Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World by Dalai Lama XIV

Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World Reviews

• 
  Stephanie *Eff your feelings*

  I love the Dalai Lama. Every time I hear him in an interview I smile from ear to ear, I can't help myself.
  
  But I have read several of his books and each and every one was difficult to get through. I listened to this audio, which helps me actually finish books like these, but I had a hard time focusing on what was being said. My mind kept wandering every which way. Funny thing since a lot of this was, of course, about meditation practice, which is all about focusing the mind!
  
  I had to laugh at myself many times through this because invariably he would be talking about focusing the mind while mine was happily off somewhere else.......I would think "Crap! Stephanie he said FOCUS!"
  
  Rewind
  
  Rewind
  
  Rewind
  
  Oh, I give up.
• 
  HBalikov

  The current (and declared last) Dalai Lama is not your typical religious prelate. Yes, he has written many books about Tibetan Buddhism and Buddhism in general. Yet, he is very much a citizen of the secular world and his interest in (and tolerance of) other religions and the non-religious is a core element of how he lives.
  
  Ethics is the umbrella under which all of this exists. He sees materialism as a challenge but not an impasse. The challenge is where a focus on the material leads to “while neglecting moral ethics and inner values.”
  
  I will let him speak for himself: “So long as people give priority to material values, then injustice, corruption, inequity, intolerance, and greed—all the outward manifestations of neglect of inner values—will persist. So what are we to do? Where are we to turn for help? Science, for all the benefits it has brought to our external world, has not yet provided scientific grounding for the development of the foundations of personal integrity—the basic inner human values that we appreciate in others and would do well to promote in ourselves. Perhaps then we should seek inner values from religion, as people have done for millennia? Certainly religion has helped millions of people in the past, helps millions today, and will continue to help millions in the future. But for all its benefits in offering moral guidance and meaning in life, in today’s secular world religion alone is no longer adequate as a basis for ethics. One reason for this is that many people in the world no longer follow any particular religion. Another reason is that, as the peoples of the world become ever more closely interconnected in an age of globalization and in multicultural societies, ethics based on any one religion would only appeal to some of us; it would not be meaningful for all.”
  
  Compassion is at the core of what should interconnect humanity he believes. “By inner values I mean the qualities that we all appreciate in others, and toward which we all have a natural instinct, bequeathed by our biological nature as animals that survive and thrive only in an environment of concern, affection, and warmheartedness—or in a single word, compassion. The essence of compassion is a desire to alleviate the suffering of others and to promote their well-being. This is the spiritual principle from which all other positive inner values emerge.”
  
  Many who read this book may have the reaction: “So what is new?” Perhaps nothing in this most human of efforts. This book is a call for renewal, for stripping away the coats of material things and psychic barriers that interfere with our “disposition to compassion.” It is a worthy effort.
  
  4.5*
• 
  robin friedman

  The Dalai Lama And Secular Ethics
  
  The many books written by the Dalai Lama can be divided into two groups. In the first, the Dalai Lama writes specifically about the teachings and practices of Buddhism, particularly his own Tibetan Buddhism. In the second group, the Dalai Lama takes a broader approach and writes on a range of subjects such as ethics, happiness, and the scientific worldview that are not specifically tied to Buddhism or to any particular faith religion. Both groups of books are marked by accessibility and openness. The Dalai Lama in fact discourages Westerners from conversion to Buddhism and advises them instead to practice within their own traditions to the extent that is an option for them. Still, his teachings about Buddhist and about broader subjects is enlightening and humbling.
  
  The Dalai Lama's "Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World (2011) lies within the second group of his books. Without giving up in any way his own religious convictions, the Dalai Lama writes to show the nature and possibility of ethics without a commitment to any specific religion or to a religious worldview. In other words, the book separates ethics and religion. Many books have been written taking various perspectives on the difficult question of the relationship between religion and ethics. The issue is also addressed in two of the Dalai Lama's earlier books to which he refers in this one: "Ethics for the New Millennium" (2001) and "Towards a True Kinship of Faiths" (2011). With its provocative title, "Beyond Religion" offers the Dalai Lama's fullest treatment of secular ethics.
  
