Give Emphasis on Compassion, Clarity and Respect

"Although in every religion there is an emphasis on compassion and love, from the viewpoint of philosophy, of course there are differences, and that is all right. Philosophical teachings are not the end, not the aim, not what you serve. The aim is to help and benefit others, and philosophical teachings to support those ideas are valuable. If we go into the differences in philosophy and argue with and criticize each other, it is useless. There will be endless argument; the result will mainly be that we irritate each other- accomplishing nothing. Better to look at the purpose of the philosophies and to see what is shared- an emphasis on love, compassion, and respect for a higher force."— from Kindness, Clarity, and Insight

"I believe that Western science will develop towards a more synthetic view of its different branches...psychology, biology and physics. It will find a connecting link, a relation between these areas of experience. In the past the scientific and the spiritual or mental development have been regarded as separate from each other, as two different paths leading in opposite directions. But now, in the late twentieth century, this view is beginning to change."— from The Dalai Lama, a Policy of Kindness

"Responsibility does not only lie with the leaders of our countries or with those who have been appointed or elected to do a particular job. It lies with each of us individually. Peace, for example, starts within each one of us. When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us. When our community is in a state of peace, it can share that peace with neighboring communities, and so on."— from The Dalai Lama: A Policy of Kindness

"If you have fear of some pain or suffering, you should examine whether there is anything you can do about it. If you can, there is no need to worry about it; if you cannot do anything, then there is also no need to worry."— from The Path to Tranquility

"In order to encourage in such practices as taking refuge, living a way of life which accords with the law of karma, and living in an ethically disciplined way characterized by observance of the ten virtues, and so on, we require a tremendous sense of confidence that we can do it. To generate that, and also a kind of enthusiasm, we find in the Buddha's texts a discussion of the preciousness of the human body and human existence. At that stage, we never talk about how impure the body and bodily substances are, or how imperfect they are. In fact, we are talking about how good it is, how meaningful, how purposeful, how much potential lies within our body, what good purpose it can be used for, and so on. This is to instill a sense of confidence and courage."— from Healing Anger

"The basic fact is that all sentient beings, particularly human beings, want happiness and do not want pain and suffering. On those grounds, we have every right to be happy and to use different methods or means to overcome suffering and to achieve happier lives. It is worthwhile to think seriously about the positive and negative consequences of these methods. You should be aware that there are differences between short-term interest and long-term interest and consequences- and the long-term interest is more important. Buddhists usually say that there is no absolute and that everything is relative. So we must judge according to the circumstances."— from The Dalai Lama's Book of Wisdom

"When we are young and again when we are old, we depend heavily on the affection of others. Between these stages we usually feel that we can do everything without help from others and that other people's affection is simply not important. But at this stage I think it is very important to keep deep human affection."— from The Dalai Lama's Book of Wisdom

Anger and Hatred

"Anger and hatred cannot bring harmony. The noble task of arms control and disarmament cannot be accomplished by confrontation and condemnation. Hostile attitudes only serve to heat up the situation, whereas a true sense of respect gradually cools down what otherwise could become explosive. We must recognize the frequent contradictions between short-term benefit and long-term harm."— from The Path to Tranquility

Develop a Genuine Compassion

Actually genuine compassion and attachment are contradictory. According to Buddhist practice, to develop genuine compassion you must first practice the meditation of equalization and equanimity, detaching oneself from those people who are very close to you. Then, you must remove negative feelings towards your enemies. All sentient beings should be looked on as equal. On that basis, you can gradually develop genuine compassion for all of them.

Sometimes one creates a dynamic impression by saying something, and sometimes one creates as significant an impression by remaining silent

Our Emotions

Naturally emotions can be positive and negative. However, when talking about anger, etc., we are dealing with negative emotions. Negative emotions are those which immediately create some kind of unhappiness or uneasiness and which, in the long run, create certain actions. Those actions ultimately lead to harm to others and this brings pain or suffering to oneself. This is what we mean by negative emotions.

Unbearable Compassion for Other Beings

Question: What if we feel an unbearable compassion for the suffering of other beings--especially animals, because it is often more obvious--yet we have not developed the wisdom to deal with it properly? 
HHDL: This is all the more reason why, now that you have developed that feeling of 'unbearable' compassion toward others, you should try to increase your wisdom, and intelligence, in order to deal with the actual situation. This is why practitioners on the bodhisattva path are encouraged not to be satisfied with just an idealistic idea of compassion, but to put that ideal into practice immediately. So I believe that when you follow the bodhisattva's way of life, it is possible to match your compassion, at whatever level it may be, with an active kind of interaction with others.

