The Dalai Lama’s Little Book of Inner Peace

The Dalai Lama’s Little Book of Inner Peace
Литагент HarperCollins

A wonderful collection of inspirational thoughts on life, death and rebirth, giving the reader an intimate personal portrait of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in his own words. This ebook shows us how to embrace love and compassion in our everyday lives.This is a wonderful collection of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s thoughts on a wide range of important subjects, including the world today, the different world views of faith, science and religion and the nature of life, death and rebirth.The first section of the book is autobiographical, providing an intimate personal portrait of the Dalai Lama in his own words, discussing his studies, the invasion of Tibet, his meeting with Mao and his views on everything from travelling in China to his perspective on Gandhi.

Little Book of INNER PEACE HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA

With Frédérique Hatier

Translated from the French by Dominique Side

Table of Contents

Cover (#ud3a97c9f-5731-57f1-ae6a-40275c6d09dd)

Title Page (#uf065d705-b6d7-558c-92ff-5e2493df826c)

Note to the Reader (#uf5e66256-385a-585c-80a9-9634a84af3f2)

Office of Tibet, Paris Representing His Holiness the Dalai Lama (#u51dab51d-eca9-5f28-96f9-2e9b8d3266d2)

Foreword (#u680cec03-28e9-511f-8c3b-56ed1cbcde47)

CHAPTER ONE: THE OCEAN OF WISDOM (#u1b49b85c-fc34-5ab7-8344-c516e9e5df02)

CHAPTER TWO: TIBET AND LIFE IN EXILE (#ud0fa4cdf-4249-5b07-9da5-12c653fb7a05)

CHAPTER THREE: THE WORLD TODAY (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FOUR: FAITH, SCIENCE, AND RELIGION (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FIVE: THE INNER JOURNEY (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SIX: LIFE, DEATH, AND REBIRTH (#litres_trial_promo)

Glossary (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)

Selected works by the Dalai Lama (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

NOTE TO THE READER: (#ulink_9d046c39-2153-56d2-88c1-4a505d0e2a01)

Words printed in italics are listed alphabetically in the glossary at the back of the book.

Office of Tibet, Paris Representing His Holiness the Dalai Lama (#ulink_b1ba54ac-19d2-5fea-8599-8461a0f30ab8)

As a child, I was fortunate enough to attend a teaching given by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. It was based on “The Letter to a Friend” written by the great Indian master, Nagarjuna. I did not understand it all, but at the end, His Holiness summarized the essence of Buddhism in this way: “Try to help others. If you are not able to be of help, then at least do them no harm.”

This advice touched me deeply, and ever since I have tried to remember it at least once a day. Now it comes to mind effortlessly. It gives me the strength to address the many difficulties with which a simple Tibetan refugee is faced as he struggles for his people’s freedom.

I hope and wish that this book, based as it is on the teachings and declarations of His Holiness, will bring happiness to all beings, and will help to bring to an end the tremendous sufferings of the Tibetan people.

Dawa Thondup

Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Foreword (#ulink_5bc733ea-c4fd-5c93-8d6e-5b5631d4d009)

Kindness, compassion, and wisdom. For His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who has always based his daily activity – whether religious, philosophical, or political – on these principles, these are not just empty words.

When, in 1950, Chinese invaders climbed to the still gleaming roof of the world and hoisted their red flag, the young Dalai Lama of Tibet refused to retaliate, and the fight between David and Goliath never took place. Why? Because of the Buddhist principle of non-violence, which the Dalai Lama has never violated despite the sufferings of a people who remain loyal to him after 40 years of occupation.

For many years, the Dalai Lama lived isolated, in exile and without support, and might have sometimes appeared idealistic. And yet, he is the living proof that a man who is good and wise can have a voice in a world that, only too often, bows to the power of physical strength, of wealth, or of insanity. In 1989, when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, his message was at last acknowledged internationally.

His childhood and youth were marked by an ancient and traditional form of education, designed to train him as spiritual and temporal guide of a country of six million Tibetans. He became “Most Precious amongst the Precious” in the eyes of an entire nation, which tragically, today, is dominated by China. And, at the same time, he has succeeded in relating to the modern world of the West.

So he has plenty to tell us. About ourselves: human beings who would value peace, if only we took the time and trouble to look deeply into our hearts; about our overcrowded world, where we live alienated from each other; about the Earth and the animal kingdom, which we shamelessly exploit; and about the amazing energy of our minds, which we waste for lack of a spiritual approach.

He also talks to us about oracles, rebirth, and the bardo – the intermediate state that lies between death and rebirth, all of which is strange and foreign to our Western ways of thinking, but in which the Dalai Lama will maintain his belief as long as science cannot formally prove such things do not exist at all.

He speaks, too, about the law of karma, according to which this world is a result of our own doing; we are our own children and not children of a god or of chance. It follows, then, that we cannot avoid our responsibilities, and that there is an urgent need for us to face up to this with kindness and compassion, now that the potential for destruction is more of a threat than ever before.

With a pragmatism firmly rooted in the realities of life, he invites us to rediscover fundamental values such as love, respect for all life, and the desire for peace, all of which are necessary for human survival. “If we have to be selfish, then at least let’s be intelligently selfish,” he says.

Such are the themes of this book. The words of Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, express a powerful vision and such extraordinary kindness that we hope they will speak to many different people. “Even reading a few pages of this book can be very beneficial,” he assures us.

Frédérique Hatier

CHAPTER ONE THE OCEAN OF WISDOM (#ulink_9fcc3b78-c545-522a-831e-9e90657e665e)

On my origins

I was born in a small village called Taktser, meaning “the roaring tiger,” on 6 July 1935. Taktser is in the northeast of Tibet, in Amdo province, which borders on to China. My parents were peasant farmers. On the whole, my parents grew enough to feed the family. In peasant families such as ours, it was important to have many children, and my mother gave birth to 16 children, but nine of them died when they were very young. Of course, at that time nobody imagined that I was anything but an ordinary baby.

After I was born, a couple of crows began frequenting the roof of our house. They would arrive each morning, stay there for a while, and fly off again. This is of interest because a similar event took place after the births of the First, Seventh, and Eighth Dalai Lamas.

How I was recognized as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama

When I was barely three years old, a team charged by the Lhasa government with the task of finding the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama arrived at the monastery in Kumbum. Various signs led these men to my parents’ farm, where they spent the night playing with me and observing me very closely. They returned a few days later with a set of objects that had belonged to the 13th Dalai Lama, and other identical objects that had not belonged to him. Presented with each one of the objects that had belonged to him, I would cry out, “This is mine! This is mine!” That is how I was eventually recognized as the new Dalai Lama.

My mother remembers very clearly that as soon as I arrived in Lhasa, I said that my teeth were in a box, in a particular room of the Norbulingka (the summer palace). When the box was opened, it was found to contain a set of teeth, which had belonged to the 13th Dalai Lama.

Bodhisattva of compassion, holder of the white lotus

I am considered to be the reincarnation of each one of the previous Dalai Lamas – the first was born in 1351 – and, in turn, each one is considered to be a manifestation of the bodhisattva of compassion, the holder of the white lotus. Tibetans therefore believe me to be the 14th manifestation in a lineage, which goes back to a Brahmin child who lived at the time of Shakyamuni Buddha, some 2,500 years ago.