16.03.2022

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama on Peace

It seems to me that peace is not just the absence of violence, but something much more. The world is closely connected with our inner attitude, with motivation, with compassion. Any movement, any action that we perform out of compassion, in fact, carries the world in itself. And any action performed under the influence of negative emotions - hatred, anger, envy - in fact, is violence.

And one more explanation: the world is creation, emergence. We are all living beings, including trees and grasses. Plants are also alive. Although they do not have consciousness, due to their chemical and biological properties, they have the ability to be born and exist.
Therefore, when spring comes, trees and grass begin to flourish, when the sun rises, heralding a new beginning, we feel happiness.
Then autumn comes. Leaves change colour and eventually fall off. And now only bare trees remain. Compared to our spring moods, here we experience inner discomfort. Without water, flowers stand for several days, and then wither.

Another example, more serious. Birthdays. Everyone loves to celebrate birthdays. We greet each other on this holiday and feel happiness. Death. No one celebrates the day of death, everyone is sad. This is our fundamental nature. Existence, arising - happiness. Destruction is sadness.

True peace, peace based on compassion, originates in the heart of the individual. Peace in my heart entails peace in my family; peace in the family - peace in society. This gives us the opportunity to solve problems in the spirit of dialogue, in the spirit of reconciliation. This is the only way to achieve peace and happiness on Earth.

Excerpts from a lecture at Rutgers University, September 27, 2005