Lama's Quotes

#1. I loved reading the Dalai Lama's words: "My religion is loving-kindness." I realized that meant loving-kindness to everyone in my life: past, present, and future; and that meant loving-kindness to myself
in my pain, in my jealousy, in my fear.

Elizabeth Kim

#2. When one questions [Dalai Lama's] political actions, it is worth remembering that he's the single most experienced politician on the planet at this moment.

Pico Iyer

#3. On one occasion, in the middle of an intimate talk, Mao leaned over and whispered in the Dalai Lama's ear, "I understand you very well, but of course religion is poison.

John Avedon

#4. The Dalai Lama's entire being is about peace and harmony, forgiveness and self-discipline. Those are qualities to be admired. I am really looking forward to meeting His Holiness.

Joe Nichols

#5. Dalai Lama's got nothing on me.

Jimmy McGill

#6. More compassionate mind, more sense of concern for other's well-being, is source of happiness.

Dalai Lama

#7. The Dalai Lama took the Archbishop's hand, and then they were more eight than eighty, laughing and making jokes together as they strolled toward the terminal, yellow umbrella sheltering above them. Even

Dalai Lama XIV

#8. Buddhism does not accept a theory of God, or a creator. According to Buddhism, one's own actions are the creator, ultimately. Some people say that, from a certain angle, Buddhism is not a religion but rather a science of mind.

Dalai Lama

#9. Each of us in our own way can try to spread compassion into people's hearts. Western civilizations these days place great importance on filling the human brain with knowledge, but no one seems to care about filling the human heart with compassion. This is what the real role of religion is.

Dalai Lama

#10. The mind must be developed by you alone. There is no way for others to do the work and for you to reap the results. Reading someone else's blueprint of mental progress will not transfer its realizations to you. You have to develop them yourself.

Dalai Lama

#11. Often when we think of exile we think of destruction or loss. But the Dalai Lama always says exile is reality, it's something we can make use of, and he has used it to get rid of everything that he thought was stifling and old, and to create a new, improved and much healthier Tibet.

Pico Iyer

#12. All beings come from a mother's womb. We should have a clear realization of the oneness of all humanity.

Dalai Lama

#13. Everything is interconnected. My
interest is linked to everyone else's. Our survival and future are linked. Therefore the destruction of your so-called enemy is actually the destruction of your self.

Dalai Lama

#14. Buddhism suits me 'cuz nobody's in charge. Nobody's decidin' for me if I'm good or bad, goin' to heaven or hell. It's just me workin' on my head, you workin' your head, the friggin' Dalai Lama workin' on his head.

Ramez Naam

#15. The greatest antidote to insecurity & sense of fear is compassion. It brings one back to the basis of one's inner strength.

Dalai Lama

#16. The main cause of suffering is egoistic desire for one's own comfort and happiness.

Dalai Lama

#17. True enlightenment is nothing but the nature of one's own self being fully realized.

Dalai Lama

#18. The Dalai Lama said that he thinks mother's love is the best symbol for love and compassion, because it is totally disinterested.

Richard Gere

#19. One has to try to develop one's inner feelings, which can be done simply by training one's mind. This is a priceless human asset and one you don't have to pay income tax on!

Dalai Lama

#20. If an individual has a calm state of mind,
that person's attitudes and views will be calm and tranquil
even in the presence of great agitation.

Dalai Lama

#21. I think China's view of freedom has to do with material wealth and modernity, and the Dalai's Lama view of freedom is liberation in the Buddhist sense, which is freedom from ignorance and freedom from suffering.

Pico Iyer

#22. It's best not to get too excited or too depressed by the ups and downs of life.

Dalai Lama

#23. But for all its benefits in offering moral guidance and meaning in life, in today's secular world religion alone is no longer adequate as a basis for ethics.

Dalai Lama XIV

#24. The Dalai Lama visited the White House and told the President that he could teach him to find a higher state of consciousness. Then after talking to Bush for a few minutes, he said, 'You know what? Let's just grab lunch.'

Bill Maher

#25. Self confidence plays an important part in every aspect of man's life.

