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542: The Enlightened Mind | Part 5 of The Dalai Lama's Guide to Happiness

2023-01-06 | 🔗

What is the Dalai Lama’s own meditation practice like? In this final episode, the Dalai Lama goes into great detail about the whys and wherefores of meditation, taking us way into the deep end. We cover single-pointed versus analytical meditation, gross and subtle levels of the mind, “true cessation,” and how we can use sleep as practice for the moment of death. Dr. Davidson returns to explain key, esoteric terms and to help us understand how we can apply elements of the Dalai Lama’s practice to our everyday lives.

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This is an unofficial transcript meant for reference. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
The cows are sacred, so their cows all over the street children and nobody bothers them. This is the ten percent happier podcast Dan Harris and even mcdonald's doesn't serve hamburgers here, because they do not believe you should. the video from my son, who will be fascinated by the notion of sacred cows, this cow is tired of being filmed over the course of two weeks in dharamsala. India, a guy like me, is bound to encounter a lot of ideas that fall outside of my conditioning as a sceptical agnostic journalist who grew up in a science revering capitalistic western country, as you ve
not just sacred cows. It's also prayer wheels thousand armed, deities and rebirth, each of which I would have met with kind of knee jerk rejection, not very long but over the last decade, plus as I've gone from reluctant meditate her too meditation, evangelist and ass I've come to really identify as a buddhist I've softened on some of these notions. It's not that I believe m per se. It's more like I'm less positive, that my lack of belief is absolutely correct or, as I've been, also by my meditation teacher Joseph Goldstein. Sometimes you to engage in what the poet samuel coloreds has called the willing suspension of disbelief. In fact now, when I hear meditation teachers talk about esoteric stuff, my response, it mostly curiosity and interest, for example, with the dalai lama, here's a guy who's such a huge
believer in modern science, but at the same time he has all of these metaphysical beliefs that just incredibly fascinating to me. How can these two things coexist? What's going on here? Are there things that the contemplatives know that science has caught up to and here's the cool thing? There was a whole part of my interview with his holiness. That got so esoteric that I could barely keep up. It was when the dalai lama took me on an unexpectedly deep, guided tour. of his own meditation practice. He went on for about twelve minutes and rarely have I ever felt so were utterly intrigue and confused. The good news is that on is the final instalment of our series, the dalai lama's guide to happiness, good old uncle If is here, to help us one more time. The rich in question is, of course, richard davidson avid medicine
or eminent scientists and long time trusted confidant of his holiness the dalai lama, we're in a dive the deep and today people, his holiness, is going to talk about gross and subtle levels of mind, ways to meditate during sleep that can double as preparation for the moment of death. And much more and richie will help us understand it This is where the edges of any reasonable attempts to bring modern scientific said to understanding these from ominous begin to separate just to save stuff may sound a little out there, but, as you will learn during the course of this episode, much of it is surprisingly applicable to our lives, so keep it here. This episode, of ten percent happier, is brought to buy new york times all access, always cool
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I slashed ten percent or text, ten percent to five hundred five hundred, that's audible, dot com, slash t e n percent or text t e n percent to five hundred five hundred to try out apple free for thirty days, audible, dot, com, slash ten percent, okay, ritchie welcome back great to be back with you dan. Thank you for having me that's a pleasure so on this final episode will want to dive into this extraordinary twelve minute set of comments this twelve minute piece of tape that we recorded with his holiness, where he gives us an insight into his own meditation practice, which I found fascinating and in this You come in incomprehensible, so I
I want to unpack this with you piece by piece, so I'm going to play one of many clips now and then we'll talk on the backside of that. So just to say the out there stuff comes soon, but the first clip is really him. Just describing some basic imitation stuff and holding kicks off actually, when I ask him why he never really talks about meditation that much in public and steady he, This is on how we all need to have this shift of worldview toward oneness and you'll see what happens here is that the dalai lama does something that I was not expecting, which is. He takes my question and uses it as an opportunity to learn, into a discussion of his own meditation practice. Ok, so having said, all of that, here is clip number one. I'm curious why you dont specifically recommend meditation, because you ve done so much work with
