Have you read "The Art of Happiness" by the Dalai Lama?
The Art of Happiness (Riverhead, 1998, ISBN 1-57322-111-2) is a book by the 14th Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler, a psychiatrist who posed questions to the Dalai Lama. Cutler quotes the Dalai Lama at length, providing context and describing some details of the settings in which the interviews took place, as well as adding his own reflections on issues raised.
The book explores training the human outlook that alters perception. The concepts that the purpose of life is happiness, that happiness is determined more by the state of one's mind than by one's external conditions, circumstances, or events—at least once one's basic survival needs are met and that happiness can be achieved through the systematic training of our hearts and minds.
Part I. The Purpose of Life
Chapter 1: The Right to Happiness
"I believe that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness. That is clear, whether one believes in religion or not, whether one believes in this religion or that religion, we all are seeking something better in life. So, I think, the very motion of our life is towards happiness…” . The Dalai Lama spoke this powerful statement at a conference in Arizona among a crowd of people. Chapter one, The Right to Happiness, introduces what the book; the Art of Happiness is about.
Psychiatrist Howard Cutler followed the Dalai Lama around on this tour. Cutler, as well as many of his patients, believed that happiness was “ill defined, elusive, and ungraspable”. He also noted that the word ‘happy’ was derived from the term luck or chance. His stance on happiness changed after spending some time with this peace leader.
“When I say ‘training the mind,’ in this context I'm not referring to ‘mind’ merely as one's cognitive ability or intellect. Rather I'm using the term in the sense of the Tibetan word Sem, it includes intellect and feeling, heart and mind. By bringing about a certain inner discipline we can undergo a transformation of our attitude, our entire outlook and approach to living".
The purpose of our life is to seek happiness was the phrase that stuck with him out of every other word the Dalai Lama spoke. After later examining some previous experiments, he came to this conclusion: unhappy people tend to be self-focused, withdrawn, brooding and even antagonistic. “On the other hand, happy people tend to be more sociable, flexible, and creative and are able to tolerate life’s daily frustrations more easily than unhappy people.”
The Dalai Lama sees happiness as an objective: people setting goals and working to achieve them thus creating happiness in oneself.
Chapter 2: The Sources of Happiness
Chapter 1 talks about how to train the mind to become happier; with Chapter 2, we can figure out our sources of happiness or unhappiness. This chapter starts by explaining how a woman being able to retire at age 32 is at a higher level of happiness, but she soon returns to her happiness level before early retirement. Compared to this story, a man is told he's HIV positive, which brings him to a lower level of happiness, but he soon begins to appreciate every day life more. These two examples in the book help explain how “happiness is determined more by one’s state of mind than by external events”. Being at a life's high, winning the lottery, or being at a low, diagnosed with cancer, we eventually get back to our baseline level. This baseline level is described in the book as how we react to life-changing news; even then our lives will reach a normal baseline again.
Relating to the baseline theory, we have very comparing minds with one another and within ourselves. The book explains how we compare incomes and success, which leads to unhappiness, but we need to flip this state of mind to compare with the less fortunate to appreciate what we have. According to the Dalai Lama, “If you harbor hateful thoughts or intense anger deep within yourself, then it ruins your health; thus it destroys one of the factors for happiness”. We are born into a certain state of mind about happiness, but we can change our outlook by being happier in each moment. For example, we can find more happiness with ourselves through self-worth. Self-worth, according to the Dalai Lama, is having a source of affection, compassion, and a sense of dignity. We need a strong sense of contentment to feel happier without obtaining objects, which assists in finding self-worth. Along with material things, we need to be able to decide what is going to bring us happiness or just pleasure. We have to reflect on what will ultimately bring us positive or negative consequences when dealing with a positive or negative action we perform to bring us satisfaction. We must ask ourselves if a certain object/action will make us happier or bring us pleasure.
Chapter 3: Training the Mind for Happiness
First step is learning. Analyse thoughts and emotions to determine if they are beneficial or hurtful. Try not to "want." If you know something may tempt you avoid it. Positive desires are good.