On The Stillness of the Mind

Try to remain in the natural state. This is a bit like a river which is flowing quite strongly, in which you cannot see the bed of the river clearly. If there was some way you could put an immediate stop to the flow from the direction the water is coming from and the direction the water is flowing to, then you could keep the water still, and that would allow you to see the bed quite clearly. 
      Similarly, when you are able to stop your mind from chasing after sensory objects and when you can free your mind from being totally "blanked out," then you will begin to see under this turbulence of the thought processes a kind of underlying stillness, an underlying clarity of mind. 
      ...At the initial stage, when you begin to experience the natural state of consciousness, it will be in the form of some sort of vacuity, absence, or emptiness. This is because we are so habituated to understanding our mind in terms of external objects that we tend to look at the world through our concepts, images, and so on. So when you withdraw your mind from external objects, it's almost as if you can't recognize your mind. There's a kind of absence, a kind of vacuity. However, as you slowly progress and get used to it, you will begin to see an underlying clarity, a sort of luminosity. That's when you begin to appreciate and realize the natural state of the mind. [Even though this is not a very profound meditative experience, it is the basis of stillness of mind.]

Understanding "Emptiness"

By understanding emptiness, by clearly perceiving the empty nature of all phenomena, including ourselves, we can liberate ourselves from negative emotions, and thus from the creation of unwholesome karma and the power of the internal enemy. Through this process, we can begin to undo the harm we've caused by our grasping, and the derivative strong emotions to which it gives rise. The moment we begin to develop insight into the empty nature of self and all reality, the process of releasing our deluded grasp begins. At the moment of our first insight into the empty nature of self and reality, we start to break free of the enslavement of ignorance and the attack of the internal enemy. By reducing our grasping, we start to undo the causal chain of unenlightened existence. By undermining self-grasping ignorance, the first link of dependent origination, you prevent the arising of the second link, and ultimately become free of the endless cycle of suffering lifetimes.
But what does all this mean exactly? If we arrive at the knowledge that the self at which we grasp is empty, we may imagine this means that we as individuals with personal identities do not exist. But of course this is not the case--our own personal experiences demonstrate that as subjects and agents of our own lives, we certainly exist. So how, then, do we understand the content of this insight into absence of self? What follows from this insight? We must be very clear that 'only the self that is being grasped as intrinsically real' needs to be negated. The self as a conventional phenomenon is not rejected. This is a crucial aspect of the Buddha's teachings on emptiness.

The Function Of Our Consciousness

Knowing or understanding is the function of consciousness.... That which possesses the function of knowing is consciousness. 
      Consciousnesses vary in the scope of their knowledge and in their intensity or sharpness. An obvious example is the consciousness of a human being, compared to an animal's consciousness. The human being's perception is much broader and it understands a much greater variety of objects. The consciousnesses of human beings vary with education and experience--the more educated you are and the more experience you have, the broader your consciousness.
      Knowledge and understanding develop on the basis of a consciousness that has the ability to perceive its objects. When the necessary conditions are met, the mind's ability to perceive increases, the scope of its objects of knowledge expands, and understanding deepens. In this way the mind can develop its full potential. Omniscience is the full consummation, or perfection, of the mind's ability to perceive objects.  

The Dalai Lama's View On The Practice of Altruism

 The foundation of the altruistic mind of enlightenment is a good heart, a good mind, at all times. All of us can benefit from cultivating this; we should not get angry, fight, backbite, and so forth. When people engage in such activities, they do so for the sake of personal concerns but actually are only harming themselves. Therefore, all of us need to do whatever we can to cultivate a good mind,a good heart. I am not just explaining this; I, too, am doing as much as I can to practice it. Everyone needs to do whatever is possible, for as much as we can practice this, so much will it help. 
      If you engage in such practices and gain experience of them, your attitudes and way of viewing other people will change; then when a problem--which you have encountered before--arises, you will not respond with the same excitement as previously, will not generate the same negative attitudes. This change is not from something external, is not a matter of getting a new nose or a new hairstyle, but takes place within the mind. Some people can withstand problems whereas others cannot; the difference is one of internal attitude. 
      The change from putting these teachings into practice comes slowly. After some time, we may encounter those who tell us we have changed; this is a good sign that the practices have been effective.

Our True Nature is Compassion

If we investigate on a deeper level, we will find that when enemies inflict harm on us, we can actually feel gratitude toward them. Such situations provide us with rare opportunities to put to test our own practice of patience. It is a precious occasion to practice not only patience but the other bodhisattva ideals as well. As a result, we have the opportunity to accumulate merit in these situations and to receive the benefits thereof. 
      The poor enemy, on the other hand, because of the negative action of inflicting harm on someone out of anger and hatred, must eventually face the negative consequences of his or her own actions. It is almost as if the perpetrators of the harm sacrifice themselves for the sake of our benefit. Since the merit accumulated from the practice of patience was possible only because of the opportunity provided us by our enemy, strictly speaking, we should dedicate our merit to the benefit of that enemy. This is why the Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life speaks of the kindness of the enemy. 

