Image from our Dalai Lama 2018 wall calendar. Photograph by Rosemary Rawcliffe.
“One of my fundamental beliefs is that not only do we inherently possess the potential or basis for compassion, but also the basic or fundamental human nature is gentleness.” — H. H. the Dalai Lama, from Healing Anger
Previously, in honor of his 80th birthday in 2015, we shared Eight Stanzas for Training the Mind.
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Image from our Dalai Lama 2017 wall calendar. Photograph by Olivier Adam. Click image for more info.
Inner development comes step by step. You may think, “Today my inner calmness, my mental peace, is very small,” but still, if you compare, if you look five, ten, or fifteen years back, and think, “What was my way of thinking then? How much inner peace did I have then and what is it today?”– comparing it with what it was then, you can realize that there is some progress, there is some value…. Progress comes by maintaining constant effort in daily practice.
— H. H. the Dalai Lama, from Kindness, Clarity, and Insight
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Image from our Dalai Lama 2017 wall calendar. Photograph © Kimimasa Mayama. Click image for more info.
There are many different philosophies, but what is of basic importance is compassion, love for others, concern for others’ suffering, and reduction of selfishness. I feel that compassionate thought is the most precious thing there is.
— H. H. the Dalai Lama, from Kindness, Clarity, and Insight
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Image from our Dalai Lama 2016 wall calendar. Photograph by Rusty Stewart. Click image for more info.
Continuous practice with continuing effort is essential when trying to implement Buddha’s teachings. Inner development naturally takes time and cannot be achieved within a short period. It is quite normal and completely to be expected, as I have confirmed from my own limited practice, that gaining even the smallest level of actual experience of what the teachings describe requires many years of unbroken hard work. So, naturally, we must make effort continuously, with courage and determination.
— H. H. the Dalai Lama, from The Gelug/Kagyü Tradition of Mahamudra
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Image from our Dalai Lama 2016 wall calendar. Photograph by Tenzin Choejor. Click image for more info.
Compassion is a mind wishing that sentient beings be free from suffering, and loving-kindness is a mind wishing they meet with happiness. Loving-kindness induces compassion, and compassion induces the special attitude. The special attitude here means that you not only mentally think how good it would be if sentient beings were free from suffering, but you voluntarily take responsibility for actually engaging in the work of delivering sentient beings to the state of liberation and helping them remove their suffering.
— H. H. the Dalai Lama
from The Stages of Meditation
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Photo by Tenzin Choejor, courtesy of the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama
His Holiness the Dalai Lama has stated that the highest respect one can show the teacher is to practice the teachings. To that end, and in honor of his birthday on July 6th, we offer the Eight Stanzas for Training the Mind from the Tibetan lojong, or mind-training tradition. Tibetan Buddhism suggests that reciting these verses, meditating on their meaning, and ultimately merging them with one’s mind will greatly assist one on the path to enlightenment. His Holiness has recited these verses every day for most of his life. They provide a tool for transformation and a pathway to the radiant mind of enlightenment. Continue reading