we employ our human intelligence with warm-heartedness, it creates a happy atmosphere and fosters a happy community.

Since resentment, anger, and animosity bring us no benefit, it is clearly in our own interest to underpin our attitude to all others with a kind of genuine unconditional and unbiased compassion. And doing so will certainly bring us benefits.

Peace in the world depends on peace within. If we have that we can approach problems in a spirit of compassion, dialogue and respect for the rights of others—always a better solution than resorting to a use of weapons and force. External disarmament depends on inner disarmament.