It's a study, the impact of meditation on the mind, but when I ask you these questions, you you, you fall back into a shift of mindset, but for me I think meditation can help. You shift that mindset or you see five senses organs. Five central organs just to see receive forms sounds like that. Then seuss the mind. Okay. So, as I said, I was expecting this, but he starts talking about how he meditates- or at least I think, that's what he's talking about and he begins by laying the foundations, we have six senses. He says I know in the west, we think of humans is having five senses, but in eastern philosophy the sixth sense is the mind, and how do we train this sixth sense? The mind with meditation of course show here. The dalai lama starts talking about two of the most important kinds of basic meditation. The first is often called single point
it or concentration practice. That's where you pick one thing like your breath and focus on it as a way to stabilize your mind and the other flavour which had never heard of is something called analytical meditation, though it is useful to strengthening the six a mind now share meditation cinder pointed a meditation and analytical meditation analyze, any sort of thought objects. You saw what of courses? What is it? What is the desert? I always use since the mind and then try to find reason why. Why did
having always not fully satisfy something appear so that our practice, ok, so richly. Let me bring you in here this confused me a little bit. This idea of analytical meditation in my experience, much of meditation is about transcending the thinking mind and dropping into the raw data of your senses, so you're, not analyzing, you're you're, just feeling here. The dalai lama is talking about using the thinking mine, too, examined, cause and effect. That seems more cognitive, then expect essential. So I'm wondering if you could explain to me yes so in the dalai lama's tradition. They frequently practice this form of meditation that he calls analytic meditation, which indeed is using. Our capacity for reason, our logical mind too
analyze the nature of the self, and so an example of this is that if we have an experience of emotion, for example, we might have an experience. pain, which happens to all of us when we meditate, and we might think to ourselves, I'm in pain, and we often talk that way to others that I'm in pain or I'm am sad or I am anxious, or I'm happy and weaken then in the analytic kind of practice, the kind that the dalai lama does. We can begin to investigate that. What does it mean to say? I am in pain. Is it really every piece of you? That's in pain? Is every cell in your body in pain? What is. I mean to say that kind of sentence, and so that begins to loosen the grip of this entity,
that? We experience as me where I am in the dalai lama's tradition. They use reason to go beyond reason by continuously asking again and again and again, what is the nature of this? I? What shape does it have? How extent it is it does it have any particular flavour and just asking questions about it, again and again, there is eventually this experiential insight, that again the eye is not all that its cracked up to be that's. How you arrive at that kind of experiential realisation. So it's a different path then the one you might be accustomed to, but I think that most would agree that it is a path it at least presumably leads to the same place. Fascinating. Ok, I love
nothing out about its face and then the mind and I've been good governance. I know you like it too. I wanna play another clip because it gets even more interesting, an esoteric and again. This is this all in real time with the dalai lama happened continuously, but were breaking it up to do some color commenting in this club, the dalai lama continues and and talks about the different levels of the mind and their relationship to reincarnation. You're gonna hear talk about gross subtle and most subtle ticklish. What does and there's the girls are ever more subtle, ever more subtle lever. more for southern level mind at the time all dying there only very subtle eleven of mind that at the time of death,
And dead subtle level, mind is the carnation previous life in this life. I'd like to stay, he said so much there. Let's start with the levels of the mind, gross subtle and most subtle. What's that all about? Well, you know, let me just prefaces by saying you know, I'm a scientist a nurse. It is by training this where the edges of any real A ball attempts to bring modern scientific concepts to understanding these Phenomena begin to separate and what I mean by that is simply that I am happy to talk about it, but I also want to underscore to listen. Is that there is no legitimate scientific research. in my view, in any way has approached what I think his
this the dalai lama is talking about when he talks about the subtle. This level of the mind, so I would say that ninety nine point, nine percent neuroscience has focused on those functions of the brain that are associated with the coarsest level that the dalai lama's describing so most people. If you play a sound and ask them what just happened, they would say that they hear something: that's cool the grossest level of the might. The five senses has the levels of the mind become more subtle, its work, common to recognise those different levels and What would be said in the buddhist tradition is that meditation practices are helping us to recognize the nature of our minds?
