The Book of Joy

a new place. As the Tibetan saying goes: ‘The only things that were
familiar to us were the sky and the earth.’ But we received immense help
from the Indian government and some international organizations,
including some Christian organizations, who rebuilt the Tibetan
community so that we could keep our culture, our language, and our
knowledge alive. So a lot of difficulties, a lot of problems, but when you
carry out the work, and the more difficulties you encounter, then when
you see some results, the greater the joy. Isn’t it?” The Dalai Lama was
now turning to the Archbishop for confirmation.
“Yes,” the Archbishop said, still clearly moved by the suffering that
the Dalai Lama had encountered.
“You see, if there are no difficulties and you are always relaxed, then
you complain more,” the Dalai Lama said, now laughing at the irony that
we could experience more joy in the face of great adversity than when
life is seemingly easy and uneventful.
The Archbishop was laughing, too. Joy, it seemed, was a strange
alchemy of mind over matter. The path to joy, like with sadness, did not
lead away from suffering and adversity but through it. As the Archbishop
had said, nothing beautiful comes without some suffering. Jinpa shared
how the Dalai Lama often viewed his exile as an opportunity. “His
Holiness often says that when you become a refugee you get closer to
life,” Jinpa said, speaking no doubt from his own experience as well,
“because there is no room for pretense. In this way, you get closer to
truth.”
“Archbishop,” I said, “maybe we could turn to you for a moment. The
Dalai Lama is saying that you actually feel more joy after you’ve
succeeded in the face of opposition . . .” I stopped as I saw the
Archbishop gazing at the Dalai Lama with a sense of amazement.
“I’m really actually very humbled listening to His Holiness,” the
Archbishop said, “because I’ve frequently mentioned to people the fact of
his serenity and his calm and joyfulness. We would probably have said
‘in spite of’ the adversity, but it seems like he’s saying ‘because of’ the
adversity that this has evolved for him.” The Archbishop was holding the
Dalai Lama’s hand, patting and rubbing his palm affectionately.