Alanna Thornton’s Reviews > The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World > Status Update

"The word 'meditation' is quite vast," explained the Dalai Lama. "One form of meditation, for example, involves thoughtless-ness. When I pull back the curtains in the morning and I see pigeons on the windowsill, I really think those pigeons are also doing something similar to this kind of meditation. They are not asleep but in a state of thoughtlessness.

If you do not know your in-tention, you can repeat the following four lines adapted from the traditional Tibetan prayer of the Four Immea-surables, which has guided many on their journey to more compassion and greater happiness:
May all beings attain happiness.
May all beings be free from suffering.
May all beings never be separated from joy.
May all beings abide in equanimity.

We laughed imagining the Archbishop bargaining with St. Peter at the pearly gates, trying to get special admission for the Dalai Lama.
"But from the Buddhist viewpoint," the Dalai Lama continued, “once in a life, you develop some sort of special close connection, then that sort of impact will carry life after life. But now, I'm looking forward to another occasion to see you again —somewhere that only God knows.

“When we kept quiet, our hearts discovered that they were kindred spirits.”

"We must promote basic human values, the inner values that lie at the heart of who we are as humans. Religion is not sufficient. Religion has been very important in human history, and perhaps for another thousand years it will continue to bring benefit to humanity..."

“in Buddhist teachings there are three kinds of generosity: material giving, giving freedom from fear (which can involve protection, counseling, or solace), and spiritual giving, which can involve giving your wisdom, moral and ethical teach-ings, and helping people to be more self-sufficient and happier.”

We don't need to wait until the feelings of compassion arise before we choose to be generous. Generosity is often something that we learn to enjoy by doing… it is prescribed by almost every religious tradition. It is one of the five pillars of Islam, called zakat. In Judaism, it is called tzeda-kah, which literally means "justice." In Hinduism and Buddhism, it is called dana. And in Christianity, it is charity.

The Dalai Lama had said, even ten minutes of meditation on the wellbeing of others can help one to feel joyful for the whole day- even before coffee.

Aww haha

One of the differences between empathy and compassion is that while empathy is simply experiencing another's emotion, compassion is a more empowered state where we want what is best for the other person. As the Dalai Lama has described it, if we see a person who is being crushed by a rock, the goal is not to get under the rock and feel what they are feeling; it is to help to remove the rock.