and so we are not creating something new by meditating. what we're doing is we're familiarizing ourselves with the basic nature of the mind and at its most subtle level. Is this quarrel of awareness which, in the buddhist tradition is said to be present at the time of death and then also after the traditional western definition of death the western definition of death is when the heart stopped. Beating the breathing ceases and the brain is no longer functioning in the buddhist tradition. There is the claim that there is something. That goes beyond that, and the vast majority of people don't recognize it and so that's why it's never been
an issue in scientific research, because most people don't recognize it. But what is said is that with proper training during one's life. At the moment of death theories, the capacity to recognise is the most subtle level and its subtle level that, in the british tradition, apparently has continuity with past and future wives. Now this is way beyond my pay great. I have asked no idea from scientific perspective. What this is about walk, I forget whether it from a scientific perspective but you're, perhaps downplaying the extent of your knowledge of buddhist practice, and you ve been doing it for decades. So I do you have a sense setting aside science from a buddhist per se
did what the connection is between seeing this most subtle level of mind and connecting to your next life, obviously not in any kind of well formed way. I say that I do have some intuition and this comes both from my own personal practice and from scientific research of what this subtle level how it might. here phenomena logically and how it might be reflected in changes in the brain and it's interesting. Because some of the neural correlates that we have published on in very, very long term. Meditation practitioners are the same neural correlates that scientists have reported seem to occur in the period of time. Just ask,
sure the conventional western definition of death that is so interesting, yeah and that is a kind of amazing finding, because some of these findings are findings from scientists who are not doing meditation research, but who have been interested in the process of dying for all kinds of different reasons: the notion that their side, part of our minds that can be activated or recognised, not activated, because it's already active but recognised or maybe even some part of the brain that can be activated through meditation and that same part of the brain is activated in the moments right after death that super interesting, but it does has anything to do with our
day to day lives. Well, I think it does for the following reason: the cultivation or the recognition, if you will of this kind of such a level of awareness, is very beneficial. I think, and research shows it's a kind of panoramic awareness, so one of the things that we know from neuroscience. Is that anxiety in fear constrict? The aperture of where new slave literally do that. So the we're aware of much less your environment and you tend to be met. Similarly aware of those cues or hence in the environment that are particularly threat related, your ignoring everything else, or not sensitive to everything else in this kind of state of awareness, theirs, just a panoramic view, so that you just a week
much much more Itself is probably beneficial. You also are much more aware of what happening in your own mind, your more aware of how your thoughts and expectations and beliefs are shaping your experience of the world and All of that is liberating It's really associated with well being because your less hijacked by all the stuff, that's going on around you, it's really kind of a ticket to equity mini. So what you're? Describing that doesn't sound to me as somebody is a moroccan filed meditate her as super s o terror. I know what it's like to have a constricted view, because I've plenty of anxiety by I also know what it's, like particular from being a meditation retreat to have the chatter go way down and be aware and a raw naked way of the data of my senses
but I'm hearing seeing smelling and even seeing thoughts and emotion come and go. Who is it that seeing those thoughts in emotions exactly and that's a thing to analyze, to look as Joseph Goldstein, our mutual friend, the great meditation teacher, often recommends to people. You can say all of these things, being known, these sites are being seen, sounds are being heard by what who's there, whose even asking this question and that's a great way in my and of one experienced to knock on the door of this great mystery of consciousness. The recognition, of this quality of awareness that I think we're talking about the next step in that is, where There is no longer faults and a thinker, there's no longer feelings in a feeler or perceptions, and
