Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama Quotes

407 Sourced Quotes

This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
A zero itself is nothing, but without a zero you cannot count anything; therefore, a zero is something, yet zero.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
Learning to forgive is much more useful than merely picking up a stone and throwing it at the object of one's anger, the more so when the provocation is extreme. For it is under the greatest adversity that there exists the greatest potential for doing good, both for oneself and others.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
It is not enough to be compassionate. You must act. There are two aspects to action. One is to overcome the distortions and afflictions of your own mind, that is, in terms of calming and eventually dispelling anger. This is action out of compassion. The other is more social, more public. When something needs to be done in the world to rectify the wrongs, if one is really concerned with benefitting others, one needs to be engaged, involved.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
A mind committed to compassion is like an overflowing reservoir - a constant source of energy, determination, and kindness.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
True friends share genuine closeness and remain friends irrespective of fluctuating fortunes.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
We know that to wage a nuclear war today, for example, would be a form of suicide; or that to pollute the air or the oceans in order to achieve some short-term benefit would be to destroy the very basis for our survival.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
So the first step in seeking happiness is learning. We first have to learn how negative emotions and behaviors are harmful to us and how positive emotions are helpful.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
What acts as a far more effective circumstance for generating compassion and what, in fact, rouses us from our comfortable meditation seat is actually seeing or hearing others - encountering others directly, not just conceptually in our imagination.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
If one's cause is supported by sound reasoning, there is no point in using violence. It is those who have no motive other than selfish desire and who cannot achieve their goal through logical reasoning who rely on force.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
The proper way to create friends is to have a warm heart, not simply money or power. The friend of power and the friend of money are something different.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
Universal responsibility is the key to human survival. It is the best foundation for world peace.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
My earnest request is that you practice love and kindness whether you believe in a religion or not

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
The mind must be developed by you alone. There is no way for others to do the work and for you to reap the results. Reading someone else's blueprint of mental progress will not transfer its realizations to you. You have to develop them yourself.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
A balanced and skillful approach to life, taking care to avoid extremes, becomes a very important factor in conducting one's everyday existence.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
I think the person who has had more experience of hardships can stand more firmly in the face of problems than the person who has never experienced suffering. From this angle then, some suffering can be a good lesson for life.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
Genuine human friendship is on the basis of human affection, irrespective of your position. Therefore, the more you show concern about the welfare and rights of others, the more you are a genuine friend. The more you remain open and sincere, then ultimately more benefits will come to you. If you forget or do not bother about others, then eventually you will lose your own benefit.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
It is important not to allow ourselves to be put off by the magnitude of others' suffering. The misery of millions is not a cause for pity. Rather it is a cause for compassion.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
Nothing comes into being without a cause and when all the conditions are created, there is nothing that can prevent the consequence.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
To help us bring benefit to others through our words and actions, it is useful to cultivate an attitude of sympathetic joy in others' achievements and good fortune. This attitude is a powerful antidote against envy, which is not only a source of unnecessary suffering on the individual level but also an obstacle to our ability to reach out and engage with others.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
The ultimate source of my mental happiness is my peace of mind. Nothing can destroy this except my own anger.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
An ethical act is one which does not harm others' experience or expectation of happiness.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
Look at children...
If they feel angry with someone,
they express it, and then it is finished.
They can still play with that person the following day.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
A human being isn't meant to be some kind of machine designed only for production. No. Human life isn't just for work...

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
Through difficult experiences, life sometimes becomes more meaningful.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
The need for love lies at the very foundation of human existence.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
Appreciate how rare and full of potential your situation is in this world, then take joy in it, and use it to your best advantage.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
Our individual well-being is intimately connected both with that of all others and with the environment within which we live.... Our every action, our every deed, word, and thought, no matter how slight or inconsequential it may seem, has an implication not only for ourselves, but for all others, too.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
Our state of mind plays a major role in our day-to-day experiences as well as our physical and mental well-being. If a person has a calm and stable mind, this influences his or her attitude and behavior in relation to others. In other words, if someone remains in a peaceful and tranquil state of mind, external surroundings can cause them only a limited disturbance.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
I try to treat whoever I meet as an old friend. This gives me a genuine feeling of happiness. It is the practice of compassion.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama