The Essential Dalai Lama Quotes

“May the force of observing that which is right; and abstinence from wrong practices and evil deeds; nourish and augment the prosperity of the world; May it invigorate living being and help them blossom; May sylvan joy and pristine happiness ever increase, ever spread and encompass all that is.”
― Dalai Lama XIV, The Essential Dalai Lama: His Important Teachings

“Tsong-Kha-pa (influencial Tibetan Buddhist monk) syas that if you have an authentic aspiration to enlightenment, then any act of goodness, even something minor like giving grain to a crow, becomes a bodhisattva deed. However, if you lack this motivating factor, even though you might make offerings of an entire universe filled with jewels to other sentient beings, it will not be the deed of a bodhisattva.”
― Dalai Lama XIV, The Essential Dalai Lama: His Important Teachings

“Whenever you have the opportunity to engage in a positive action as a Dharma practitioner, it is important to ensure that at the initial stage your positive motivation is very strong, and that you have a strong intention to engage in the act. Then, while you are actually out the act, you should ensure that you have given it your best, and you have put all your effort into making the action successful. Once the action is performed, it is important to ensure that you have dedicated the positive karma that you have thereby created toward the well-being of all beings as well as your own attachment of enlightenment.”
― Dalai Lama XIV, The Essential Dalai Lama: His Important Teachings

“Impermanence means that as soon as something comes into being it has already started to decay”
― Dalai Lama XIV, The Essential Dalai Lama: His Important Teachings

“Although it can be challenging to develop an intellectual understanding of certain topics, it is generally easier because it can be cultivated merely by reading texts or listening to teachings. Experiential understanding is far more difficult to develop, since it comes about only as a result of sustained practice.”
― Dalai Lama XIV, The Essential Dalai Lama: His Important Teachings

“To meet the challenges of our times, I believe that humanity must develop a greater sense of Universal Responsibility. Each of us must learn to work not just for our own individual self, family, or nation, but for the benefit of all mankind.”
― Dalai Lama XIV, The Essential Dalai Lama: His Important Teachings