“Without inner peace, outer peace is impossible. We all wish for world peace, but world peace will never be acheived unless we first establish peace within our own minds. We can send so-called 'peacekeeping forces' into areas of conflict, but peace cannot be oppossed from the outside with guns. Only by creating peace within our own mind and helping others to do the same can we hope to achieve peace in this world.”
—Geshe Kelsang Gyatso“Anger is a response to feelings of unhappiness, which in turn arise whenever we meet with unpleasant circumstances. Whenever we are prevented from fulfilling our wishes, or forced into a situation we dislike - in short, whenever we have to put up with something we would rather avoid - our uncontrolled mind reacts by immediately feeling unhappy. This uncomfortable feeling can easily turn into anger, and we become even more disturbed than before. It is a very useful exercise to examine the types of situation in which we get angry. We will probably find that most of our anger arises when our desires are frustrated and we do not get what we want.”
—Geshe Kelsang Gyatso - “How to Solve Our Human Problems”“Just as when a gardener sows a pea seed it is definite that peas and not barley will grow, and when he sows nothing it is definite that nothing will grow, so when we perform positive actions it is definite that we shall experience happy results, when we perform negative actions it is definite that we shall experience unhappy results, and when we perform neutral actions it is definite that we shall experience neutral results.”
—Geshe Kelsang Gyatso - “Joyful Path of Good Fortune”“Adverse conditions are mere imputations by conceptual minds that label them "adverse"; they do not exist inherently. When our understanding of this becomes firm, the difficulties we meet will no longer cause anxiety and frustration or interrupt our practice of Dharma.”
—Geshe Kelsang Gyatso - “Universal Compassion”“Without inner peace, outer peace is impossible. We all wish for world peace, but world peace will never be acheived unless we first establish peace within our own minds. We can send so-called 'peacekeeping forces' into areas of conflict, but peace cannot be oppossed from the outside with guns. Only by creating peace within our own mind and helping others to do the same can we hope to achieve peace in this world.”
—Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
Patient acceptance
Patient acceptance does not necessarily mean that we do not take practical steps to improve our situation. If it is possible to remedy the situation, then of course we should; but to do this we do not need to become unhappy and impatient. For example, when we have a headache, there is no contradiction between practicing patience and taking a tablet, but until the tablet takes effect we need to accept whatever discomfort we feel with a calm and patient mind. If instead of accepting our present pain we become unhappy and fight against it, we shall just become tense, and as a result it will take longer to get rid of our headache. For as long as we are in samsara, we cannot avoid unpleasant, difficult situations and a certain amount of physical discomfort, but by training our mind to look at frustrating situations in a more realistic manner, we can free ourself from a lot of unnecessary mental suffering.
Geshe Kelsang Gyatso ~ How to Solve Our Human Problems
“So much of the stress and tension we normally experience comes from our mind, and many of the problems we experience, including poor health, are caused or aggravated by this stress. Just by doing breathing meditation for ten or fifteen minutes each day, we will be able to reduce this stress. We will experience a calm, spacious feeling in the mind, and many of our usual problems will disappear.”
—Geshe Kelsang Gyatso - “Transform Your Life”There are innumerable occasions on which it is easy to develop an unhappy mind……when we are lonely or can never find time to be alone, when we cannot find work or have too much work, when our dreams and wishes remains unfulfilled or, once fulfilled, leaves us feeling hollow and dissatisfied, when we fail or when our success brings with it more stress than we can bear, or when people we dislike are successful - the list is endless. In all these situations our unhappiness can easily lead to a feeling that life or other people are unfair to us, and this depresses us even more.
Instead of reacting blindly through the force of emotional habit, we should examine whether it is helpful or realistic to become unhappy in such situations. We do not need to become unhappy just because things do not go our way. Although, until now this has indeed been our reaction to difficulties, once we recognize that it does not work we are free to respond in more realistic and constructive way.
Geshe Kelsang Gyatso ~ How to Solve Our Human Problems
(Tharpa Publications)