receiver, it is simply ah awareness, you know the metaphor that some meditation teachers use which I love is if you lit a candle in a dark room, You wouldn't need a flashlight to see the candle the candles illuminating itself and its the same way with the mind, and so, when you have this quality of recognition They are no longer is myself and other. It's coming italy obliterated in all these areas is awareness and awareness. Reflexively is aware of itself. So to speak, just like a candle, is illuminating itself. It's beautiful end. It hurts my brow, in an where I'm wearing ass. I was going with. All of this is even for me,
somebody who's, you know a relative newbie in meditation. I feel like I've, had some animal Speaking on behalf, I think of many listeners here is I've had some access to a subtle. Levels of mind but Certainly not the most subtle level of mind, so while this may sound esoteric, it's not we can all kind of get on this slippery slope and we ve all got a certain way down the spectrum, especially if we ve had some meditation experience and what he's pointing who here really is the depth of the path exactly exactly as I think you your experience, I really love the way you describe it and I think say you and many others are getting these glimpses. It underscores the fact that its actually accessible you don't have to be the dalai lama to have access to these kinds of. Insights into your mind. Ok, so
Speaking of the dalai lama, let's go back into the deep and now in this next clip his holiness is translator, jumps it and talks about some stuff that the dalai lama had just finished. Telling me There was very new to me about eighty different conceptions of mind and then various colors here it is a different conception which is divided into three set, all the physical, the thirty three concessions within the what not as appearance and then forty the conceptions at the time of reddish increase to seven of those blackish white near attainment. So Ricky. What would you think he's talking about with these colours? I'm wondering if its it may be related to some of the work you ve been doing. I know you ve been conducting a study,
to the states of mine that are achievable, apparently for experienced meditated at the time of death, including something called took, dom YA and is a project that his holiness requested us to undertake with dying yogi s in india to in, ass, the gate whether there is anything that we can measure using our scientific measurement tools that might be going on after a conventional western definition of death that may reflect these sites. oh and subtler levels of awareness. So one of the things that happens at least in the buddhist tex descriptions is when this state of took down in switches. This clearly
state that supposedly happens in a certain limited number of practitioners after the conventional western definition of death and this. You can range from a few hours to a few, is an even beyond a few days to several weeks, at least by accounts that are out there when took them ends. There is the release of fluids from orifices in the body and those fluids or different colors. So some of what his in this, I think is referring to. Is that what those fluids are and what the significance of them is. We don't know some of may be quite ordinary foods like blood, but we don't oh, they ve never been camera we analyzed and
This is something that is of great interest to us to see, if there's anything in those fluids that would yield some insights. I love that doing this research. Somebody will thus now on to the next clip because how his holiness goes even further. The demand, and in particular he touches on the notion that certain sleep States can be a way to practice for death. Here it is so the practitioner we try to experience the deeper level of justice at the time of sleep. If you have experience or ability to meditate on the subtle level of wind at the time of sleep, then dead, possibly
Brings day as feeders is when you grocer level or mind die now dead, subtle, mind can achieve our say body through cessation in case you Did he saying true cessation and accordingly or practice that new usa software share the pile on top of that? So as long as already described, you try to bring up this clear light at the time of sleep. How that happens is on as explained the grosser levels of mind should dissolve, and you should be able to maintain the clear light, and if you are able to do that in sleep, you have more chance.
So being able to do that at the time death. Yes, I was laughing when I was listening to that, because you can hear me sort of saying uh, huh, uh huh, and I have no idea what he's talking about so, like that's, just completely full of shit and alright. So a lot to unpack here. Let's start with this notion that sleep can be a kind of preparation for death. What is that about in is that something mortals could do Yes, it is something that anyone could do it's quite accessible and we can ask listeners huh Often do you remember your dreams, you know people dream every night. We know that from putting a person in asleep laboratory and waking them up after rem period, and asking them what's going through your mind, though reported dream then, but most people in the morning. Don't report their dreams and they don't report them because they forgotten them.