  The most challenging and important part of this book is the Dalai Lama's discussion of the need for ethics and for an ethics not tied to religious belief. He finds that increasingly in the modern world, scientific and technological ability has outpaced human, interior growth with the result that individuals and groups are increasingly discontented, unhappy, and belligerent in spite of the vast increase in human ability to control and understand the external environment. With a focus on materialism and knowledge of things, individuals lose sight of meaning. Religion has traditionally been a way of attempting to meet these issues. But religion has become difficult or impossible for many people due to the commitment to a scientific outlook and due as well to the sheer variety of religions with their competing and apparently inconsistent claims. The Dalai Lama's book is not written to dissuade any person from their faith. Rather the book is addressed to those without religious faith and, without judging them, to show the possibility of a universal, secular based ethics.
  
  The Dalai Lama has undertaken a challenging task and he performs it well in this book. The chief insight in the Dalai Lama's approach is that beneath all the differences among people and the differences in identity, we are all human beings with the same wants and fundamental needs as human beings. We share a "common humanity". A secular ethics identifies and builds on the factors in our common humanity assisted to a degree by the sciences. Thus the Dalai Lama finds that all human beings want to by happy and that they need one another. He builds an ethics on the need for a compassion for all persons and develops how, in his view, compassion leads to qualities including justice, forgiveness, and understanding. He finds a secular ethics has much to teach both to individual human relationships and to political and international questions.
  
  The Dalai Lama's vision of secular ethics is developed in the first part of the book, "A New Vision of Secular Ethics" while the second part "Educating the Heart Through Training the Mind" offers guides for increasing one's ability for ethical behavior. These guides focus on understanding one's emotions, on controlling emotions such as anger and envy deemed destructive and on developing positive emotions such as contentment, self-discipline and generosity. The Dalai Lama introduces meditation techniques derived from the Buddhist tradition. Still the practice of these techniques, to the extent presented in this book, do not presuppose a commitment to Buddhism or any other religion. Some forms of meditation are widely-practiced, and their introduction does not change this book's secular character.
  
  This is a thoughtful, moving book. Some readers may question whether the Dalai Lama's ethics follows fully from the secular commitments from which he starts or, alternatively, whether there somehow is an unstated religious or metaphysical position lurking in the presentation. In addition, those holding to a secular worldview may disagree on proper behavior and fight, just as adherents of competing religions sometimes do. These questions are important but secondary. The teachings of this book are demanding and difficult. The Dalai Lama talks persuasively about the importance of ethics and of self-reflection and compassion. Most importantly, he reminds the reader of our shared "common humanity". Much is to be learned from the goals of the Dalai Lama's book and from the simplicity of its presentation.
  
  Robin Friedman
• 
  Sara Easton

  I am a Goodreads First Reads winner of this book.
  
  This is a great book for anyone interested in philosophy who wants a book as entertaining as it is intellectually challenging. Each new concept is backed up with anecdotes from the Dalai Lama's life, told "half-jokingly" in a way that doesn't fly over your head. I finished the book several hours ago, and I'm still thinking about everything His Holiness said about our common humanity and the place ethics has in society. Thank you for the great read!
• 
  Dan

  This book on a secular approach to ethics by the Dalai Lama caught my eye when I was browsing the new books section of my library. Acknowledging the shortcomings of religious approaches and the problems caused by the inherent conflicts of religion, the Dalai Lama turns to humanist principles and calls for a secular approach to ethics. In the later chapters, he addresses the overlap between secular humanism and Buddhist principles - a topic that has long been of interest to me.
  
  This is a very good book, and I completely endorse the subject manner and approach. So, why only 3 stars? The topics were only superficially addressed. Only passing reference was made to recent developments in fields such as neuroscience and evolutionary biology that support the positions staked out. I would highly recommend this to someone who has not had much exposure to these topics, but for those who are familiar with it, this presents nothing more than a pleasant, and generally well written, walk through familiar grounds.
• 
  Jud Barry

  All my life I have been told by "religious" people that religion is necessary for morality. I have never believed this, mostly because my own parents were every bit as moral as they were secular.
  
  Also, growing up I absorbed the "enlightened," civic faith of the Founding Fathers of the U.S.A. in the ability of a body of citizens to govern itself without being ruled by a set of religious doctrines. All that was needed was the right framework (laws) and a willingness to work for the common good of all.
  
  But this seems to me to be less and less understood, in the U.S. anyway. Maybe it just seems that way because I live in the hyper-religious South. It has recently seemed less and less likely that anyone be very effective in advancing the cause of the same kind of common-sense approach to religion and morals that our Founding Fathers took.
  