Dalai Lama

#26. A Tibetan Lama said to me, "The best place to stand, Ram Dass, is halfway between hope and hopelessness." So I can write a scenario for the 21st century in either direction. One is that it all goes to hell and that it's truly the dark age.

Ram Dass

#27. Gandhi or Bishop Tutu or the Dalai Lama. I think they're really embodiments of what we aspire to and, by keeping them in our heads, we're reminding ourselves of who we could be. That's what we're hoping to climb up towards.

Pico Iyer

#28. His Holiness [the Dalai Lama] has told me, urgently and repeatedly, that he thinks my photographs are crap. His exact words were, 'These photos are of poor quality. Why is there no sharp focus? There is no clarity!' I said, 'But your Holiness, it's Goyaesque.' And he said, 'No! It's out of focus!'

Richard Gere

#29. Now he's far away, floating in the clouds, playing Scrabble with the Dalai Lama, but wouldn't you know it, all the tiles are in Tibetan.

Neal Shusterman

#30. I believe each human being has the potential to change, to transform one's own attitude, no matter how difficult the situation.

Dalai Lama XIV

#31. I do not respect the Dalai Lama. He's a political power broker. The Dalai Lama is not honorable to me.

Ashin Wirathu

#32. I always emphasize that it is much safer and better to keep one's own religious faith. The other major religions are thousands of years old and have long traditions.

Dalai Lama

#33. External circumstances can contribute to one's happiness and well-being, but ultimately happiness and suffering depend on the mind.

Dalai Lama

#34. Happiness is determined more by one's state of mind than by external events.

Dalai Lama XIV

#35. If you have religious faith, very good, you can add on secular ethics, then religious belief, add on it, very good. But even those people who have no interest about religion, okay, it's not religion, but you can train through education.

Dalai Lama

#36. Internal peace is an essential first step to achieving peace in the world. How do you cultivate it? It's very simple. In the first place by realizing clearly that all mankind is one, that human beings in every country are members of one and the same family.

Dalai Lama

#37. I remember many years ago, I asked [Dalai Lama] about exile and he said: "Well, exile is good because it's brought me and my people closer to reality," and reality is almost a shrine before which he sits. Exile brings us up against the wall and forces us to rise to the challenge of the moment.

Pico Iyer

#38. The foundation of the Buddha's teachings lies in compassion, and the reason for practicing the teachings is to wipe out the persistence of ego, the number-one enemy of compassion.

Dalai Lama

#39. There's a Tibetan saying: 'Wherever you have friends that's your country, and wherever you receive love, that's your home.'" There

Dalai Lama XIV

#40. In today's interconnected and globalized world, it is now commonplace for people of dissimilar world views, faiths and races to live side by side. It is a matter of great urgency, therefore, that we find ways to cooperate with one another in a spirit of mutual acceptance and respect.

Dalai Lama

#41. I call myself a feminist. Isn't that what you call someone who fights for women's rights?

Dalai Lama

#42. Maybe the Dalai Lama is the only person who is totally honest, and even with him, he's skillful not to hurt anybody. He's skillful.

Richard Gere

#43. Good human qualities-honesty, sincerity, a good heart-cannot be bought with money, nor can they be produced my machines, but only by the mind itself. We can call this the inner light, or God's blessing, or human qualitity. This is the essence of mankind.

Dalai Lama

#44. As long as we're preoccupied with our former traumas and triumphs, or our fears and dreams about what might happen down the road, or who said what to whom, it's very difficult to appreciate and cherish the intrinsically joyful gift of life right here and now.

Lama Surya Das

#45. We need to take action to develop compassion, to create inner peace within ourselves and to share that inner peace with our family and friends. Peace and warm-heartednes s can then spread through the community just as ripples radiate out across the water when you drop a pebble into a pond

Dalai Lama

#46. In my childhood, I had a religious assistant who always told me, if you can really laugh with full abandonment, it's very good for your health.

Dalai Lama

#47. I think there's every reason this 21st century will be much happier.

Dalai Lama

#48. Every religion emphasizes human improvement, love, respect for others, sharing other people's suffering. On these lines every religion had more or less the same viewpoint and the same goal.

Dalai Lama

#49. Once you have a genuine sense of concern for others, there's no room for cheating, bullying or exploitation.

