In order to create peaceful family, first the individual person himself or herself should create inner peace, joyfulness.
The Dalai Lama
True Joyfulness
Topic: Joy & Happiness
But the true joyfulness comes from helping others. This way you get much more satisfaction. So that kind of thinking about joyfulness is really an important factor in building a happy society, peaceful society. In order to create peaceful family, first the individual person himself or herself should create inner peace, joyfulness. Then share with other family members. In that way, one family, ten families, a hundred families. That way, we can change and bring happier community, happier society, then happier humanity. Seven billion human beings, we all have same desire, same right to achieve happy life.
Tenzin Gyatso, born on July 6, 1935, is known globally as the 14th Dalai Lama, the spiritual and former political leader of the Tibetan people. Born as Lhamo Thondup in a farming family in Taktser, Amdo, Tibet, he was recognized as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso, when he was just two years old. As the Dalai Lama, he holds the highest spiritual position within Tibetan Buddhism and is seen as a figure of great moral authority and influence. Following China's invasion of Tibet in 1950, he assumed full political power in 1950 but was forced into exile in India in 1959 after the failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule.
The Dalai Lama is renowned for his messages of peace, non-violence, inter-religious understanding, and compassion. He has authored numerous books and has lectured worldwide, becoming one of the most influential figures in the world of spirituality and philosophy. In recognition of his work for peace and non-violence, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. Furthermore, his advocacy for the cultural and religious rights of the Tibetan people and his efforts to find a peaceful solution to the situation in Tibet through dialogue and understanding, rather than violence, have made him an internationally respected leader. Despite the political controversies and challenges, he remains committed to promoting human values and harmony among the world's religious traditions.
The Book of Joy
The Dalai Lama, and Desmond Tutu. Moderated and edited by Douglas Carlton Abrams [The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World, Viking, 2016] p. 295.
The Dalai Lama
Theme: Joy
About The Dalai Lama’s Quotation [Commentary]
His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama teaches that the path to a peaceful world begins with the individual. “In order to create peaceful family, first the individual person himself or herself should create inner peace, joyfulness.” The sequence he presents is deliberate: peace in the family comes from the peace within one person, and that peace includes joy. He is not speaking of distant goals like “heaven or hell or Buddhahood or salvation,” but of something immediate—how we live each day. The focus is on the small scale, where each person’s effort to find inner calm and share it can become the foundation for change.
This inner joy, however, does not arise from isolation or self-focus. “The true joyfulness comes from helping others,” he says, explaining that “this way you get much more satisfaction.” His view of joy is not personal indulgence, but shared well-being. Joyfulness, then, becomes not only a feeling but “an important factor in building a happy society, peaceful society.” By sharing one’s peace and joy with others—“then share with other family members”—a single person influences one family, “ten families, a hundred families,” eventually contributing to “happier community, happier society.”
At the heart of this teaching is a simple recognition: “Seven billion human beings, we all have same desire, same right to achieve happy life.” This common ground gives his vision both urgency and hope. He and Archbishop Desmond Tutu agreed that “love, kindness, and affection are the source of joy and happiness.” These are not abstract ideals, but qualities to be lived. By beginning with our own state of mind—inner peace, joyfulness—and allowing that to shape how we relate to others, we take part in what the Dalai Lama calls “this important process” of building a better humanity.
The Book of Joy
In April 2015, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu met in Dharamsala for a historic conversation about joy. The Book of Joy (on sale now) chronicles the week-long discussion. On the final day, co-author Douglas Abrams asked the two great spiritual giants about the importance of joy in the world today.
—The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World – September 20, 2016 by the Dalai Lama (Author), Desmond Tutu (Author), Douglas Carlton Abrams (Author).
The Dalai Lama [excerpt]
DA: Here is more from The Book of Joy where in the final segment of their dialogue, Departure: A Final Goodbye, the Dalai Lama is responding to Archbishop Tutu and their interlocutor Douglas Abrams:
DL: “After meeting with so many people, thinkers, scientists, educators, health-care professionals, social workers and activists, it is clear that the only way to truly change our world is through teaching compassion. Our society is lacking an adequate sense of compassion, sense of kindness, and genuine regard for others’ well-being. So now many, many, people who seriously think about humanity all have the same view. We must promote basic human values, the inner values that lie at the heart of who we are as humans.
Religion is not sufficient. Religion has been very important in human history, and perhaps for another thousand years it will continue to bring benefit to humanity. So now we have to think seriously. Just to pray or rely on religious faith is not sufficient. It will remain a source of inspiration, but in terms of seven billion human beings, it’s not sufficient. No matter how excellent, no religion can be universal. So we have to find another way to promote these values.
I think the only way really is, as we have said, through education. Education is universal. We must teach people, especially our youth, the source of happiness and satisfaction. We must teach them that the ultimate source of happiness is within themselves. Not machine. Not technology. Not money. Not power.
We’re not talking about heaven or hell or Buddhahood or salvation; these are too far away.” He laughed. “So our book is part of this important process to help spread the message that love, kindness, and affection are the source of joy and happiness. As you [Desmond Tutu] already made clear, our basic human nature is good, is positive, so that can give us a basis for courage and self-confidence. So that’s why we spend a lot of time discussing all of this. There must be some real, concrete purpose and result, or if not, it’s better to sleep.” The Dalai Lama leaned over and pretended to lean over on his elbow toward the Archbishop, as if falling asleep, and then laughed.”
—Dalai Lama XIV, Desmond Tutu, with Douglas Carlton Abrams [“The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World”] pp. 273-274.
Archbishop Tutu [excerpt]
DA: “Archbishop, Your Holiness, what an incredible joy and privilege it has been to join you in this conversation to prepare The Book of Joy. Today is just for a few final questions. One we received was, ‘Why do you think it is important to write The Book of Joy now, and what do you hope it will do for readers around the world?’”
DT: “You obviously hope,” the Archbishop said, speaking of himself in the second person, as he often did, “that you could be an agent for helping God’s children enter into their heritage so they can have greater fulfillment and can become all that they are meant to be. And you hope that they will realize that it will happen most of all if they are generous, if they are compassionate, if they are caring.
“It is when without thinking about it you help someone who is less well off, when you are kind to someone else and do those things that raise others up, you end up being joyful.”
The day before, at the Tibetan Children’s Village, the Archbishop had answered one of the children’s questions by saying, “If we think we want to get joy for ourselves, we realize that it’s very shortsighted, short-lived. Joy is the reward, really, of seeking to give joy to others. When you show compassion, when you show caring, when you show love to others, do things for others, in a wonderful way you have a deep joy that you can get in no other way. You can’t buy it with money. You can be the richest person on Earth, but if you care only about yourself, I can bet my bottom dollar you will not be happy and joyful. But when you are caring, compassionate, more concerned about the welfare of others than about your own, wonderfully, wonderfully, you suddenly feel a warm glow in your heart, because you have, in fact, wiped the tears from the eyes of another.
—The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World – September 20, 2016 by the Dalai Lama (Author), Desmond Tutu (Author), Douglas Carlton Abrams (Author, Interlocutor).
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