- Introduction
I Foundations
1 The Modern Quest for Happiness
2 Towards a Spiritual Revolution
3 The Nature of Reality
4 The Reality of Suffering
5 The Pursuit of Happiness
6 The Emotional Roots of Ethics
7 Restraining Our Emotions
8 Cultivating Skillful Means
9 The Practice of Compassion
10 Bringing Compassion and Insight to Non-Harming
III Into the World
11 Living in An Interdependent World
12 Compassionate Society
13 An Ethic of Peace
14 Taking the Path of Ethical Compassion
15 Living Compassion
Further Study
Introduction
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In this course you will explore the Dalai Lama's framework for moral living. It rests on the observation that those whose conduct is ethically positive are happier and more satisfied and the belief that much of the unhappiness we humans endure is actually of our own making. Its ultimate goal is happiness for every individual, based on universal rather than religious principles.
Compassion, love, and altruism are not just religious qualities. As human beings, and even as animals, we need compassion and affection to develop, sustain ourselves, and survive. What is the purpose of life? I believe that satisfaction, joy, and happiness are the ultimate purposes of life. And the basic sources of happiness are a good heart, compassion and love.
According to the Dalai Lama our survival has depended and will continue to depend on our basic goodness as human beings. Today, with the growing secularization and globalization of society, we must find a way to establish consensus as to what constitutes positive and negative conduct — what is right and wrong, what is appropriate and inappropriate.
That way is what the Dalai Lama calls global ethics. How do we live in this positive way? By learning to cultivate compassion and altruism.
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Cultivating altruism — our aspiration
Despite the amazing advances in technology in the modern world, humans do not appear to have made comparable progress socially or emotionally, as is evidenced by our current epidemics of war, crime, violence, mental illness and substance addiction. In fact, our emphasis on economic and technological progress may be directly related to the social and familial ills we see in modern society.
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The Dalai Lama offers us a profound blueprint for reorienting ourselves towards that which really matters. At the heart of what matters is the reality that everyone aspires to achieve happiness and avoid suffering.
Happiness derives not from wealth or progress but from an inner peace, one that each one of us must create for ourselves by cultivating the most profound human qualities such as empathy, humility and compassion, and by eliminating destructive thoughts and emotions such as anger and hatred.
From the foundation of such an an inner peace we can develop ethical discipline founded on true compassion, a motivation to practice love, compassion, patience, tolerance, and forgiveness toward all, even those who would harm us.
For the Dalai Lama, we act ethically when we do what we know will bring happiness to ourselves and others. When we act towards others with a deep understanding of the interconnectedness of all life, we recognize that everything we do affects others, that everything we do has a universal dimension.
In this course we explore some of the ways we can develop our heart and mind, cultivating a motivation to contribute to the well-being of others. How do we develop such compassion? We learn to cultivate those qualities such as empathy that contribute to inner peace and to eliminate the negative emotions which are obstacles to compassion.
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Working with this course: global ethics and personal ethics
Faced with the challenge of establishing genuine world peace and preserving the bountiful earth, what can we do? Beautiful words are no longer enough. We should instead embark on the difficult task of building an attitude of love and compassion within ourselves.
As you will see in this course, the path to an ethical society and world is the development of compassion and altruism in each one of us. This course offers you an opportunity to explore such a path for yourself. To encourage and guide you in this process, this course offers numerous opportunities to stop reading and reflect on and examine in your own life, in your own mind, and in your own heart what you have been learning. We call these "reflections."
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To aid you in this path of reflection and examination, you can keep an online journal as you work with this course. Just click the journal button on the left and create a new entry for each reflection.
In this course
The course is organized into three modules
In the first module you investigate the foundations of altruism and ethics: the quest for happiness, seeing the true nature of reality, the truth of suffering and the nature of emotions.
In the second module you look more closely at how to begin to cultivate the qualities of an ethical life such as empathy, patience and compassion, as well as how to counter negative emotions with restraint.
