Book Review: The Joy of Living and Dying in Peace

The Joy of Living and Dying in Peace

-          DALAI LAMA.

The Dalai Lama is a monk of the Gleug or “Yellow Hat” school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest of the schools of Tibetan Buddhism founded by Je Tsongkhapa. The 14^th and current Dalai Lama is Tenzin Gyatso.

The Joy of Living and Dying in Peace: is the life with technology/ luxurious? If we ask this question to Dalai Lama, directly he would answer that no. This answer brings shock to people who are living in 21^st century because we had already tasted the fruit of technology. We are living in a world where man started raising many questions and he himself gives the answers to the questions with the help of technology. Human being had achieved everything what they had thought the only thing which the man was not able to answer is: do really God exist? This question rises among those who believe technology rather than God. Thus, those who would like to live a meaningful life with a purpose. This book is not against technology but it shows different world. If this book transforms us, then sure we can achieve the spiritual world and we will able to feel the divine love.

In this book Dalai Lama briefly describes how a perfect human being should be and how a perfect human being should not be. For instance in the first chapter, he gives ten virtuous actions to be followed by human beings:

“Sustaining life, giving gifts, maintaining sexual ethics, speaking truthfully, speaking harmoniously, speaking kindly, speaking sensibly, generosity, helpful intent, and right view”.

We are now living on the peak of technology. Being in the technological world we are able to change and modify the external or physical appearances of the body. When it comes to mind it cannot be changed even by any technological equipment. By nature human beings are internalized with so many qualities, for example, envy, desire, etc.. These qualities of human beings could be changed even by removing certain brain cells in the body. Thus in this world there are something which will not be done by man. Still in this world there are many unanswerable questions. These questions can only be answered by God. This book,”The Joy of Living and Dying in Peace” aims to discipline the unruly mind.

I would like to share some interesting things which inspired me are:

1.“Embarking on a spiritual practice that is measured in lifetimes and eons gives you a different perspective on death. In the context of our existence through many successive lives, death is something like changing your clothes. When your clothes become old and worn out, you change them for new ones. This affects your attitude toward death. It gives rise to a clearer realization that death is a part of life. Grosser levels of mind are dependent on our brains, so they continue to function only as long as the brain functions. As soon as the brain stops, these levels of mind automatically stop. The brain is a condition for the appearance of grosser levels of mind, but the substantial cause of the mind is the continuity of the subtle mind, which has no beginning.”

2.“During the actual practice recall the subject of your meditation. As you begin each new day, you should generate a strong motivation, thinking, "From now until I die I will try my best to be useful, to be beneficial to other people. At least I will not harm them. I will try to do that until I die, and at least that is what I will do today." Then before you close your eyes at night, you should think back on how you spent your day. If you find that your conduct was useful and beneficial, you can rejoice and make a further determination to spend the rest of your life this way. If you find that you behaved negatively, that you bullied someone or said something nasty or harmful, you must openly admit it. Recollect the kindness of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas and confess your mistake and make a determination not to do the same again. This is the real way to practice the Dharma. If you do not pay attention to this kind of practice, but simply go on leading the same old way of life, you will make no progress. However much time you spend meditating, you should spend it thoughtfully”.

3.“It is because of this that the compassionate Buddha Shakyamuni taught the following allegory. Imagine a huge ocean on the surface of which floats a yoke with a hole through the middle. In the depths of that ocean there lives a blind tortoise who comes to the surface once in a hundred years. The chances of finding a human life again in the future are similar to the chances of the turtle surfacing with its head through the hole in the yoke afloat on the huge ocean. Such is the rarity and difficulty of finding a human life. We have accumulated countless negative deeds. And yet, as a result of one negative deed lasting for one moment, we may find ourselves living in hell undergoing ceaseless suffering”.”

4.“If we are unable to use our human intelligence in a positive way, there is no purpose to human life. We will simply be machines to produce manure. Human beings should be able to use their intelligence, their discriminating awareness, to contribute to the welfare of all sentient beings. That is how to make life meaningful. That is the way to bring about peace, both temporarily and in the long run. There is nothing amazing about being highly educated; there is nothing amazing about being rich. If we have no compassion or feeling for other sentient beings, whatever material facilities or education we may have will be of no meaning and of no use. Therefore, we should use our human body to preserve our human intelligence in order to be able to engage in virtuous practice.Try to gain control of yourself and realize that helping other sentient beings is the purpose of life. If you are able to understand that, you will always be able to gain control over your mind and body and use them for the sake of other sentient beings”.

