The Book of Joy

anguish. As you remember, yes, compassion is absolutely essential. It is
like oxygen.”
“Very right, very right,” the Dalai Lama said. “Thinking me, me, me
automatically brings fear, a sense of insecurity, and distrust. That kind of
person will never be happy person. And at the end of that person’s life,
their neighbor will be happy that that person is gone. Yes?”
“You are quite right, yes,” the Archbishop said.
“If you look after others, particularly those who are in need, then
when you are passing through some difficulties, there are plenty of
people you can ask for help. Then at the end, many people will feel that
they have really lost a wonderful person. So it’s just common sense,” the
Dalai Lama concluded, pointing to his forehead.
“And then I want to say,” the Dalai Lama now added, passionate and
wanting to convince the skeptics, “look at Stalin’s picture or Hitler’s
picture and compare it to the face of Mahatma Gandhi, and also the face
of this person.” He was pointing to the Archbishop. “You can see that the
person who has all the power, but who lacks compassion, who only thinks
about control,” the Dalai Lama said as he ground one hand into the other,
“can never be happy. I think during the night they do not have sound
sleep. They always have fear. Many dictators sleep in a different place
every night.
“So what creates that kind of fear is their own way of thinking, their
own mind. Mahatma Gandhi’s face was always smiling. And to some
extent I think Nelson Mandela, also; because he followed the path of
nonviolence, and because he was not obsessed with power, millions of
people remember him. If he had become a dictator, then nobody would
have mourned his death. So that’s my view. Quite simple.”
I was pushing the Dalai Lama and the Archbishop hard because I did
not want to leave compassion in the lofty realm of saints and lamas. I
knew they were suggesting that it was a pillar of joy for the rest of us, and
I wanted to understand why it has been so hard for our modern culture to
embrace. “So that same cynic might say, ‘If compassion is so natural and
it’s in many ways the ethical root of all religions and for thousands of
years people have been preaching and teaching compassion, then why is