The Dalai Lama's Summit on Happiness

Today I attended His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama’s Interfaith Summit on Happiness. The Dalai Lama took the stage with Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the UK; the Most Reverend Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bishop of the Episcopal Church; and professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr, international scholar of Islamic studies.  The religious leaders discussed happiness, in a conversation facilitated by Krista Teppett, host and producer of the public radio program “Being.”

While I felt most cognitively stimulated by rabbi Sacks and professor Nasr, I most enjoyed watching the Dalai Lama and experiencing what he was experiencing. The Dalai Lama, it turns out, is a very creative listener.

The Dalai Lama is just too adorable to watch—like a teddy bear. He can charm a whole arena. When he came out on stage, he bowed to the audience. Some bowed back. He stared at us. We stared at him. He stared right back at us. We stared right back at him. Until finally he threw his hands up and said “Okay!” Then we all laughed and sat. He’s a little comedian. He has this Fred Flintstone laugh, this deep, happy chuckle. He often cracks himself up! Late in the conversation, professor Nasr provided the literal meaning of the word jihad—a cleansing of inner negativities. His Holiness then punned that the whole goal of Buddhism is one giant jihad, to much laughter and applause. And when his colleagues told impressive stories or flashed their wit, His Holiness took a good chuckle. As professor Nasr noted, His Holiness exudes happiness.

Chief Rabbi Sacks told a story that I particularly enjoyed: A rabbi was standing in the town square watching all of the people rushing here and there, and to and fro, and back and forth. Until finally he stopped one of them and asked, “Excuse me, what are you chasing after?” The stranger replied, “I’m chasing after life.” The rabbi replied, “Why are you so certain it’s ahead of you, that you must chase it? Maybe it’s behind you. Maybe you need to stop and let it catch up with you.” When we stop, we feel the happiness of Shabbat. “It’s the only day Daddy doesn’t have to run off somewhere else.”

And yet at the same time, biblical Hebrew has two distinct words for happiness—osher, the happiness we experience, and simcha, the happiness we create. Osher is the happiness we experience when hearing music, when witnessing nature, when reading stories. It is a personal happiness, a happiness that happens to us. Simcha, on the other hand, is the happiness we create when celebrating at a wedding, when singing together, when laughing as a family. It is a communal happiness, a happiness we build in the company of others.

So there are many types and flavors of happiness. As much as we need to stop and let happiness catch up with us, feel osher, we need to seek and create happiness among ourselves, make simcha. There’s the sweet, pure, natural happiness of Mozart, and there’s the wrought, tried, weathered happiness of Beethoven.

Rabbi Sacks emphasized the insightful words Jacob utters after wrestling with the angel. He says, “I will not let you go until you bless me.” Life is full of struggle, but our struggles can also give us blessing. We must insist upon it. We must roll with the difficult times, until we have found blessing in them, at which point we have to let them go. Jacob wrestles his angel, insists that the angel bless him, and comes out with the name Israel.

Professor Nasr discussed the relationship between beauty and goodness. A thing may have much outer beauty and no inner goodness, and eventually the outer beauty will fade. Think of a cracked and ancient urn. On the other hand, if a thing has inner goodness, it will retain its beauty over time. Think of a grandmother.  So beauty is related to goodness. In fact, in Arabic, the word used for beauty also has a number of other meanings, including goodness and virtue.

His Holiness described how there are two types of happiness—external happiness, which is often found in the material world, and internal happiness, which he describes as a deep state of profound understanding.

Professor Nasr echoed His Holiness, describing how often times our material possessions, which are supposed to bring us happiness, are sometimes the biggest obstacles to our happiness. A television is supposed to entertain us. But think of the stress we cause ourselves every time we rush home to catch our favorite show. With greater possession comes greater worry. We have these very words in our US Constitution—the pursuit of happiness. Maybe happiness is not something to be pursued, but the act of pursuing. Professor Nasr joked at how even for the audience to see a summit on happiness, they had to endure an hour-long line in the sun!

Reverend Jefferts Schori discussed the physical embodiment of happiness. How a runner can let go of all in his mind and feel only the joy in his body. The even peace in washing dishes.

Watch video from the Summit here: