The Book of Joy

to die at Auschwitz. They kept waiting for others to come save them, and
when no one came, they gave up. They had not learned how to save
themselves.
“Many people think of suffering as a problem,” the Dalai Lama said.
“Actually, it is an opportunity destiny has given to you. In spite of
difficulties and suffering, you can remain firm and maintain your
composure.”
I understood what the Dalai Lama was saying, but how do we actually
embrace our suffering and see it as an opportunity while we are in the
middle of it? Certainly this was easier said than done. Jinpa had
mentioned that in the Tibetan spiritual teaching known as the Seven-Point
Mind Training, three categories of people are identified as being special
objects of focus because these are the most challenging: your family
members, your teachers, and your enemies. “Three objects, three poisons,
and three roots of virtue.” Jinpa explained the meaning of this cryptic and
intriguing phrase: “Often it is our day-to-day interaction with these three
objects that give rise to the three poisons of attachment, anger, and
delusion, which are at the heart of so much suffering. Through spiritual
training we have the opportunity to transform our engagement with our
family, teachers, and adversaries into the development of the three roots
of virtue—nonattachment, compassion, and wisdom.”
“Many Tibetans,” the Dalai Lama said, “spent years in Chinese
gulags, work camps where they were tortured and forced to do hard labor.
This, some of them told me, was a good time to test the real person, and
their inner strength. Some lost hope; some kept going. Education had
very little to do with who survived. In the end, it was their inner spirit, or
warmheartedness, that made the real difference.”
I had expected the Dalai Lama to say that it was their fierce resolve
and determination that had made the difference. It was fascinating to hear
that it was what he called inner spirit, or warmheartedness, that had
allowed some to endure the hardships of the gulags.
The Archbishop now responded to the Dalai Lama with a question,
echoing the one I had asked at the beginning of our discussion. We had
been clear from the beginning that this book was to be about joy in the