Through the years, I have collected quite a number of The Dalai Lama's words of wisdom which I screenshot either from Twitter or Instagram. Recently I finished a book written by Victor Chan and co- authored by His Holiness entitled " The Wisdom of Forgiveness.Intimate Conversations and Journeys".
Victor was able to illustrate in a random fashion way the many reasons why the Dalai Lama is such an enigmatic personality adored by millions of people worldwide. What particularly caught my eye are the days and discussions the Tibetan leader showed his natural and playful sense of humor while imparting nuggets of valuable messages.
Today as I write this entry, I am actually under the weather with clogged nose and hoarse voice. Finally I think I got the virus. Aptly are these excerpts from the book which I highlighted with pages folded:
When asked what he think was the reason why the Indian doctors in Bombay said his heart is like that of a twenty year old's, his answer, " I think peace of mind."
The Dalai Lama has no doubt that the mind has the power to heal the body. To him, the mind and the body belong to an inseparable continuum. When something happens to one, the other is affected.
This was how the Dalai Lama puts it: " Training of the mind, this means strengthening those positive emotions such as forgiveness and compassion, such as dedication to other's welfare. Negative emotions like hatred, jealousy , these are what you call enemies.
To the Dalai Lama, suffering and adversity are the necessary conditions for developing patience and tolerance. These qualities are vital if we want to reduce negative emotions like hatred or anger. When things go well, we have less need to be patient and forgiving. It's only when we come across problems, when we suffer, that we truly learn these virtues. Once we internalize them, compassion flows naturally.
I ponder on his thought- provoking declaratives and everything makes sense. His most quotable quote for me however was the one I grabbed many years ago from my now-deactivated Facebook account: Life is simple. It is us who makes it complicated."
Peace. Forgiveness. Compassion.
