INSTRUCTIONS FOR LIFE by the Dalai Lama

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Parker
Member Elite

since 2000-01-06

Posts 3129
ON

0 posted 2000-05-19 02:41 PM

INSTRUCTIONS FOR LIFE

By the Dalai Lama

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements
   involve great risk.

2. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.

3. Follow the three Rs:
         Respect for self
         Respect for others and
         Responsibility for all your actions.

4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a
   wonderful stroke of luck.

5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.

6. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

7. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps
   to correct it.

8. Spend some time alone every day.

9. Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.

10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and
    think back, you'll be able to enjoy it a second time.

12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your
    life.

13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the
    current situation. Don't bring up the past.

14. Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.

15. Be gentle with the earth.

16. Once a year, go someplace you've never been before.

17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your
    love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to
    get it.

19. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

He sent these to me personally so I thought I should share them....

Janet Marie
Member Laureate

since 2000-01-22

Posts 18554

1 posted 2000-05-20 04:49 PM

parker, these are so great,
I had never read all of them together in one place,
seen some of them here and there quoted.
But when you really read them and think about them,
the message and lesson they convey is so perfect, and inspiring.
I especially liked the wisdom of #3 & #17 also #10 & #15
Think how amazing life, love, and the world would be if we all applied these to daily living.
Thank you for sharing these,
now I know why your so wise and cool

(besides being a poet)*smile*
later sweet-gator.
jm

Some things cannot be explained by verses that rhyme,
They are not measured by the commitment of time.
Some emotions run too deep to be described by words,
Forgiveness and understanding-remain the most beautiful words ever heard.
~Janet Marie~

"What the caterpillar calls the end ...
The world calls a butterfly"
~Lao Tze Tao~
~Butterflies are meant to be free~

brian madden
Member Elite

since 2000-05-06

Posts 4374
ireland

2 posted 2000-05-20 06:32 PM

While I have not read too much about eastern philosophies, everything I read fanisates me. I recently read a book on Taoism and found it quiet helpful. In fact alot of it is similiar to the teaching of the Dali Lami. It teaches you to be aware of your, of your strengths and to be true to yourself at all times and only then can you live in harmony.

Lao Tsu, the founder of Taoism, wrote:

Do without "doing."
Get involved without manipulating.
Taste without tasting.
Make the great small,
The many, few.
Respond to anger with virtue.
Deal with difficulties while they are still easy.
Handle the great while it is still small.

The difficult problems in life
Always start off being simple.
Great affairs always start off being small.
Therefore the sage never deals with the great
And is able to actualize his greatness.

Now light words generate little belief,
Much ease turns into much difficulty.
Therefore the sage treats things as though they were difficult,

And hence, never has difficulty.

In studying, each day something is gained.
In following the Tao, each day something is lost.
Lost and again lost.
Until there is nothing left to do.
Not-doing, nothing is left undone.
You can possess the world by never manipulating it.
No matter how much you manipulate
You can never possess the world.

Nothing in the world is softer than water,
Yet nothing is better at overcoming the hard and strong.
This is because nothing can alter it.

That the soft overcomes the hard
And the gentle overcomes the aggressive
Is something that everybody knows
But none can do themselves.
Therefore the sages say:
"The one who accepts the dirt of the state
Becomes its master.
The one who accepts its calamity
Becomes king of the world.

When people are born they are gentle and soft.
At death they are hard and stiff.
When plants are alive they are soft and delicate.
When they die, they wither and dry up.
Therefore the hard and stiff are followers of death.
The gentle and soft are the followers of life.

Thus, if you are aggressive and stiff, you won't win.
When a tree is hard enough, it is cut. Therefore
The hard and big are lesser,
The gentle and soft are greater.

If you understand others you are smart.
If you understand yourself you are illuminated.
If you overcome others you are powerful.
If you overcome yourself you have strength.
If you know how to be satisfied you are rich.
If you can act with vigor, you have a will.
If you don't lose your objectives you can be long-lasting.

If you die without loss, you are eternal.

[This message has been edited by brian madden (edited 05-20-2000).]

Janet Marie
Member Laureate

since 2000-01-22

Posts 18554

3 posted 2000-05-22 11:28 AM

Brian,
these are very cool too, and yes they go well with Parkers post...
both are most inspriring and have calming effect on me when I read them...
their words are so wisdom filled.
thanks again for the Tao quote and poems.
they are perfect.
later poetic-wise man

jm

Some things cannot be explained by verses that rhyme,
They are not measured by the commitment of time.
Some emotions run too deep to be described by words,
Forgiveness and understanding-remain the most beautiful words ever heard.
~Janet Marie~

"What the caterpillar calls the end ...
The world calls a butterfly"
~Lao Tze Tao~
~Butterflies are meant to be free~

Alwye

Moderator

Member Elite

since 1999-06-16

Posts 3850
In the space between moments

4 posted 2000-05-23 10:27 PM

Both your's and Brian's posts were very thought provoking and inspirational. Thanks for sharing.

*Krista Knutson*

~We are only truly lost when we have lost ourselves~

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