The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader and recipient of the Nobel Prize, is renowned for his optimistic view and belief that pleasure is the ultimate purpose of life. He claims that despite losing his nation, happiness is the key to life’s motion. A foundational work of positive psychology, The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama has changed the lives of many.
He uses presentations, stories, and meditations to educate people how to get over emotions like fear, uncertainty, anger, and discouragement. The book, which examines a range of subjects including relationships, bereavement, and seeking wealth, is based on 2,500 years of Buddhist meditations and common sense and helps readers overcome life’s obstacles.
The book has improved people’s moods and changed countless lives all across the world.
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About the Author
His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, also known as Tenzin Gyatso, is the spiritual and temporal leader of the Tibetan people. He has won the Nobel Peace Prize, the Wallenberg Award (given by the U.S. Congressional Human Rights Foundation), the Albert Schweitzer Award, the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal, and the Wallenberg Award.
Howard C. Cutler, M.D., is a psychiatrist, best-selling author, and speaker. He is a leading authority on the science of human happiness and coauthor with His Holiness the Dalai Lama of the acclaimed Art of Happiness series of books, which have been translated into fifty languages.
The groundbreaking first volume, The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living, was on the New York Times bestseller list for ninety-seven weeks. Dr. Cutler resides in Phoenix.
Review
His Holiness has a remarkable talent for saying both profound and simple things. I frequently ask myself, “Why didn’t I think of that?” after seeing the XIV Dalai Lama speak or reading what he has to say.
Why not, in fact? This is a great book; however, according to a previous reviewer, it’s difficult to “get” the notion of showing compassion to ALL creatures, regardless of their own behavior. To “get” it, it IS difficult. For the past 71 years, Dalai Lama has dedicated his life to his profession as a Buddhist monk.
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After achieving enlightenment, the Buddha himself did not declare, “Well, since I’m one with all that is, I guess I can retire now.” Not at all. Shakyamuni started instructing. And he continued to practice, whether it was through daily activities or seated meditation.
He grew via his practice. There is a lot of development between his first ideas and the Parinirvana Sutra that he spoke on his deathbed, even if he may have developed the Four Noble Truths on Day One and taught them throughout his life. He would have welcomed Tenzin Gyatso as a deserving heir to Dharma and enthusiastically embraced the Dalai Lama’s call to Happiness.
I’m getting off topic, though. This book, in contrast to many of the Dalai Lama’s previous works, is written with the general people in mind. You don’t need to be a Buddhist to enjoy this book, any more than you need to be Jewish to love Levy’s Rye. In actuality, all of the concepts in this book are fundamentally Buddhist, but more significantly, they are all fundamentally human.
According to the Dalai Lama, everyone is born with the capacity for happiness. While reading this, I couldn’t help but think of Jefferson’s famous quote, “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It’s unfortunate that our contemporary culture confuses “happiness” with “pleasure,” which is far more ephemeral, and that “money” and enough of it, or the things that “money” can purchase, are the primary characteristics of “pleasure.” Not that “money” is unimportant, but the fundamental tenet that “money can’t buy happiness” is repeatedly demonstrated to be true.
A series of in-person discussions between the Dalai Lama and renowned psychologist Howard C. Cutler—who has emerged as a key figure in the Positive Psychology Movement over the past ten years—formed the basis of this book and its follow-ups.
Cutler’s method is essentially a primer on classical Buddhist psychology since positive psychology emphasises what is good rather than what is wrong with a person and how to reinforce what is right via positive practices.
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Cutler is the one who accentuates and elaborates on the Dalai Lama’s main points in a Western style, even if the Dalai Lama talks here. His Holiness does go into detail about several meditation techniques.
Happiness, in the opinion of the Dalai Lama and the majority of positive psychologists, is the process of thinking rather than the outcome. Even in the face of the daily poison of much of our culture, a person may be joyful by acting with kindness, compassion, mindfulness, and awareness. Happiness, according to His Holiness, is extremely contagious and will get viral if we continue our constructive habits.
It’s true that it might be difficult to be “happy” when interacting with rude bill collectors or dishonest repairmen, but compassion can help. Instead of saying “It’s okay” to the thief who just took my wallet, compassion is a way of realising that bad things do happen, that even though they may happen to me, the universe is not specifically trying to harm me, and that the person who stole my wallet, the bill collector who cursed me, or the repairman who overcharged me is just acting out of their own misery.
It doesn’t have to happen again, and I don’t have to turn around. I don’t need to accept them as lost souls. I also don’t have to allow it to fester and cause me to get ill and furious.
All I need to understand is that the thief, the bill collector, and the repairman are all people just like me, with the same weaknesses and vices. Does that seem difficult? Yes, it is. It is a lifetime practice because of this.
Anyone who comes here hoping for a quick fix for every issue in life or to be comforted by pop psychology jargon will be let down by this book. The reader receives precisely what they put in with this substantial, well-known book.
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Summary
Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler’s book The Art of Happiness explores the essence of happiness and offers spiritual and practical guidance on creating a more satisfying existence. It highlights the value of mindfulness, inner serenity, and compassion.