Chapter 4: Reclaiming our Innate State of Happiness
The ability to be happy is in everyone's nature. Happiness is found through love, affection, closeness and compassion. Not only do humans have the capability of being happy, but also the Dalai Lama believes that each human naturally has a gentle quality within them. The Dalai Lama supports this theory by mentioning ‘Buddha nature’, the Buddhist doctrine, but also saying that gentleness is not only affected by religion but in everyday life. With gentleness comes aggression, however. People argue that aggression is the dominant behaviour for the human race. In response, the Dalai Lama says, “anger, violence and aggression may certainly arise, but I think it’s on a secondary or more superficial level; in a sense, they arise when we are frustrated in our efforts to achieve love and affection”. Although aggression can occur, overall our fundamental nature is gentleness. The Dalai Lama believes that because of the advancement in human intelligence we are believed to be capable of controlling our aggression versus our kindness; however, if the intellect level were to decrease then the result would be destructive. So, overall, the Dalai Lama believes that although it is possible to go down the path of aggression there is always the natural ability to be compassionate again. The compassion towards one's self as humans has to be equally distributed to others. “Reaching out to help others may be as fundamental to our nature as communication”. This suggests the idea that humans are “programmed with the capacity and purpose of bringing pleasure and joy to others”. Overall, happiness is reached by keeping peace with others and one's self, which can be reached through meditation and community service. Therefore, the Dalai Lama concludes that the purpose isn't to create tension but a positive atmosphere. This gives our life meaning, which leads to overall happiness. That positive atmosphere can be found through closeness and compassion.
Part II. Human Warmth and Compassion
Part III. Transforming Suffering
Part IV. Overcoming Obstacles
Part V. Closing Reflections on Living a Spiritual Life
Other books by the Dalai Lama Edit
A sequel, The Art of Happiness at Work, was published in 2003 by Riverhead Press (ISBN 1-57322-261-5), also with Howard Cutler.
Ethics for the New Millennium (1999). Riverhead Press. (ISBN 1-57322-025-6).
An Open Heart, edited by Nicholas Vreeland. Back Bay Books. (ISBN 0-316-98979-7).
The book explores training the human outlook that alters perception. The concepts that the purpose of life is happiness, that happiness is determined more by the state of one's mind than by one's external conditions, circumstances, or events—at least once one's basic survival needs are met and that happiness can be achieved through the systematic training of our hearts and minds.
Part I. The Purpose of Life
Chapter 1: The Right to Happiness
"I believe that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness. That is clear, whether one believes in religion or not, whether one believes in this religion or that religion, we all are seeking something better in life. So, I think, the very motion of our life is towards happiness…” . The Dalai Lama spoke this powerful statement at a conference in Arizona among a crowd of people. Chapter one, The Right to Happiness, introduces what the book; the Art of Happiness is about.
Psychiatrist Howard Cutler followed the Dalai Lama around on this tour. Cutler, as well as many of his patients, believed that happiness was “ill defined, elusive, and ungraspable”. He also noted that the word ‘happy’ was derived from the term luck or chance. His stance on happiness changed after spending some time with this peace leader.
“When I say ‘training the mind,’ in this context I'm not referring to ‘mind’ merely as one's cognitive ability or intellect. Rather I'm using the term in the sense of the Tibetan word Sem, it includes intellect and feeling, heart and mind. By bringing about a certain inner discipline we can undergo a transformation of our attitude, our entire outlook and approach to living".
The purpose of our life is to seek happiness was the phrase that stuck with him out of every other word the Dalai Lama spoke. After later examining some previous experiments, he came to this conclusion: unhappy people tend to be self-focused, withdrawn, brooding and even antagonistic. “On the other hand, happy people tend to be more sociable, flexible, and creative and are able to tolerate life’s daily frustrations more easily than unhappy people.”
The Dalai Lama sees happiness as an objective: people setting goals and working to achieve them thus creating happiness in oneself.
