The Dalai Lama's Big Book of Happiness by Dalai Lama

Author:Dalai Lama
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781612833514
Publisher: Hampton Roads Publishing

QUESTIONS

QUESTION: What do you think is the real purpose of life, and is it that when a person follows the path of spirituality and social work he attains the greatest happiness?

HIS HOLINESS: Purpose of life? I think that's a rather mysterious question. I think there are different answers according to different philosophical concepts. If you believe in a religion that has a concept of God or creator, then I think you should ask God what the purpose of our life is.

And according to the non-theistic religions like Buddhism, Jainism, and also one part of Sankhya, which have no concept of creator but of self-creation, there is the law of causality, very similar to Darwinian theory. These three non-theistic religions developed only in this country—no other place. So I believe the purpose of our life is happiness. Simple reason—there's no guarantee of a good future, but we live on hope; we hope for the good. If anyone completely loses hope, then that very attitude shortens your lifespan, and in the worst case, you may commit suicide. Therefore, we survive here on the basis of hope—something good. So I can say the purpose of our life is to live a happy life.

Spirituality—spiritual life—as I mentioned earlier, can be lived on two levels. One is the secular level, without religious faith. In the first line of moral ethics, without touching upon religion, spirituality means taking care of your own mental peace. That's one level of spirituality. So naturally, wealth, money or diamond rings will not bring you inner peace, only the illusion that you feel, “I'm rich, I'm happy.” But if you kiss your ring, the ring has no ability to respond to your affection. Dogs or cats, if you show them kindness, affection—even they have the ability to respond your affection. So we are living beings, we need affection. Matter has no ability to show us affection. So a life based on material value, which has no ability to give you affection, is illusion.

We are living beings. We must receive constant affection, only then does life become much more meaningful, much happier deep inside. Therefore, talking about these inner values is spirituality. Not talking about next life, not talking about nirvana, moksha, heaven, God, creator, no. Simply, how to live happily with inner peace—that's the way of spiritual life. I like that.

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