and they ve forgotten them, because they are not aware at the time the tour dreaming. So what his holiness is pointing to is that we can cultivate the awareness. That persists during our asleep, so that we actually We would never lose this basic quality of awareness and then we would be able to actually be where Our dreams when were dreaming and be aware that we are dreaming- and this is something that research shows- can be cultivated through training, and it's exactly this kind of recognition that is said to be useful at the time of death, where there is a similar diminution in our censor the apparatus and in
of our mental faculties and so bias. raising the awareness muscle at the time, of sleep we can have it be. stronger and more readily available at the time of death to questions come to mind this point. One is, and I really want to press you on this again- is this really something normal people can do and if so, how so and then I guess the other question is Why would I want to be aware at the time of death so on the first should, in theory, is not a lot, but there is some really mainstream hard nosed research that has demonstrated with simple strategies that people can be more aid to recognise that their dreaming and in the scientific literature this has been called lucy dreaming, we you actually are aware at the time that you are dreaming
and how do you know that a person is aware when they're dreaming, because people will remember dream after you. Wake them right after a rent period, which is the most reliable physiological correlative dream. So The way we you know is you can act they train a person to move a finger, for example when they recognised its your dreaming and they can reliably do that with them I kind of training. You know it's like learning any other kind of complex skill burning to play a mozart. Concerto one. The violin may seem impossible to most people, but you know you can learn it. If you practice the second. Question you asked is: why should someone care about being aware at the time
their death, the reason why is because most of the time for most of us are worlds are captured by all stuff? It's happening around us by all this external stimulate to which we are exposed, and that constraints our capacity, to recognise the nature of our own minds because we're so extraordinary focus at the time of death. We are being gay, on a silver platter. It's a golden opportunity. The senses stop working So all that stuff goes away, but it's only a golden opportunity, if we have the sort of muscle strange, if you will actually recognised to be aware of it and that's the invitation here so when they all this call, there goes down. We are met more likely to have a glimpse of this most.
not a level of awareness because all of the distracting things they ceased operating. It. Does that connect to what the dalai lama is saying about this being a moment? Maybe this is the golden opportunity you are pointing at He says this is a moment potentially for true cessation. Realizing the true path, am connecting the dots appropriately her yeah. Exactly exactly so because This stuff is falling away as a consequence of dying. We are being given an opportunity to recognise the true each of our mind, uncontaminated. Why all this others Tough. To see our mind naked as it is rather than hijacked by all the stuff in it gets hijacked by an
So when he talks about a true cessation, achieving the true pass, Would another word for that: be enlightenment yeah, I think so, although who might say, I'm. I sometimes joke that you know there's all these different booty. traditions and then, of course, other religious traditions as well, that talk about enlightenment, and so it is odd to say this, given that, reject is enlightenment, but as soon as you broke, it you're in an argument because people from the different traditions think about in such different ways, and most of us, I have no idea what you're talking about because we have experienced it for ourselves, but I think what he means by enlightenment, here or true cessation or the true path. Is that We see through in a final definitive way the illusion of richie of dan of the self. Am I right about that?
Yes, and I would add one other thing to that. Not only do we have that all authentic experience, but that authentic experience produces an irrevocable change, So that we never will go back to what we were before so to speak, the kind of incited the dalai lama's talking about once that kind of inside occurs, there's no turning back. I would imagine some listeners are saying: well if I have to wait until death to experience it what's the point, but as we establish yesterday and the dalai lama's conception, the point is that you're gonna be reborn. And in this case you'll be reborn as a or body sought for somebody was enlightened. Yes- and I also would accompany that by saying that in the british traditions well, enlightenment in this life is also possible, and many
people would say that the dalai lama is a living example of an enlightened being, and you know, probably, a number of others on the planet coming up after the break, we're going to take stock as we wing toward the end of this special series. I ask richie to help us make sense of this man who seems both entirely human and somehow superhuman, and I share my own take away after this experience. What why make of the dalai lama after spending all this time with and how I feel about myself, especially given all of my over sharing about the doubts I have about my own character, gluten to the dalai lama's guide. To happiness is coming up after this, this episode is brought to you by better health, every he's got something I mean pretty much everybody right. I mean if you dont, have some issue
