"When the driving force of our actions is wholesome, our actions will tend automatically to contribute to others' well-being. The more this is our habitual state, the less likely we are to react badly when provoked."
In this quotation, the Dalai Lama explains the necessity of regular practice of internal examination. When one understands one's motives and corrects them when necessary in order to be aligned with compassion, then new, healthy patterns of behavior will organically arise. The more one practices examination, the more like they are to intuitively respond with compassion to challenging situations.
"When the water is stirred up by a storm, The mud from the lake's bottom clouds it, making it appear opaque. But the nature of the water is not dirty. When the storm passes, the mud settles and the water is left clear once again."
Describing the effect of emotions upon the mind, the Dalai Lama employs the metaphor of a clear lake. The storm -- emotions -- will temporarily cloud the water, which may feel in the mind like the storm has changed the water itself because the effect is so profound, but, when the feelings pass, the lake -- the mind -- settles. Clarity is restored. Thus the power of emotions is merely temporary.
"If we truly desire to be happy, there is no other way to proceed but by way of virtue: it is the method by which happiness is achieved. And, we might add, that the basis of virtue, its ground, is ethical discipline."
As the Dalai Lama sees life, people are only ever looking for happiness. If a person can honestly admit this is their goal, then they must necessarily apply virtue to their decision-making, the root of which is ethics.
"We learn from the principle of dependent organization that things and events do not come into being without causes. Suffering and unsatisfactory conditions are caused by our own delusions and the contaminated actions induced by them."
The "principle of dependent organization" basically refers to the concept of interconnectedness on the most fundamental level. The Dalai Lama observes life and existence as a single organism, constantly changing. If everything is caused by something, then one's own attitude and decisions have real effects on the circumstances of one's life. Perhaps undesirable situations are the result of one's own errors.
"We have been and are still going through endless suffering without deriving any benefit whatever from it. Now that we have promised to be good hearted, we should try not to get angry when others insult us. Being patient might not be easy. It requires considerable concentration. But the result we achieve by enduring these difficulties will be sublime. That is something to be happy about!"
In this quotation, the Dalai Lama offers hope in light of suffering. Before making a commitment to compassion and ethics, a person suffers meaninglessly, but after such a commitment there is a purpose in suffering. One faces a challenge in suffering, something to be responded to with compassion, despite the difficulty of achieving such a response. He also speaks of great reward for the person who can accomplish compassion in the midst of suffering.