Chapter 2: The Sources of Happiness
Chapter 1 talks about how to train the mind to become happier; with Chapter 2, we can figure out our sources of happiness or unhappiness. This chapter starts by explaining how a woman being able to retire at age 32 is at a higher level of happiness, but she soon returns to her happiness level before early retirement. Compared to this story, a man is told he's HIV positive, which brings him to a lower level of happiness, but he soon begins to appreciate every day life more. These two examples in the book help explain how “happiness is determined more by one’s state of mind than by external events”. Being at a life's high, winning the lottery, or being at a low, diagnosed with cancer, we eventually get back to our baseline level. This baseline level is described in the book as how we react to life-changing news; even then our lives will reach a normal baseline again.
Relating to the baseline theory, we have very comparing minds with one another and within ourselves. The book explains how we compare incomes and success, which leads to unhappiness, but we need to flip this state of mind to compare with the less fortunate to appreciate what we have. According to the Dalai Lama, “If you harbor hateful thoughts or intense anger deep within yourself, then it ruins your health; thus it destroys one of the factors for happiness”. We are born into a certain state of mind about happiness, but we can change our outlook by being happier in each moment. For example, we can find more happiness with ourselves through self-worth. Self-worth, according to the Dalai Lama, is having a source of affection, compassion, and a sense of dignity. We need a strong sense of contentment to feel happier without obtaining objects, which assists in finding self-worth. Along with material things, we need to be able to decide what is going to bring us happiness or just pleasure. We have to reflect on what will ultimately bring us positive or negative consequences when dealing with a positive or negative action we perform to bring us satisfaction. We must ask ourselves if a certain object/action will make us happier or bring us pleasure.
Chapter 3: Training the Mind for Happiness
First step is learning. Analyse thoughts and emotions to determine if they are beneficial or hurtful. Try not to "want." If you know something may tempt you avoid it. Positive desires are good.
Chapter 4: Reclaiming our Innate State of Happiness
The ability to be happy is in everyone's nature. Happiness is found through love, affection, closeness and compassion. Not only do humans have the capability of being happy, but also the Dalai Lama believes that each human naturally has a gentle quality within them. The Dalai Lama supports this theory by mentioning ‘Buddha nature’, the Buddhist doctrine, but also saying that gentleness is not only affected by religion but in everyday life. With gentleness comes aggression, however. People argue that aggression is the dominant behaviour for the human race. In response, the Dalai Lama says, “anger, violence and aggression may certainly arise, but I think it’s on a secondary or more superficial level; in a sense, they arise when we are frustrated in our efforts to achieve love and affection”. Although aggression can occur, overall our fundamental nature is gentleness. The Dalai Lama believes that because of the advancement in human intelligence we are believed to be capable of controlling our aggression versus our kindness; however, if the intellect level were to decrease then the result would be destructive. So, overall, the Dalai Lama believes that although it is possible to go down the path of aggression there is always the natural ability to be compassionate again. The compassion towards one's self as humans has to be equally distributed to others. “Reaching out to help others may be as fundamental to our nature as communication”. This suggests the idea that humans are “programmed with the capacity and purpose of bringing pleasure and joy to others”. Overall, happiness is reached by keeping peace with others and one's self, which can be reached through meditation and community service. Therefore, the Dalai Lama concludes that the purpose isn't to create tension but a positive atmosphere. This gives our life meaning, which leads to overall happiness. That positive atmosphere can be found through closeness and compassion.
Part II. Human Warmth and Compassion
Part III. Transforming Suffering
Part IV. Overcoming Obstacles
Part V. Closing Reflections on Living a Spiritual Life
Other books by the Dalai Lama Edit
A sequel, The Art of Happiness at Work, was published in 2003 by Riverhead Press (ISBN 1-57322-261-5), also with Howard Cutler.
Ethics for the New Millennium (1999). Riverhead Press. (ISBN 1-57322-025-6).
An Open Heart, edited by Nicholas Vreeland. Back Bay Books. (ISBN 0-316-98979-7).
