Quote from the Book of Joy

The Book of Joy

 by H.H. The 14th Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Douglas Abrams

Avery Publications, New York, New York, 2016             354 pp.

The Dalai Lama and the Archbishop are two of the great spiritual masters of our time, but they are also moral leaders who transcend their own traditions and speak always from a concern for humanity as a whole. Their courage and resilience and dogged hope inspire millions as they refuse to give in to the fashionable cynicism that risks engulfing us. Their joy is clearly not easy or superficial but one burnished by the fire of adversity, oppression and struggle. The Dalai Lama and the Archbishop remind us that joy is in fact our birthright and even more fundamental than happiness.

“Joy” as the Archbishop said during the week [together], “is much bigger than happiness. While happiness is often seen as being dependent on external circumstances, joy is not.” This state of mind—and heart—is much closer to both the Dalai Lama’s and Archbishop’s understanding of what animates our lives and what ultimately leads to a life of satisfaction and meaning.

The dialogues [in this book] were about what the Dalai Lama has called the very “purpose of life”—the goal of avoiding suffering and discovering happiness. They shared their hard-won wisdom of how they live with joy in the face of life’s inevitable sorrows. Together they explored how we can transform joy from an ephemeral state into an enduring trait, from a fleeting feeling into a lasting way of being. (pp. 3-4)

-- quote submitted by Oriana K. H.

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