you're, either very, very lucky or you're, not paying attention for me- and I mention this before anxiety- has dogged me for much of my life and, as I have mentioned here on the show before I've had and uptake in I d in panic over the last six months or so. But what has been ink at a credibly. Reassuring and empowering is that working with a therapist has worked. My anxiety and my feelings of panic, especially in situations where I might experience claustrophobia- has markedly diminished through going to tear me if you're thinking of starting therapy you might give better help a try, its entirely online, convenient flexible and suited to your skin
well discover your potential to do life better, with better help visit better help, dot com, slash happier today to get ten percent off your first month. That's better help, h e l, p, dot com, slash happier, you may we talk about my daily smoothie game, frozen fruit, Ahmed butter, almond milk, bananas, some greek, yogurt, etc lately I've been adding a little bit of cut java super plan to the whole concoction. could travel is a plant based super bland made up of super foods. Greens proteins are made as vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and probiotics The word just got all your daily nutrients in one glass. If you in a hurry, and you don't want to make us movie, you can just added to ice water or your favorite, milk or milk alternative,
though, like blending it up with my smoothie, there are five flavors, my personal favorite are vanilla and mucha. It tastes great and keeps me full four hours could java is offering ten percent off for a limited time, just go to Kinshasa, dot com, slash happier spelled K a sea, a v a and get ten percent off your first order. That's K, c h, a v, a dot com. Slash happier it's wednesday morning, our last day in himself rich in iron special and apparently someone rare ceremony we're see,
and about fifteen twenty feet from his holiness, whose on a throne in a large ornate room filled, I love lamas and a massive statue of the buddha and it s got a long life ceremony where everybody in attendance wishing for the obvious along life for his holiness the dalai lama. The ceremony includes lots of instruments and ceremonial outfit. All these months entered the room and hand out sweet, rice and bitter t it's kind of a party. It also marks the end of our trip because we're going home tomorrow so, as we close this thing out, it's time to take stock,
How do we feel about this enlightened? Being I've just spent two weeks orbiting? How do I feel about myself, given the psychic baggage I carried into this encounter I'll start. These closing reflections by bringing back she once again, where do you get out on this richie? That is here? He strikes me as very human super human to separate words in that he talks about going to the bathroom and he's, jokes he's, also superhuman one word in that he has clearly capable of levels of compassion that are far into the horizon. For me, so Where do you get out on this guy I mean I again, who am I to say, but I have been blessed with having the opportunity to spend quite a bit of time with him in the course of my lifetime.
Think that his holiness is really the embodiment of the buddha compassion in. Oh, that's how he sees himself. That's how he talks about himself and that's how I certainly have experienced him in that way that I've never been in a situation with him. where someone is suffering where he hasn't recognise that and acted in a way to relieve their suffering and that can be accompanied by a real serve. A real realness, surreal, authenticity and in iceland has referred. Is the paradox of realness that this sort of less you? That's there, the less self centered. You are the more you you are, as you show up and in relationships with other people absolutely and he jokes about. You, know the position of the dalai lama and he is the least formal and often
dispenses with formalities, and you know I've been in many situations with him, where he's insisted on being, we did exactly the same way as everybody else so in that sense is You are utterly human in a way which I think just underscores this kind of characteristic that we're talking about richie, just in closing just to say that there has been a delight and a pleasure and fascinating and meaningful to go on this little trip with you in the physical trapped. In the end that podcast trip as well- and I really grateful to you for come along. So thank you, but I want to thank you dare to I'm really deeply grateful and so in credibly appreciative that we are able to do this together. So thank you.
So where do I land? I have a few things to say here in closing. First, my thoughts about the man sure he has changed since the first time, I met him in two thousand eleven. He doesn't as well, and he can be repetitive, but if your patient and persistent you can get em off script in, the into fascinating areas, and even he's playing the hits. If you actually listened to him, what he's pointing to oneness warm heartedness, the future of the species, all that stuff bear is repeating. We need to hear it many many times to get it through our thick skulls skulls that have gotten thick in an era of tech, induced isolation, polar region. Jane and general self involvement. We need to escape what the late writer david foster wallace. Once called the skull sized king
yup and the good news here- and I know I keep banging on about this- is that there are practices that can help you do this practices that have been given scientific validation through the explosion of research recently, which his holiness helped to catalyze and richie. Helped to lead. So, yes, the dalai lama has gone older and more repetitive. That's gets to be expected, given the truth of impermanence, but what has not changed is the power of being His presence, true, I personally do not have an emotional breakdown in his presence, and, yes, that did to set off my impostor syndrome but being an emotionally stunted self centered ex anchor man But I was more open to him this time than I've ever been before in the past. My reflexive scepticism, which triggered by the facts that he's a religious leader and I'm a secular person ensure that stuff still does give me pause.
