My Spiritual Journey by Dalai Lama (good books for 8th graders txt) 📕

67, 69–70, 189

Dalailamaship, 7, 60–61

death, 56–58, 77–78

democracy, 187–190

Deng Xiaoping, 221, 222, 226, 241, 276

desire, 18, 76, 93, 96, 100

Dharamsala, 31–33

diversity, 1, 87, 109–110, 159

duality, 107, 108

Earth Charter, 158–160

ecological responsibility: call to action, 137–138, 145–150; China’s destruction of Tibet, 141–144, 277; ethics in sci- ence, 126, 131; growing realization of, 152–153; and interdependence, 154–160; Tibetan beliefs, 135–140

ego, 100, 102, 107

Ekman, Paul, 31

emotions, 93, 96–100, 129, 131

emptiness, 36, 77, 91–92, 128

enemies, 20, 28, 250, 259, 264

equality, 190–191

ethics, 106, 124–126, 129–131, 160

Five-Point Peace Plan, 225, 227–232, 234–235, 238

freedom, 188, 190–191, 229

friendship, 28–29

Gandhi, Mahatma, 195–197

Gendhun Chökyi Nyima, Eleventh Panchen Lama, 68

genetics, 119, 124, 131

Great Britain, 170, 196

happiness: compassion and, 25–27, 88, 89, 122; humanity’s desire for, 16, 19, 20, 80, 110, 135; key to, 88–89; mecha- nisms creating, 94

Harrer, Heinrich, 51–52

hatred, 21, 28, 93, 96, 100, 129, 130

holistic perspective, 23–24

hope, 185, 259–260

Hu Jintao, 242, 245, 276

Hu Yaobang, 221–223

humanity, 1, 8–10, 12–16, 109–114, 124– 125, 137–138

“Hymn to the Buddha Who Transcends the World” (Nagarjuna), 127–128

“I Pray for a More Loving Human Family,” 15

ideologies, 13, 117

ignorance, 93, 96–97, 154, 156, 157, 190

impermanence, 56–58, 90–92

India, 68, 168, 173, 180–184, 186–188, 196, 204, 205, 207, 210, 212, 213, 219, 224, 243, 248, 279

interdependence: as Buddhist teaching, 11, 158; compassion and, 8–10, 14–15; and ecological responsibility, 154–160; and the ego, 100, 102, 107; as funda- mental, 93, 111; and impermanence, 90–92; society’s disregard of, 108–110, 113, 117–118; and universal responsi- bility, 13, 125, 127, 158; war and, 115

International Commission of Jurists, 173, 201–202, 205, 206, 237–238, 265

Jiang Zemin, 244, 254

Kalachakra rites, 153, 280

karma, 55, 65, 93, 152

laughter, 23–24

Lhasa, 168, 197–198, 211, 232, 238, 248– 250, 252

Lhasa insurrection, 178–179, 204, 206, 275

lineages, xiii, 42–45, 48, 55, 58–59, 62–70, 189

love, 8–10, 14–15, 86, 89, 102, 107, 112–114

Mao Tse-tung, 166, 176–177, 182, 208, 210, 211, 213, 221, 241

Marx, Karl, 191

materialism, 9–10, 28–29, 88–89, 113–114, 130

“May I Remain in Order to Relieve the Sufferings of the World!”, 260–261

meaning of life, 26–27

meditation, 35–36, 77, 86, 94, 97–99, 130–131

mental poisons, 93, 96–97, 99, 100

Middle Way policy, 226, 240, 244, 246, 250–251, 276

Mind and Life Institute, 120, 129

monasticism, 76, 190–191

Mongolia, 32–33, 58–59, 169–170, 177, 234, 248

motivation, 83, 126, 152, 194

Nagarjuna, 76, 127–128

nature, 135–137, 151, 155

Nehru, Jawaharlal, 173, 182–184, 248

neuroscience, 119–120, 122, 123–124

Nobel Peace Prize, 16–17, 69, 195, 236, 261, 280

nonviolence: ahimsa zone of, 224–225; as Buddhist principle, 11, 135; essence of, 107, 194; in Tibetan politics, 196– 198, 219, 228, 235, 264

patience, 19, 21–22

peace: inner, 131, 259; Tibetan culture of, 168, 188, 207, 218–221, 224–225, 228–232; world, 15, 84, 109–110, 130, 153, 193–195