Dalai Lama

#50. Without changing one's self, without peace in one's self, world peace is not possible.

Dalai Lama

#51. If one's cause is supported by sound reasoning, there is no point in using violence. It is those who have no motive other than selfish desire and who cannot achieve their goal through logical reasoning who rely on force.

Dalai Lama

#52. The Dalai Lama acknowledges that he's met Westerners who to some extent are clearly Easterners at heart, and he would never want them not to become Buddhists just because they happened to be born in California.

Pico Iyer

#53. Because someone is a lama or is part of a monastic order or claims to be part of a succession, doesn't really mean they know anything. Always examine the individual's consciousness, their ability to transmit light.

Frederick Lenz

#54. If there's good, strong evidence from science that such and such is the case and this is contrary to Buddhism, then we will change.

Dalai Lama XIV

#55. Even under Apple founder Steve Jobs, the company did emphasize values. Remember the Think Different ad campaign that used pictures of the Dalai Lama, Amelia Earhart, Mahatma Gandhi? But Jobs focused on the integrity of Apple's products.

Laura Sydell

#56. It is illogical to expect smiles from others if one does not smile oneself. Therefore, one can see that many things depend on one's own behaviour.

Dalai Lama XIV

#57. In the practice of tolerance, one's enemy is the best teacher.

Dalai Lama

#58. The jealousy that arises from another's achievement is overcome by developing an awareness of and admiration for one's own and other's achievement.

Dalai Lama

#59. In the Buddha's life story we see the three stages of practice: Morality comes first, then concentrated meditation, and then wisdom. And we see that the path takes time.

Dalai Lama

#60. Positive and negative actions are determined by one's own motivation. If the motivation is good, all actions become positive; if the motivation is wrong, all actions become negative.

Dalai Lama XIV

#61. It is a wonderful thing if one can use one's place of work as a place of spiritual practice as well.

Dalai Lama

#62. Through awareness, you get a certain attitude. That's the way, you see, to achieve more peaceful, more compassion, more friendship through that way.

Dalai Lama

#63. Calm mind brings inner strength and self-confidence, so that's very important for good health.

Dalai Lama

#64. The creation of a more peaceful and happier society has to begin from the level of the individual, and from there it can expand to one's family, to one's neighborhood, to one's community and so on.

Dalai Lama

#65. The period of greatest gain in knowledge and experience is the most difficult period in one's life.

Dalai Lama

#66. Someone else's action should not determine your response.

Dalai Lama XIV

#67. I took note of the Buddha's teaching that in one sense a supposed enemy is more valuable than a friend, for an enemy teaches you things, such as forbearance, that a friend generally does not.

Dalai Lama XIV

#68. Some consider me as a living Buddha. That's nonsense. That's silly. That's wrong. If they consider me a simple Buddhist monk, however, that's probably okay.

Dalai Lama

#69. Whether people are beautiful and friendly or unattractive and disruptive, ultimately they are human beings, just like oneself. Like oneself, they want happiness and do not want suffering. Furthermore, their right to overcome suffering and be happy is equal to one's own.

Dalai Lama XIV

#70. Modern education is premised strongly on materialistic values. It is vital that when educating our children's brains that we do not neglect to educate their hearts, a key element of which has to be the nurturing of our compassionate nature.

Dalai Lama

#71. There is a saying in Tibetan that "at the door of the miserable rich man sleeps the contented beggar". The point of this saying is not that poverty is a virtue, but that happiness does not come with wealth, but from setting limits to one's desires, and living within those limits with satisfaction.

Dalai Lama

#72. Dalai Lama was leading his country during the rigors of World War II, he was in Beijing for a year in 1954; he was up against Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai from the time that he was fifteen. So he's no newcomer or naive when it comes to politics.

Pico Iyer

#73. There are various positive side effects of enhancing one's feeling of compassion. One of them is that the greater the force of your compassion, the greater your resilience in confronting hardships and your ability to transform them into more positive conditions.

Dalai Lama XIV

#74. If the work is worthwhile, then whether we can complete it or not, it's worth making the attempt. That's why courage is important.

Dalai Lama

#75. If it can be solved, there's no need to worry, and if it can't be solved, worry is of no use.