The Mahamudra Method

What is method, within the context of the unity of method and wisdom? It is a dedicated heart of bodhichitta, based on love and compassion. It apprehends its object, enlightenment, with the intention to achieve it in order to benefit others. Compassion, as its basis, apprehends its object, the suffering of others, with the wish to remove it. 
      Wisdom, on the other hand, is a correct view that understands voidness--the absence of fantasized, impossible ways of existing. Even if it is aimed at the same object as method, it apprehends that object as not existing in an impossible way. 
      The ways wisdom and compassion each apprehend their object are not at all the same. Therefore, we need to actualize these two, as method and wisdom, first separately and then together. 
      Even if we speak about the mahamudra* that is method and wisdom, inseparable by nature in the ultimate tantric sense, the first stage for its realization is understanding the abiding nature of reality. 

The Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism

In Buddhism we speak of three types of phenomena: First, there are evident phenomena that are perceived directly.
      Second, there are slightly hidden phenomena, which are not accessible to immediate perception. There are differences of opinion on this even within Buddhist philosophy. Generally speaking, we think this second type of phenomena can be known indirectly by inference.
      One example of something known by inference is that anything arising in dependence upon causes and conditions is itself subject to disintegration and momentary change. This momentary change is not immediately evident to your senses. You can look at something with your eyes, and it does not appear to be changing right now, but by inference you can know that it is momentarily changing. This is an example of the second category of phenomena. 
      Third, there are very concealed phenomena, which cannot be known by either of the two preceding methods. They can be known only by relying upon testimony of someone such as the Buddha

Wisdom from His Holiness The Dalai Lama

We live in an ocean of cyclic existence whose depth and extent cannot be measured. We are troubled again and again by the afflictions of desire and hatred as if repeatedly attacked by sharks.
      Our mental and physical aggregates are impelled by former contaminated actions and afflictions and serve as a basis for present suffering as well as inducing future suffering. While such cyclic existence lasts, we have various thoughts of pleasure and displeasure: 'If I do this, what will people think? If I do not do this, I will be too late; I won't make any profit.' When we see something pleasant we think, 'Oh, if I could only have that!'
      ...Day and night, night and day we spend our lives in the company of the afflictions, generating desire for the pleasant and anger at the unpleasant, and continue thus even when dreaming, unable to remain relaxed, our minds completely and utterly mixed with thoughts of desire and hatred without interruption.
      To what refuge should we go? A source of refuge must have completely overcome all defects forever; it must be free of all faults. It must also have all the attributes of altruism--those attainments which are necessary for achieving others' welfare. For it is doubtful that anyone lacking these two prerequisites can bestow refuge; it would be like falling into a ditch and asking another who is in it to help you out. You need to ask someone who is standing outside the ditch for help; it is senseless to ask another who is in the same predicament. A refuge capable of protecting from the frights of manifold sufferings cannot also be bound in this suffering but must be free and unflawed.
      Furthermore, the complete attainments are necessary, for if you have fallen into a ditch, it is useless to seek help from someone standing outside it who does not wish to help or who wishes to help but has no means to do so.

Our Mind's True Nature

The rapid changes of the mind and the elements of the body have been explained in Buddhism. According to the Buddha in every fraction of a split second the mind appears and disappears.  Biology, physiology and psychology also teach the same nature of changes in life.  Therefore life is not static.

Psychologist Prof. William James has explained the point-moment of consciousness.  He discussed how consciousness comes into being and passes away again in rapid succession.

According to the nature that causes the continuous process of mind, as soon as a mind is born, it gives birth to another mind and dies. The mind is born in turn gives birth to another mind and dies, and so on.

To the question how evil thoughts appeared in man's mind at the beginning, the cause of those evil thoughts is selfish motives which exist due to craving for existence and in his belief in a permanent ego that constantly craves satisfaction of the senses.

When we study the life and the teachings of the Buddha we can see that everything is open to everybody.  There are no secret doctrines.

The events that took place during his whole life were open and there were no hidden and mystical incidents.  In the eyes of the Buddha, so-called supernatural powers to many people are not supernatural but only natural phenomena which the ordinary man cannot comprehend.  As man's knowledge and understanding of the universe increases his belief in the supernatural decreases.  To primitive man "thunder and lightning" were manifestations of angry gods.  Today, we know they are merely electrical charges.

If the component things are subject to the natural laws of change, decay and death, how can we introduce them as supernatural powers?

Even the Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death took place openly.  He lived as a normal religious teacher and as a real human being.

The Buddha has pointed out the process of evolving from the animal life into human status and from human status into the divine state.  Divine life proceeds to the Brahma state and Brahma life into perfect life. One can also proceed from a noble pure life into a perfect holy life.  The Buddha has pointed out the reverse order as well, that is, going  from human life into animal life.