phenomena, 90–94, 96, 107, 111

pluralism, 1, 81–82, 87, 109–110

politicians, 83

pollution, 141–147, 208, 277

prayer, 35, 77

reality, 90–93, 96, 100–102, 121, 126, 129

reason, 21, 76, 121

reincarnation, 55, 62–63, 65–69, 135–136

religion, 1, 77, 80–85, 87, 89, 102, 105, 126

Reting Rinpoche, 46–47

Samdhong Rinpoche, xv, xvi, 60, 69, 198, 204, 232, 249, 254

Sangha, 190–191

science: and Buddhism, 120–124, 127– 131; fate of humanity and, 119–120, 124–125, 137–138; invoking ethics, 124–126, 131; on mental experiences, 94; study of meditators, 130–131

secular ethics, 125, 160

self, 96, 97, 100–102, 107

September 11 attacks, 109, 129–131

Seventeen-Point Agreement, 173, 174, 177, 183, 197

Shantideva, 250, 261, 280

smiling, 28–29

spiritual practice, 77–81, 96–98, 105–106. See also transforming the mind

Strasbourg Proposal, 232, 234, 235, 246

stream of consciousness, 81, 93, 95, 99

study, 97, 99

succession, 58–59, 62–65, 67, 69–70, 189

suffering: and death, 57, 78; transcend- ing, 93, 96–99; understanding, 88, 94, 121–122; universality of, 16, 19, 20, 26, 27, 34, 80

Tenzin Chögyal, 49, 208

Tenzin Tsendu, 215, 251

Thubten Gyatso, Thirteenth Dalai Lama, 42, 44–45, 48, 53, 55, 85, 169, 170

Thubten Yeshe, 101–102

Tibet: as buffer zone, 218–221, 224–225, 231; cheerfulness of people, 23, 136; democratization of, 187–189, 235; holistic perspective, 23–24; political history of, 168–171, 220, 227–228; respect for nature, 135–137, 139–140, 155. See also Chinese invasion and occupation of Tibet

Tibetan Buddhism: link to Tibetan people, 60; monks and nuns, 62–63, 76; reality in, 101–102; succession of Dalai Lama, 58–59, 62–65, 67, 69–70, 189; tulku system, 64, 66–67

Tibetan cause: citizens in exile, 180–182, 184–188; establishing Tibetan auton- omy, 276–278; Five-Point Peace Plan, 225, 227–232, 234–235, 238; hope for, 233–234, 252–255; Middle Way policy, 226, 240, 244, 246, 250–251, 276; negotiation attempts, 221–223, 226, 232–235, 240, 243–248, 250–251, 278; question of independence, 232 244, 246–248, 250–251; the Stras- bourg Proposal, 232, 234, 235, 246; summary of problems, 239–245; 2008 uprisings, 197–198, 242–243, 248–250, 252; and the United Nations, 172, 201–206, 210, 225

Tibetan Youth Congress, 250–251

transforming the mind: actualizing our potential, 96–99; analysis in, 88–89, 93–94, 96, 101, 121–122; cerebral plasticity, 122, 123; on conscious- ness, 94–95; perceptions of reality, 90–93, 101–102; training our emo- tions, 98–101; to transform the world, 106, 156

transforming the world: by compas- sion, 112–114; embracing diversity, 109–110; ending war, 115–116; recog- nizing interdependence, 107–108, 111, 113; role of science, 119–120, 124–125, 137–138; through spiritual revolu- tion, 105–106; universal responsibil- ity for, 106, 109–110, 112–114, 117–118. See also ecological responsibility

tulku system, 64, 66–67

United Nations, 158, 171, 172, 201–206, 210, 225

United States, 9–10, 109, 173, 175, 192

universal responsibility, 11, 109–110, 112–114, 117–118, 135, 155, 158

violence, 107, 194–195, 197–198

war, 115–116, 263

Westerners, 9–10, 28–29, 108, 116, 136

wisdom, 96–99, 101, 102

Wu Tai Shan, 85

Acknowledgments

We thank Caroline Parent and the Coup D’Oeil Society, who kindly authorized quotations from interviews conducted for the film Dalaï-lama: une vie après l’autre (The Dalai Lama: One Life After Another).

The photographs on pages 3 and 71 are reprinted by courtesy of the Office of the Dalai Lama. The photograph on page 161 is courtesy of Win McNamee/Getty Images and reprinted with permission. The Dalai Lama’s Annual Speech to Commemorate the March 10, 1959 Lhasa Insurrection and the Kalachakra Mandala image on pages 275–280 are reproduced by courtesy of Ms. Sofia Stril-Rever and Samdhong Rinpoche.

My Three

Commitments

in Life

My first commitment in life, as a human being, is the promotion of human values and those qualities of spirit that are key elements in a happy life, whether of an individual, a family, or a community. These days it seems to me that we don’t cultivate