Dalai Lama

#76. Overslept and had to race to get a life to Jas's with my dad. No time for yoga or makeup. Oh well, I'll start tomorrow. God alone knows how the Dalai Lama copes on a daily basis. He must get up at dawn. Actually, I read somewhere that he does get up at dawn.

Louise Rennison

#77. You use force, you create fear. Fear destroys trust. Trust is the basis of harmony. The hardliner believes harmony and unity can be brought by force. That's totally unscientific, totally wrong.

Dalai Lama

#78. It's not enough to be compassionate. You must act.

Dalai Lama

#79. If one assumes a humble attitude, one's own good qualities will increase. Whereas if one is proud, one will become jealous of others, one will look down on others, and due to that there will be unhappiness in society.

Dalai Lama

#80. Whether you call it Buddhism or another religion, self-discipline, that's important. Self-discipline with awareness of consequences.

Dalai Lama

#81. I give great thanks to God that he has created a Dalai Lama. Do you really think, as some have argued, that God will be saying: 'You know, that guy, the Dalai Lama, is not bad. What a pity he's not a Christian'? I don't think that is the case - because, you see, God is not a Christian.

Desmond Tutu

#82. Looking at the pattern of our existence from birth to death, we can see the way in which we are fundamentally nurtured by other's affection.

Dalai Lama

#83. The Dalai Lama would say that meditation is something that can help everyone. But he's aware that it can be misused or things can go wrong.

Pico Iyer

#84. There is a saying in Tibetan, 'Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.'
No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that's our real disaster.

Dalai Lama XIV

#85. Patricia embraces me on the station platform. 'The past is what you leave behind in life, Ruby,' she says with the smile of a reincarnated lama. 'Nonsense, Patricia,' I tell her as I climb on board my train. 'The past's what you take with you.

Kate Atkinson

#86. For example, if a person once had money but has none now, it's no use going shopping. Similarly, although we may have accumulated virtuous karma previously, it cannot benefit us if we have no virtuous karma in the present.

Dalai Lama XIV

#87. China has to go along with world trends. That's democracy, liberty, individual freedom. China sooner or later has to go that way. It cannot go backward.

Dalai Lama

#88. In Tibet there were practitioners in retreat who so strongly reflected on impermanence that they would not wash their dishes after supper. - PALTRUL RINPOCHE'S SACRED WORD

Dalai Lama XIV

#89. With realization of one's own potential and self-confidence in one's ability, one can build a better world.

Dalai Lama

#90. If through practice of insight you develop a sense of ease, then time has no relevance. If you're miserable, time does matter. It's so unbearable, so enormous you want to get out of it as soon as possible.

Dalai Lama

#91. If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it's not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.

Dalai Lama XIV

#92. Anger or hatred is like a fisherman's hook. It is very important for us to ensure that we are not caught by it.

Dalai Lama XIV

#93. The more honest you are, the more open, the less fear you will have, because there's no anxiety about being exposed or revealed to others.

Dalai Lama XIV

#94. Our inner lives are something we ignore at our own peril, and many of the greatest problems we face in today's world are the result of such neglect. Not

Dalai Lama XIV

#95. FOLLOW YOUR HEART
for your heart will always know the answer. but if it tells you to strangle kittens or something then DON'T follow it anymore.I mean it's just a heart, right? It's not the Dalai lama.

Edward Monkton

#96. When a person is in a miserable situation, then, yes, it is difficult to develop genuine compassion toward others. That's why I find it difficult to say to poor people, "Please have compassion toward millionaires." That's not easy.

Dalai Lama

#97. Wherever you have friends that's your country, and wherever you receive love, that's your home.

Dalai Lama XIV

#98. With genuine love and compassion, another person's appearance or behavior has no affect on your attitude.

Dalai Lama

#99. Dalai Lama has not coming to show us his kindness, so that we can enjoy his charisma, he's coming with a specific message for the specific circumstances of the world today.

Pico Iyer

#100. Each of us must learn to work not just for one self, one's own family or one's nation, but for the benefit of all humankind. Universal responsibility is the key to human survival. It is the best foundation for world peace.

Dalai Lama