Dalai Lama Quotes About Contentment

• The purpose of our lives is to be happy.

  Dalai Lama

  Inspirational, Life, Happiness

  "Partying for the Planet and Dancing With God (at Burning Man)" by Leah Lamb, www.huffingtonpost.com. September 24, 2012.

• We need to strengthen such inner values as contentment, patience and tolerance, as well as compassion for others. Keeping in mind that it is expressions of affection rather than money and power that attract real friends, compassion is the key to ensuring our own well-being.

  Dalai Lama

  Friendship, Sympathy, Wisdom

• I believe all suffering is caused by ignorance. People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their happiness or satisfaction. Yet true happiness comes from a sense of inner peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved through the cultivation of altruism, of love and compassion and elimination of ignorance, selfishness and greed.

  Dalai Lama

  Inspirational, Peace, Pain

  The 14th Dalai Lama's Acceptance Speech, on the occasion of the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, www.nobelprize.org. December 10, 1989.

• When you are discontent, you always want more, more, more. Your desire can never be satisfied. But when you practice contentment, you can say to yourself, 'Oh yes - I already have everything that I really need.'

  Dalai Lama

  Being Happy, Practice, Contentment

• True happiness comes from having a sense of inner peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved by cultivating altruism, love and compassion, and by eliminating anger, selfishness and greed.

  Dalai Lama

  Happy, Compassion, Greed

• These days, in our materialistic culture, many people are led to believe that money is the ultimate source of happiness. Consequently, when they don’t have enough of it they feel let down. Therefore, it is important to let people know that they have the source of contentment and happiness within themselves, and that it is related to nurturing our natural inner values.

  Dalai Lama

  Life, Happiness, Happy

• In order to be happy we must first possess inner contentment; and inner contentment doesn't come from having all we want; but rather from wanting and appreciating being grateful for all we have.

  Dalai Lama

  Gratitude, Grateful, Order

• I believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy. From the very core of our being, we desire contentment. In my own limited experience I have found that the more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being.

  Dalai Lama

  Inspirational, Believe, Contentment

• If one's life is simple, contentment has to come.

  Dalai Lama

  Simple, Contentment, Shelter

• If we human beings rely only on material development, we can’t be sure of a positive outcome. Employing technology motivated by anger and hatred is likely to be destructive. It will only be beneficial if we seek the welfare of all beings. Human beings are the only species with the potential to destroy the world. Because of the risks of unrestrained desire and greed we need to cultivate contentment and simplicity.

  Dalai Lama

  Technology, Hatred, Greed

• One interesting thing about greed is that although the underlying motive is to seek satisfaction, the irony is that even after obtaining the object of your desire you are still not satisfied. The true antidote of greed is contentment.

  Dalai Lama

  Buddhism, Interesting, Greed

• A sense of contentment is crucial to being happy. Physical health, material wealth and friends contribute to this, but contentment governs our relations with them all.

  Dalai Lama

  Contentment, Wealth, Relation

• If one's life is simple, contentment has to come. Simplicity is extremely important for happiness. Having few desires, feeling satisfied with what you have, is very vital: satisfaction with just enough food, clothing, and shelter to protect yourself from the elements.

  Dalai Lama

  Simple, Simplicity, Feelings

• An important distinction can be made between religion and spirituality. Religion [is] concerned with faith in the claims to salvation of one faith tradition... Spirituality is concerned with qualities of the human spirit, love and compassion, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, contentment, a sense of responsibility, a sense of harmony, that bring happiness both to self.

  Dalai Lama

  Responsibility, Compassion, Self

• All religions try to benefit people, with the same basic message of the need for love and compassion, for justice and honesty, for contentment.

  Dalai Lama

  Honesty, Compassion, People

  Interview with Robert Thurman, www.motherjones.com. November 1997.

• We are beset by problems and if we look for their source, we find they arise because of our selfishness, because we tend to pursue our own interests at the expense of others. Our various religious traditions exist to help us reduce these problems. They all teach ways to overcome suffering through cultivating love and compassion, tolerance, patience and contentment.

  Dalai Lama

  Religious, Compassion, Tolerance

• All religions try to benefit people, with the same basic message of the need for love and compassion, for justice and honesty, for contentment. So merely changing formal religious affiliations will often not help much. On the other hand, in pluralistic, democratic societies, there is the freedom to adopt the religion of your choice. This is good. This lets curious people like you run around on the loose!

  Dalai Lama

  Running, Religious, Honesty

  Source: www.motherjones.com

• Our purpose in life is to be happy. From the very core of our being, we simply desire contentment.

  Dalai Lama

  Contentment, Desire, Purpose

  Dalai Lama XIV, Rajiv Mehrotra (2010). “In My Own Words: An Introduction to My Teachings and Philosophy”, p.1, ReadHowYouWant.com

• One great question underlies our experience, whether we think about
  it or not: what is the purpose of life? From the moment of birth
  every human being wants happiness and does not want suffering.
  Neither social conditioning nor education nor ideology affects this.
  >From the very core of our being, we simply desire contentment.
  Therefore, it is important to discover what will bring about the
  greatest degree of happiness.

  Dalai Lama

  Inspirational, Happiness, Thinking

  His Holiness The Dalai Lama (1998). “Path To Tranquility”, p.270, Penguin Books India

• A sense of contentment is a key factor for attaining happiness

  Dalai Lama

  Keys, Contentment, Attaining Happiness

  His Holiness the Dalai Lama (2013). “The Dalai Lama’s Little Book of Wisdom”, p.10, HarperCollins UK

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