What kind of future depends on the present, the younger generation - you are the key people who can create a happier future. Referring to his own status as a refugee and to the problems that his generation has left the world, he became, once again, philosophical. He concluded his talk by speaking directly to the student audience. “A lot of problems were created by the human mind itself, so the remedy also, you see, lies within the human mind. Science, he added, can further our understanding of our emotions and the human mind. “A lot of our problems are our own mental creations.” The solution, he stressed, comes in improving our educational systems to teach community and equality rather than division and difference. “We’re not like other animals,” he said, simply seeking sustenance or safety. “You must be realistic and analyze,” he said. Following discussions with scientists, for example, he has let go of centuries-old Buddhist concepts, “like Mount Meru and the sun and the moon being the same size,” he said, referring to the sacred peak considered the center of the universe. Pushing further for being in the world, the Dalai Lama promoted what Brooks called “the sanctity of the intellectual life.” He repeatedly returned to the need for academic rigor, even at the expense of religious doctrine. Instead, wherever he was, he saw himself as part of a larger community, anywhere in the world. He described his own travels and how, as a stateless person, he could have felt isolated and alone. Focusing on material wealth or competition rather than on interdependency and the general good “eventually creates anger, so the person will not be happy.”Ĭountering this outlook is within our power. “Instead of trust, there is fear and distrust,” he said. Now, people are clustered in big cities but often without a sense of their interdependency. “Tibet, in ancient times, was lonely but happy.” Even in the sparsely populated, mountainous country, “When one family needed some help, they could ask,” he said, relying on a strong sense of community. Isolation, he pointed out, can be largely a state of mind. But being alone should be a choice: “With technology, the oneness of people becomes more clear,” he added. He said he personally has found solitude useful for meditation. If health professionals advise that it is not safe to gather, we need to respect that. Science and intellectual analysis, he stressed, are vital. As individuals and as leaders, when we reach out to others, lifting them up, we experience that connection, and the resulting fulfillment brings us happiness.Įven during a pandemic, he advised, we can find peace. “Happiness is in the mind,” the Dalai Lama said. The potential for happiness is in that connectivity. “We should say ‘my planet.’ We have to live on this planet together.” “We can no longer say ‘my nation, my country,’ ” he said. Especially when faced with global crises such as the pandemic and climate change, he said, people must engage as a global community. We are each one of 7 billion human beings.” Occasionally aided by an interpreter, the 85-year-old religious leader stressed that point repeatedly. Speaking from his home in Dharamshala, India, the Dalai Lama, longtime leader of Tibetan Buddhism, spoke with Brooks, HKS professor of the practice of public leadership and HBS professor of management practice, for 90 minutes in a live segment of Brooks’ HBS class called “Leadership and Happiness.” The Dalai Lama answered questions from students about their concerns and their duties in a troubled world.Ĭonnection - even as people are usually now forced to work and study separately - is the key to happiness, he said. Brooks of Harvard Business School (HBS) and Harvard Kennedy School (HKS). That was the theme of an online conversation Saturday night between the Dalai Lama and Professor Arthur C.
Dalai lama young professional#
Yet that may not have to be so, and, in fact, such turmoil can offer opportunities for both personal and professional fulfillment.
In this time of COVID-19 and civil unrest in America, happiness often seems increasingly elusive.
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