The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, answered, "Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived."From Reciprocity Failure.
04 April 2011
A thought from the Dalai Lama
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So, so very true, and so like the Dalai Lama to say so. He is an inspiration to us all.
ReplyDeleteRemembering of course that those thoughts come from someone who doesn't have to work for a living.
ReplyDelete+1 to Anonymous.
ReplyDeleteI find the things the Dalai Lama says to appeal mostly to people who read "The Secret" or watch "What tнē #$*! D̄ө ωΣ (k)πow!?" It's a lot of feel good mumbo jumbo that they claim 'what's the harm in believing it' but at the end of the day a feel-good daydreamer can't feed his family.
Let's remember that the Dalai Lama is himself just a man, and despite his own personal belief Tenzin Gyatso, (the real name of the dalai lama) has stated that he will not be reborn in the People's Republic of China. it's the silly beliefs of the followers who continue this fairytale. I don't particularly see the Tibetan Buddhists who practice his teachings to have a much greater quality of life then my own.
Cute statement though. Good to be reminded to step back and appreciate what we've got.
I'd like to point out that the statement doesn't say "A man", but "Man." His statement encompasses the current human condition, and is applicable regardless of his employment status. Anonymous, the very notion of having to work for a living, which is a fairly recent invention, is a seed of the issue he expresses. You and Jordan trivialize the message he's attempting to convey by reducing it to "oh, easy for HIM to say, he doesn't have to work." Look beyond the messenger. His point is that so much of what we expend our energy on is frivolous, circular, and gets us nowhere.
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect, pull your heads out of your cracks. Maybe some of what the Dalai Lama says is woo like the homeopathic "The Secret"-devoted Choprists would have you believe, but there's some merit to this particular statement. Jordan is right saying that a feel-good daydreamer can't feed his family, but that glosses over the thrust of the idea: that wearing yourself down to be able to afford the things that build you up is a net loss, because while you might be at a net zero regarding money and health, you will have lost time.
Actually the thrust of the idea I like and I do think there's some merit to this particular statement. I'm not particularly fond of the Dalai Lama himself, and maybe someday his crackerjack box statements will just be pulled from some mechanical dispensing machine similar to this: https://www.facebook.com/DalaiLama oh wait, that is what he's become.
ReplyDeleteThis particular saying I guess would mean a lot more to me if I knew Carl Sagan said it or maybe Neil Degrasse Tyson, maybe Bob Dylan or Martin Luther King Jr. But "his holiness the dalai lama"? Pffftttt. what a joke.