ETHICS FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM
HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA
RIVERHEAD BOOKS 1999
PART IV
Chapter 4: Redefining the Goal
I have observed that we all naturally desire happiness and not to suffer. I have suggested, furthermore, that these are rights, from which in my opinion we can infer that an ethical act is one which does not harm others’ experience or expectation of happiness. And I have described an understanding of reality which points to a commonality of interest in respect to self and others.
Let us now consider the nature of happiness. The first thing to note is that it is a relative quality. We experience it differently according to our circumstances. What makes one person glad may be a source of suffering to another. Most of us would be extremely sorry to be sent to prison for life. Yet a criminal under threat of the death penalty would likely be very happy to be reprieved with a sentence of life imprisonment. Second, it is important to recognize that we use the same word “happiness” to describe very different states, although this is more obvious in Tibetan where the same word, de wa, is also used for “pleasure.” We speak of happiness in connection with bathing in cool water on a hot day. We speak of it in connection with certain ideal states, such as when we say, “I would be so happy to win the lottery.” We also speak of happiness in relation to the simple joys of family life.
- The happiness we derive from such things as bathing in cool water on a hot day is short-lived.
- Generally speaking, even if money brings happiness, it tends to be the kind which money can buy: material things and sensory experiences.
- Possessions are often the cause of more, not less, difficulties in life – the car breaks down, we lose our money, our most precious belongings are stolen, our house is damaged by fire.
- Either that or we suffer because we worry about such things happening.
- While occasionally we may feel we have found perfect happiness of this sort, this seeming perfection is ephemeral.
- This explains why placing too much hope in material development is a mistake as it is based on the underlying assumptions that full satisfaction can arise from gratifying the senses alone.
- The human capacity for experiencing deeper levels of happiness explains why such things as music and the arts offer a greater degree of happiness and satisfaction than merely acquiring material objects.
- But they have a strong sensory component and by themselves they cannot offer the happiness we dream of.
- The brief elation we experience when appeasing sensual impulses may not be very different from what the drug addict feels when indulging his or her habit.
A great deal of what I call internal suffering can be attributed to our impulsive approach to happiness. We do not stop to consider the complexity of a given situation. Our tendency is to rush in and do what seems to promise the shortest route to satisfaction. But in so doing, all too frequently, we deprive ourselves of the opportunity for a greater degree of fulfilment. This is actually quite strange. Usually we do not allow our children to do whatever they want. We realize that if given their freedom, they would probably spend their time playing rather than studying. So instead we make them sacrifice the immediate pleasure of play and compel them to study. Our strategy is more long term. As adults, we often neglect this principle.
- The principle characteristic of genuine happiness is peace: inner peace, rooted in concern for others involving a high degree of sensitivity and feeling.
- This fact, that inner peace is the principle characteristic of happiness, explains the paradox that while we can all think of people who remain dissatisfied, despite having every material advantage, there are others who remain happy, not withstanding the most difficult circumstances.
- Good health, friends, freedom, and a degree of prosperity are all valuable and helpful yet without a feeling of inner peace and security they are of no avail.
- There is no hope of attaining lasting happiness if we lack inner peace.
- Developing inner peace is like any other task in life – we have to identify its causes and conditions and then diligently set about cultivating them.
- This entails a two-pronged approach. On the one hand, we need to guard against those factors which obstruct it. On the other, we need to cultivate those which are conducive to it.
- So far as the conditions for inner peace are concerned, one of the most important is our basic attitude – how we relate to external circumstances.
- The other major source of inner peace is the actions we undertake in our pursuit of happiness.
- We can classify these in terms of those that make a positive contribution toward it, those whose effect is neutral, and those which have a negative effect on it.
- By considering what differentiates those acts which make for lasting happiness from those which offer only a transient sense of well-being, we see that in the latter case the activities themselves have no positive value.
- When we desire things for no real reason beyond the enjoyment they give us, ultimately they tend to bring us more problems.
- It is this very lack of concern for consequences that underlies extreme actions, like inflicting pain on others, even killing itself – either of which can certainly satisfy a person’s desires for a short time – though these desires are severely negative ones.
- In the field of economic activity, the pursuit of profit without consideration of potentially negative consequences can undoubtedly give rise to feelings of great joy when success comes.
- In the end there is suffering: the environment is polluted, our unscrupulous methods drive others out of business, the bombs we manufacture cause death and injury.
As to those activities which can lead to a sense of peace and lasting happiness, consider what happens when we do something we believe to be worthwhile. Perhaps we conceive of a plan to help our community and, eventually, after much effort, bring it to fruition. When we analyze activities of this sort, we find they involve discernment. They entail weighing different factors, including both the likely and the possible consequences for ourselves and for others. In this process of evaluation, the question of morality, of whether our intended actions are ethical, arises automatically. So while the initial impulse might be to be deceitful in order to gain some end, we reason that although we may gain temporary happiness this way, actually the long-term consequences of behaving thus are likely to bring trouble. We therefore deliberately renounce one course of action in favor of another. And it is through achieving our aim by means of effort and self-sacrifice, through considering both the short-term benefit to us and the long-term effects on others’ happiness, and sacrificing the former for the latter, that we attain the happiness which is characterized by peace and by genuine satisfaction.
- Altruism is an essential component of these actions which lead to genuine happiness.
- An ethical act is one where we refrain from causing harm to others experience or expectation of happiness.
- Spiritual acts can be described in terms of love, compassion, patience, forgiveness, humility, tolerance etc. which presume some level of concern for others’ well-being.
- Spiritual actions motivated by concern for others actually benefit ourselves and make our lives meaningful Altruistic actions not only bring about happiness but lessen our experience of suffering.
- In our concern for others we worry less about ourselves and the experience of our own suffering is less intense.
What does this tell us? Firstly because our every action has a universal dimension, a potential impact on others’ happiness, ethics are necessary as a means to ensure that we do not harm others. Secondly, it tells us that genuine happiness consists in those spiritual qualities of love and compassion, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, humility, and so on. It is these which provide happiness both for ourselves and others.
Chapter 5: The Supreme Emotion