Dalai Lama Quotes on Happiness, Inner Peace and Compassion

About Dalai Lama

His Holiness the 14^th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso is a spiritual leader and head of Tibet. He was born in 1935, to a farming family, in Taktser, Amdo, northeastern Tibet. At the age of two, the child, then named Lhamo Dhondup, was recognized as the reincarnation of the previous 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso.

The Dalai Lamas are believed to be manifestations of Avalokiteshvara or Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion and the patron saint of Tibet. Bodhisattvas are realized beings inspired by a wish to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings, who have vowed to be reborn in the world to help humanity.

His Work

Dalai Lama advocates for the welfare of Tibetans and has called for the Middle Way Approach with China to peacefully resolve the issue of Tibet. He travels worldwide to discuss issues on environment, economics, women’s rights, nonviolence, interfaith dialogue, physics, astronomy, Buddhism and science, cognitive neuroscience, reproductive health, mental health etc. He was also awarded the Noble Peace Prize in 1989.

As a Buddhist monk, Dalai Lama has been encouraging harmony among the world’s religious traditions. Despite philosophical differences between them, all major world religions have the same potential to create good human beings.

Dalai Lama Quotes

Quotes on Happiness:

1.  “I accept everyone as a friend. In truth, we already know one another, profoundly, as human beings who share the same basic goals: We all seek happiness and do not want suffering.”
2.  “In order to be happy, we must first possess inner contentment and inner contentment doesn’t come from having all we want, but rather from wanting and appreciating all we have.”
3.  “When we feel love and kindness towards others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it also helps us to develop inner happiness and peace.”
4.  “Happiness is not something readymade, it comes from your own actions.”
5. “We begin from the recognition that all beings cherish happiness and do not want to suffer. It then becomes both morally wrong and pragmatically unwise to pursue only one’s own happiness oblivious to the feelings and aspirations of all others who surround us as members of the same human family. The wiser course is to think of others when pursuing our own happiness.”
6.  “The ultimate source of happiness is not money and power, but warm-heartedness.”
7.  “Happy people build their inner world, unhappy people blame their outer world.”

Quotes on Compassion:

1.  “Within all beings there is the seed of perfection.’
2.  “If at the beginning and end of our lives we depend upon the kindness of others, why in the middle  of our lives should we not act kindly toward them? It is the pragmatic choice.”
3. “Compassion is by nature gentle, peaceful, and soft, but it is very powerful.”
4.  “It is the enemy who can truly teach us to practice the virtues of compassion and tolerance.”
5. “Because we all share the small planet earth, we have to learn to live in harmony and peace with each other and with nature. That is not just a dream, but a necessity.”
6. “Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others; to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others. I am going to benefit others as much as I can.”
7. “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.”

Quotes on Inner Peace

1. “Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend, or a meaningful day.”
2. “Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.”
3. “Cultivating a close, warmhearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease. It helps remove whatever fears or insecurities we may have and gives us the strength to cope with any obstacles we encounter. It is the principal source of success in life. Since we are not solely material creatures, it is a mistake to place all our hopes for happiness on external development alone. The key is to develop inner peace.”
4. “We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.”
5. “World peace must develop from inner peace. Peace is not just mere absence of violence. Peace is, I think, the manifestation of human compassion.”
6. “There is only one important point you must keep in your mind and let it be your guide. No matter what people call you, you are just who you are. Keep to this truth. You must ask yourself how is it you want to live your life. We live and we die, this is the truth that we can only face alone. No one can help us, not even the Buddha. So consider carefully, what prevents you from living the way you want to live your life?”
7. “Inner peace is the key: if you have inner peace, the external problems do not affect your deep sense of peace and tranquility…without this inner peace, no matter how comfortable your life is materially, you may still be worried, disturbed, or unhappy because of circumstances.”

Quotes on Mindfulness

1. “As you breathe in, cherish yourself. As you breathe out, cherish all beings.”
2. “Sleep is the best meditation.”
3. “Sometimes one creates a dynamic impression by saying something, and sometimes one creates as significant of an impression by remaining silent.”
4. “Calm mind brings inner strength and self-confidence, so that’s very important for good health.”
5. “A disciplined mind leads to happiness, and an undisciplined mind leads to suffering.”
6. “There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow, so today is the right day to love, believe, do and mostly live.”
7. “If you can cultivate the right attitude, your enemies are your best spiritual teachers because their presence provides you with the opportunity to enhance and develop tolerance, patience and understanding.”

Quotes on Mental Health

1. “We can deny everything, except that we have the possibility of being better.”
2. “Although you may not always be able to avoid difficult situations, you can modify the extent to which you can suffer by how you choose to respond to the situation.”
3. “Never give up. No matter what is happening, no matter what is going on around you, never give up.”
4. “Sometimes things go wrong, that’s normal, but we have a saying in Tibetan, ‘Nine times fail, nine times try again.”
5. “A positive attitude is essential for one’s physical and mental health.”
6. “There is a saying in Tibetan,  Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength. No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that’s our real disaster.”
7. “If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it’s not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.”

Related Read:

25 Mindfulness Quotes for Your Inner Peace