But this time I lowered my walls just a bit and took in what it was like to be somebody who's been training his mind for compassion for so many decades you don't have to bully. in everything to know that that will have an effect on somebody. I just wanna play you one, quick moment here from the end of our interview, when I thanked the I love your holiness. Thank you for doing this interview and thank you for all the work you do in the world. I really appreciate. Thank you. Thank you we shook hands and then he put my hand to his forehead. Thank you. It felt pretty good in a moment, but I was in work mode, so it kind of flew by, but now every time I watch. Video of that moment, which I have many times Because we ve been using that moment in our meditation challenge, which were watching over on the app anyway every time I see that moment. It gives me a bit of a zap
so did I come home? Try formed. Am I now an avatar of compassion, myself, fuck no, but my impostor syndrome has diminished actually in light of the Dalai lama's notion of wise selfishness, which we talked about in episode three, he's not saying we all need to extirpate all of our self interest. He just saying that the best smartest version of selfishness is direct nice that we are social animals who designed to be at our happiest when we're helping and connecting. So. I think it's ok that I went to india, because interviewing the dalai lama was a great professional opportunity for me
because I'm using that opportunity to help you given the truth of interconnection. The line between self interest and other interest is porous. My success in your success can exist in a kind of beneficial double helix. Now, that's not to let myself off the hook. Here. I always need to be checking my motivations and to keep turning my inner dial towards compassion and that's true not just for me but for all of us, and we don't need to stress ourselves about reaching dalai lama levels of compassion, he's the pole star that keeps us moving in the right direction. And to be clear. Moving in that direction will improve your life. As I like to say, the view is so much better When you pull your head out of your ass now that I've, given myself permission
be blatantly self promotional. Let me mention here that we have a blockbuster january coming up on this broadcast next week. We're doing a two part series on money. What psychology and buddhism? to say about staying, saying on this touchy and taboo topic, then we ve got a cavalcade of scientists coming on the show to talk about key areas of doing life, better we're talking about the science of happiness, persuasion, procrastination and all, and then, in February we're gonna do some counter programming against the vast majority of valentine's day content, which is often saccharine and overly focus, on one narrow band of human relationships, romantic relationships, so instead we're gonna, be about family drama and platonic relationships, I'm gonna sit down with a woman who wrote a whole book about heartbreak. so we're going dark fur valentine's day. One last note,
the promotional tipp here. Don't forget. The meditation challenge that were launching over on the ten percent happier app is so called the Dalai lama's guide to happiness. It stop on january ninth, but you can join right now, it's free, you can check out. The show notes for all the deed as on how to join and just to save your listening to this after january of twenty twenty three greetings to you in the future, the doll I'm a guide to happiness, will remain available as a free course over on the app forever. So you can check it out whenever you're listening, ten percent happy is produced by dj cashmere, Gabriel's, ackerman, justine, davy and lawrence Psmith. Our supervising producer is whereas a schneider regular booth, I have to say, has been the driving force behind the serious and is amazing thing gimme kemys are managing producer and our executive producer is gent point. Audio services are provided by ultra violet audio with scoring mixing and sound design by the great matt point in and we have
additional engineering by Peter bonaventure, nick thorburn, composed our theme check out his excellent band, whence, and there are a lot of other folks. I want to thank from the wider th and beyond, they include lays Levin gave western gem of already konrad donoghue. I also think richie davidson and the whole team and healthy mines, innovations as laboratories on this course, you can find out more about them in our shown us.
Transcript generated on 2023-03-05.