Forecast Essay: Tenzin Gyasto, The 14th Dalai Lama
1749 Words7 Pages
Jessica Lynne Hennion
Professor Moberg
English 120
September 14th, 2014
Happiness Forecast Essay Tenzin Gyasto, the fourteenth Dalai Lama, wrote an essay about happiness and compassion called, “Compassion and the Individual”. In the beginning he stated, “I believe that the purpose of life is to be happy.” It would be pretty unique for an individual to not desire that, however it might take a bit more convincing for some to see that it is true. Happiness isn’t universally mandated by a cookie cutter in the sky. There isn’t some page in the dictionary that can tell you what will make you happy consistently. If happiness can be so different, then how could it be the purpose of life? Simple, because it is our muse. Whatever our aspirations in…show more content… I don’t find big degrees, fast cars, and too much money interesting. There is so much pressure to conform to societies general standards for success and moreover, happiness. That pressure never got to me, I suppose. My religion is compiled of many different spiritualties and life experiences, not a semi-irrelevant book. I saw a quote from Gandhi on a YouTube video about religion that I can no longer find. It said, “I like your Christ, not your Christians”. This helped shape my current religion along with yoga classes and readings. For example in the book, “Total Yoga” by Tara Fraiser, there is a sentence on page 134 that stands out to me. “It is said that every step along the path of yoga brings you nearer to enlightenment.” This sort of spirituality is what I want to believe in. It strikes me as a gateway to happiness and inner peace. When I read Tenzin Gyasto essay about compassion, it reminded me of this quote. Happiness is not spending hours and hours a week worshiping to others in a big house that you cannot get comfortable in. I challenge that to believe it’s surrendering to those humans and beasts around you via emanating rays of love causing self-gratifying happiness. Moving on, traveling isn’t spectacular. “You don’t have to see the world to be worldly”. That is a quote from the Florida Georgia Line music video, “Dirt”. I can’t un-hear that, nor do I want to. This last argument may seem rather…show more content… “I don’t want you to leave will you hold my hand.” – Sam Smith. The love for others around me, the love for animals and the earth. Love for friends and family, and of course love specifically designed from one other to me. Love should circulate well and breathe. Many types of love exist and there to be given and received. Going back to the essay that the fourteenth Dalai Lama wrote about compassion, there was a particular quote that explained genuine compassion. “True compassion is not just an emotional response but a firm commitment founded on reason. Therefore, a truly compassionate attitude toward others does not change even if they behave negatively.” This inspires me to believe that having ambitions for happiness strung heavily on love and compassion is to verify that the reason for living is happiness. All goals under this umbrella can be accomplished if you give compassion and go forward to your goals with love in your