The Dalai Lama on spiritual progress.

Over the years, we have read every book ever written on the Dalai Lama, by him, and about Tibet. One of the more interesting recent publications is the Wisdom of Forgiveness by the Dalai Lama and Victor Chan, which contains many profound insights into His Holiness’ philosophy of living.

The Dalai Lama uses a meditation technique called “Giving and Taking”. “I make visualization: send my positive emotions like happiness, affection to others. Then another visualization: I visualize receiving their sufferings, their negative emotions. I do this every day…So, as I meditate, I breathe in all their poisons—hatred, fear, cruelty. Then I breathe out. And I let all the good things come out, things like compassion, forgiveness. I take inside my body all these bad things. Then I replace poisons with fresh air.”

In many of the Dalai Lama’s lectures and interviews, he brings up the subject of emptiness. Everything the Buddha taught can be simplified to one essential idea: fusing emptiness with compassion is the formula for happiness.

His Holiness believes that we need to gain wisdom by seeing the world as it really is. If you have true wisdom, then you have clear vision—no preconceptions. With clear vision, we develop an understanding of emptiness, which is another way of saying that all things have no individual existence.

The Dalai Lama says: “According to Buddhist belief, unless you meditate on and experience emptiness thoroughly, directly, it is very difficult to eliminate your destructive emotions.”

His Holiness states that much of our unhappiness and suffering is caused by the difference between our perceptions and what is real. “Normally we tend to see things in a solid, tangible way. Therefore, there is a tendency to grasp at things, to become attached to things. We strive for new experiences, new acquisitions. Yet, as soon as we possess them, the buzz is gone, and we look for something new. This endless cycle of craving brings suffering.”

Tibetans are famous for their compassion. Indeed, the Dalai Lama’s primary message is the spread of compassion. How exactly does His Holiness define compassion?

“Compassion is something like a sense of caring, a sense of concern for others’ difficulties and pain. Not only family and friends, but all other people. Enemies also. Now, if we really analyze our feelings, one thing becomes clear. If we think only of ourselves, forget about other people, then our minds occupy very small area. Inside that small area, even tiny problem appears very big.

“But the moment you develop a sense of concern for others, you realize that, just like ourselves, they also want happiness; they also want satisfaction. When you have this sense of concern, your mind automatically widens. At this point, your own problems, even big problems, will not be so significant. The result? Big increase in peace of mind. So, if you think only of yourself, only your own happiness, the result is actually less happiness. You get more anxiety, more fear.”

Tibetans spend a lifetime working towards spiritual enlightenment. One of the steps is to eliminate negative and destructive emotions.

“Training of the mind, this means strengthening those positive emotions, such as forgiveness and compassion, such as dedication to others’ welfare. Negative emotions like hatred, jealousy, these are what you call enemies. These negative emotions, through training, we can minimize. This mind training, according to some scientists, is very much relevant to our health.”