5.“It is important to help the helpless and downtrodden. When we see someone well-dressed and attractive, we feel inclined to offer our help immediately, but when we see someone dressed in ragged clothes, looking unwell, we try to turn away. This is not a good sign. The attractive and well-dressed may be deceptive, whereas the helpless actually pose no threat. When I see a beggar, I try never to think of him or her as somehow inferior to or weaker than me. I never think that I am better than a beggar. But when I meet people who pretend to be intelligent and clever, I tend not to give in to them immediately. If someone is straightforward and pleasant, we can be too. If you meet people open-heartedly and receive a similar response, you can soon become friends. But if you remain honest and open and the other person reacts in the opposite way, then of course you have to adopt another ploy in response. Whatever you do, it is important not to bully or deceive those who are already downtrodden.”

6.“Anger can have several causes, unhappiness and anxiety among them. We tend to respond to events and circumstances in our lives irrationally. When something is troubling us, we tend to blame other people for the problem. Instead of reacting instantly, we should examine the problem with a cooler head. The first step is to see if there is a solution. If the problem can be solved, there is no need to worry about it. But if the problem cannot be overcome, worrying about it will do no good. By adopting a more rational approach we can prevent events from disturbing our minds. Let us take an example. If someone strikes us with a stick, our usual impulsive reaction is to be angry with that person and want revenge. What the Dharma teaches us is that we should calm down and look for the real cause. Now the question is, which is the real cause--the person, his or her deluded mind, or the stick that actually struck us? When we follow this line of reasoning it becomes clear that we should be angry with the disturbing emotion that prompted the person to act violently. When we think of someone as an enemy, we normally tend to think of him or her as having independent existence. We also think of the harm done by that enemy as having independent existence. But if your enemy shoots and wounds you, it is actually the bullet that strikes your body, not the enemy. Just as a weapon is wielded by a person, so the person is controlled by the disturbing emotions residing within him or her. Normally we get angry with the person. Why do we never get angry with the basic cause of harm, the disturbing emotion? Why do we not get angry with the bullet that actually strikes us? Why do we hate only the person who stands between these two? You might answer that the person contributed to what happened. In that case, you should be angry with yourself, because you also contributed to what happened.”

 7.“If you had not been there, no one could shoot or otherwise harm you. The suffering you experience is not just a result of the weapon with which you were hurt; your own body is also responsible. The enemy provided the weapon, but you provided the target with your body. If someone hurts you, remember also that in the past you have similarly harmed other sentient beings and that as a result you are being harmed today. It is just the ripening of your own past misdeeds. Although you are being harmed by other sentient beings it is your own fault; you are responsible for it.”

 “In order to overcome laziness, we have to know the causes that bring it about. Unless you remove its causes, you will not be able to overcome laziness. These causes include being fond of whiling away your time, becoming attached to too much relaxation or too much sleep, and not being dismayed by the sufferings of the cycle of existence. These are the three principal factors giving rise to laziness. The more you recognize the faults and sufferings of the cycle of existence, the stronger will be your attempt to overcome them. On the other hand, if you do not see the sufferings of the cycle of existence and if you feel happy as you are, you will not attempt to free yourself from them. As the great Indian scholar and adept Aryadeva said, "How can someone who is not discouraged by the faults of the cycle of existence take interest in nirvana? Like leaving home, it is also hard to leave worldly existence."

The disturbing emotions are compared to a kind of net. Once you fall into this net and are caught, you will be unable to free yourself from the hold of the disturbing emotions and you will fall into the jaws of death. One of the ways to counter laziness is to think about impermanence and the nature of death. Death has no compassion. Gradually, one by one, death takes us all. We constantly hear that someone has died in such and such a place or that someone has died on this or that road.

"If you sincerely practice, even if you stay and lead the life of a householder, nirvana will be yours. But if you do not practice, even if you remain in the mountains for years, hibernating like a marmot, you will not achieve anything."

I would like to conclude by saying how this book had changed me. Before reading this book I was in the dilemma whether to study or work. Previously, I was travelling on the both roads- studies and work. I was fortunate with both fruits, but I was allowed to eat one fruit. That gave me both happiness and sorrow. The question: whether God exist or not? Rised inside me. But after reading this book “the joy of living and dying in peace”, I was enlightened by its ideas and thoughts of life. Now I am totally a changed man. I hope that the above description from the book will tempt you to read and surely you will discipline your unruly mind.

- V. Bhuvanesh Kumar