The Dalai Lama began three days of teaching on Shantideva’s A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life at a temple in the Himalayan mountain town McLeod Ganj, India today.
via The Tibet Post,
Speaking on the importance of inner values, His Holiness spoke in English for the first hour of his talk. “A happy life does not come from material things, but from your mental state,” His Holiness asserted.
His Holiness said that he strongly advocates modern education, but he said that one must guard against the anxiety and worry that can come along with higher intelligence and understanding.
Advising the audience to cultivate an attitude of mental courage and confidence, he said it was important not to get caught up in materialism and the desire for power and money. “Confidence [should be] based on compassion and warmheartedness,” he said.
His Holiness spoke on the Buddhist teaching of having compassion for all beings. He told the crowd to treat animals truthfully and sincerely. Laughing, he told about his way of approaching mosquitoes. He looks at it as an opportunity to “give blood, provided no danger of malaria,” he chuckled.
His Holiness made the distinction between self-centered and compassionate people, saying that self-centered people always feel suspicious of others, whereas those with a more compassionate attitude think of everyone as their friend.
“To have a successful life, happy life, more friends, less enemies, please pay more attention to inner values, not money and power. Look inward more,” he said.
Speaking on Marxism, His Holiness expressed his egalitarian views, claiming that “I myself am a Marxist as far as social economy is concerned.” Marxist theory has a “more compassionate nature,” His Holiness said. “There is equal distribution of money.”
Read the whole piece here.