In the third module you explore how the qualities of compassion, loving-kindness, and empathy can naturally lead us to work not just for our own self, family, or nation, but for the benefit of all humankind.
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In the first module of this course we explore the groundwork for an altruistic life. For the Dalai Lama, the foundation of altruism, compassion, and ethics is the observation that we all naturally desire happiness and freedom from suffering. Ethical actions, therefore, are those that support, not hinder, others' pursuit of happiness.
But what is happiness? If we are going to pursue happiness for ourselves and others, we need to understand what true happiness is — what is genuine happiness and what is the relationship of inner peace and happiness to ethics and spirituality. In this module we explore:
The nature of happiness
The inevitability of suffering and identifying suffering that we can transcend
Spirituality and ethical practice — going beyond religion
Understanding reality as a foundation for happiness
The realm of human emotion — our innate capacity for empathy and loving-kindness as well as for destructive emotions such as hatred, anger, and jealousy
The motivation for empathy and kindness
Our universal aspirationThe Dalai Lama, having traveled all over the world and having met people from every walk of life, sees in all people a shared aspiration to be happy and to avoid suffering.  I believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. From the moment of birth, every human being wants happiness and does not want suffering. Neither social conditioning nor education nor ideology affect this. From the very core of our being, we simply desire contentment. I don't know whether the universe, with its countless galaxies, stars and planets, has a deeper meaning or not, but at the very least, it is clear that we humans who live on this earth face the task of making a happy life for ourselves. Therefore, it is important to discover what will bring about the greatest degree of happiness.
Universal yet, paradoxically, different
While everyone, everywhere, aspires and strives to better their lives , the Dalai Lama observes the paradox that those living in technologically and economically "developed" societies appear to actually be less happy and to suffer more than people living in less developed (agrarian) societies. This is not to say that those in less developed cultures do not suffer more from disease or physical ailments or hunger. But in developed countries people have become so absorbed in accumulating wealth that, while appearing to live agreeable lives, they are vexed with mental and emotional suffering. Through highly developed science and technology, we have reached an advanced level of material progress that is both useful and necessary. Yet, if you compare the external progress with our internal progress, it is quite clear that our internal progress is inadequate. In many countries, crises — murders, wars and terrorism — are chronic. People complain about the decline in morality and the rise in criminal activity. Although in external matters we are highly developed and continue to progress, at the same time it is equally important to develop and progress in terms of inner development.
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Modern society — autonomy and dissatisfaction
This paradox whereby inner - or we could say psychological and emotional - suffering is so often found amid material wealth is readily apparent throughout much of the West.
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The Dalai Lama observes that modern society has taken us away from dependence upon one another for support. Modern life is arranged so as to minimize direct dependence on others.
While not negating the important merits of advanced technology and science, the resultant autonomy has led to a sense of independence — our welfare, in the present and the future, is no longer dependent on those we live with but rather on our jobs or our employer.
The self-propelled machine
Observing modern industrial society, the Dalai Lama sees people who have lost their sense of community and belonging. Isolation and "independence" have replaced togetherness and interdependence:
Like a huge self-propelled machine. Instead of human beings in charge, each individual is a tiny, insignificant component with no choice but to move when the machine moves.
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The Dalai Lama values the advantages of technological and material advances, and sees their benefits for all people, including Tibetans. But he wants us to recognize the psychological and emotional affects that have accompanied the abandonment of traditional belief systems. It's not either - or.
The Dalai Lama points out as an example the disease and health problems that accompany poor sanitation in the underdeveloped world. But while we are free of these in the developed world:
. . . instead of water-borne diseases, we find stress-related disease.
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My happiness is my priority
Modern culture emphasizes self-reliance and self gratification. Happiness is defined by what "I" have and/or have accomplished.
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We no longer see our neighbor as relevant to our future well being, the Dalai Lama observes.
We have created a society in which people find it harder and harder to show one another basic affection. This in turn encourages us to suppose that because others are not important for my happiness, their happiness is not important to me.
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