Dalai Lama Quotes

[Simon Attwood]

I have great respect for the man and follow the Dalai Lama on Facebook

 

Just thought I'd share a few of his Facebook posts here;

 

My true religion, my simple faith, is in love and compassion. There is no need for complicated philosophy, doctrine, or dogma. Our own heart, our own mind, is the temple. The doctrine is compassion. Love for others and respect for their rights and dignity, no matter what or who they are - these are ultimately all we need.

 

There is much we can do to influence our experience of suffering. Old age, sickness and death are inevitable, but with torments of negative thoughts and emotions, we certainly have a choice in how we respond to the occurence of suffering. If we wish, we can adopt a more dispassionate and rational approach, and on that basis we can temper our response to it.

[TaraMaiden]

"Be kind whenever possible.

 

 

It is always possible."

[Feelin Frisky]

I met the guy up close once. We bowed to each other and made "prayer hands". It was at a Peter Max art gallery showing in NY honoring ol' Kundun himself.

[TaraMaiden]

:laugh:

 

I have a very strong feeling he would actually laugh at that one.....!

 

I met him once, too, FF.

It's quite memorable, isn't it, for all the brevity....

[Feelin Frisky]

:laugh:

 

I have a very strong feeling he would actually laugh at that one.....!

 

I met him once, too, FF.

It's quite memorable, isn't it, for all the brevity....

 

Yes. And his entorage was so impressive. I'd love to travel to Lhasa and emerse myself in all those colors, chants, stature dynamics and related symbology.

[denise_xo]

BtW... I don't think this thread smacks of this at all.

 

I feel kinda sorry for Simon.... he obviously wanted to post a thread with a few pithy memorable and meaningful words of wisdom - and almost everyone has injected humour into it - including me - damn, a Buddhist to boot!

 

So to say this thread smacks of 'the "cult of personality" is way off base, IMHO.....

 

It's ok. We like Simon's thread. I like that he has a Rumi quote, too. Rumi is in my collection of personality cults

 

Who said humour isn't meaningful?

 

With love and compassion.

[Tony]

The OP did not ask what you thought of the Dalai Lama or Buddhism...or anything else. He/she set forth some quotes from the Dalai. If you want to do that yourself, fine. I'm getting very sick of people here putting down everything. I can't believe that people can't just respect others and honor them for what they believe and if you don't subscribe to those beliefs just let it go without sticking a gun to their heads and pulling the trigger...EVEN WHEN DOING SO IS OFF TOPIC.

 

Either participate in this thread within our guidelines or move on to another part of the forums...and respect our guidelines wherever you go inside LoveShack.org.

[TaraMaiden]

Yes. And his entorage was so impressive. I'd love to travel to Lhasa and emerse myself in all those colors, chants, stature dynamics and related symbology.

 

True Story:

A very good friend of mine, nursed his wife through 5 years of cancer, and she finally passed away, leaving my friend, and his young 8-year-old son (at the time) without wife and mother.

However, because of careful planning and meticulous aforethought, she was able to leave them both a small legacy. My good friend asked his son what he thought they should do with the money. The young boy, having seen and heard much of Buddhism, asked his father if they could travel to Dharamsala (In Nepal - now the Dalai Lama's official residence outside of Tibet) to visit the dalai lama.

my friend, somewhat taken aback, thought - "well, nothing ventured, nothing gained", so he wrote to His Holiness' personal secretary (both on the website and via snailmail) requesting an audience with His Holiness.

Then sat back and waited.

For quite a long time.

So long, in fact, that they both forgot all about it.

 

Until one day, through the post, they received an official invitation to an Audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in Dharamslala, Just before the Vesak celebrations for the following year.

They were warned however, that in all probability, there would only be a short timeslot available for them. Maybe ten minutes or thereabouts.

So my good friend and his son prepared for the long, expensive and complex journey, with inoculations, documents and all that mess, and all for a ten minute audience with the Dalai Lama.

 

That ended up lasting almost an hour.

 

So it's not impossible.....

 

I would post a pic, but I don't know how.....

[Simon Attwood]

I would post a pic, but I don't know how.....

 

 

I'd love to see the pic, Tara, and I could host it on my photobucket if you want?

[TaraMaiden]

Lhasa is not a place I'd visit any time soon, unfortunately. It's been taken over by the Chinese.

you do not want to know what they've done to the Potala palace....

 

...But I really don't want to turn this thread into a Political rant. Just to say that really, Dharamsala is the better place to go, right now......

[TaraMaiden]

PM me on how to send it to you?

it needs enlarging too.....

[Feelin Frisky]

... I would post a pic, but I don't know how.....

 

You can't. you can only post a link to an image hosting facility like Photobucket.

 

BTW, you're a Brit, nay? I'm reminded of Procol Harem's "In Held Twas in I". "...the Dhali Lama looked at him and smiled and said "life is like a beanstalk, isn't it?"" It sort of pictures the big expectation and then the quickness and simplicity of the actual audience.

[Simon Attwood]

very low res and have tried to enlarge with a bit of photoshoppery

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn251/Kikuhito-Senshi/Simon-and-the-lama.jpg

[TaraMaiden]

Yah, true....

I'll see if my friend has a bigger shot some where in his profile....

 

But it's a genuine and wonderful shot.....

[Simon Attwood]

A few more wise words from a man of compassion

 

[COLOR=#808080] [/COLOR]When concern for others' feelings and welfare is missing, our activities tend to become spoiled. Through lack of basic human feeling, religion, politics, economics, and so on can be rendered dirty. Instead of serving humanity, they become agents of its destruction. Therefore, in addition to developing a sense of univer...sal responsibility, we need actually to be responsible people.

 

To the extent that our experience of suffering reminds us of what everyone else also endures, it serves as a powerful inspiration to practice compassion and avoid causing others pain. And to the extent that suffering awakens our empathy and causes us to connect with others, it serves as the basis of compassion and love.

 

An important benefit of developing a sense of universal responsibility is that it helps us become sensitive to all others, not just those closest to us. We come to see the need to care especially for those members of the human family who suffer most. We recognize the need to avoid causing divisiveness among our fellow ...human beings. And we become aware of the overwhelming importance of contentment.

 

To say that humility is an essential ingredient in our pursuit of spiritual transformation may seem to be at odds with what I have said about the need for confidence. But there is clearly a distinction to be made between valid confidence or self-esteem, and conceit - which we can describe as an inflated sense of importance, grounded in a false image of self.

 

Despair is never a solution, it is the ultimate failure. In Tibetan we say, “if the rope breaks nine times, we must splice it together a tenth time”. Even if ultimately we do fail, at least we will have no feelings of regret. And when we combine this insight with a clear appreciation of our potential to benefit others, we can begin to restore our hope and confidence.