  Enter The Dalai Lama. In simple and engaging language, he goes beyond my fondest hopes by articulating a case for, if not the superiority of secular ethics, then at least its existence as a phenomenon that pre-exists religion. He bases his notion of secular ethics on a "spirituality" that "comes from our innate human nature as beings with a natural disposition toward compassion, kindness, and caring for others." Secular ethics are the water into which are intermixed the tea leaves of religion.
  
  In its first section, the book elaborates on this "quite simple" notion. The second section is a beginner's guide to the strengthening of one's sense of secular ethics through self-awareness exercises that draw heavily on the Buddhist meditative tradition.
  
  Maybe it's easier for a Buddhist--as a non-theist--to think in secular terms. Perhaps, but the Dalai Lama emphasizes the distinction between religious (metaphysical) beliefs and secular ones. Buddhism's metaphysical notions are very important to the nature of that religion, yet they do not prevent the Dalai Lama from recognizing secular values as values that everyone shares, regardless of the nature of our religious beliefs.
• 
  Kate Lawrence

  I agree with the Dalai Lama that only if the world's people succeed in finding common ground Beyond Religion is there a chance of working together for any kind of a sane future. I wondered what he was going to suggest, and found myself reading with interest. He describes compassion--the foundation of secular ethics--in detail, what it is and isn't (e.g. it isn't meekness). He shows why the practice of compassion and restraint is necessary for a sustainable environment, stable governments, as well as personal well-being, and why such efforts must be undertaken outside of religion to succeed globally. Training our minds not to wallow in destructive emotions like anger and greed is not that mysterious; it can be done by anyone willing to persevere. He gives convincing motivations and detailed practices to use in taking up this work. He comments on research showing that accumulating wealth beyond basic comfort does not bring happiness, and points out that war is now "outdated and illogical." Schools must be urged to give students training in how to develop patience and compassion; this is not being provided to most children by religion as it was in the past. Compassion training, in fact, is far more important than many of the subjects currently taught.
  Without explicitly saying so, he conveys a view I've long held: peace and environmental responsibility will have to come from the people, because our leaders will not lead. I especially appreciated his upbeat attitude: humans have practiced cooperation for centuries, we know how to do this, we CAN do this. "Let us all, old and young," he writes in closing,"strive together with vision, with courage, and with optimism." The Dalai Lama conveys a strong sense of possibility to turn things around; I hope this latest book of his will attract a wide readership.
• 
  Jennifer

  This book is part of a larger movement by progressive religious leaders - one that makes the argument for ethics outside of the constructs of religious teachings. I really appreciated the time the Dalai Lama spent defining "secular", a term which, all too often, has a negative connotation. His reasoning and practical approach to implementation was intriguing. While Humanist principles assert ethics (and morality) without religion, I'm left to wonder how accepting the larger religious community would be to the concept? Ultimately, does the why really matter if we're working to the same end?
• 
  Jenny Choi

  This book is worth reading for me. The author explains quite difficult concepts by using simple and easy expressions in order to help normal people understand better. Come to think of this book, It seems that wise men put their values into entire humanity beyond narrow perspectives, which is pretty challenging to me.
• 
  Natassia

  A breath of fresh air.
• 
  Nhu

  suốt thời kì trung đại, tâm lí được nhìn nhận dưới góc độ tông giáo hơn là khoa học thì đây, bạn có thể tìm thấy tâm lí chuyên sâu dưới góc độ giảng giải về tính thiện của con người qua ngài dalai lama.
  bạn có thể đọc bản dịch tại trang holieu.org. ở bản dịch bạn sẽ được làm quen với các cụm từ mà tôi cho rằng trong thời gian tới sẽ không mấy xuất hiện trong văn bản việt nam: ổn cố, cung hiến, ơn ích, viễn kiến, phóng chiếu, căn cước nhân cách, chúng sinh phức hợp, sự thịnh mãn tâm trí, cứu cánh tự thân...
  ngài dalai viết về tính cơ bản của con người là hướng thiện, và con người, cho dù đã từng là một ác nhân vẫn có khả năng thay đổi từ bên trong. ngài cũng trình bày cách chúng ta chế ngự những nỗi sợ hãi để có được sự tự do tâm trí, cách thức chúng ta bố thí như một thực hành niềm vui và hạnh phúc.
  cách thức chúng ta hiểu một cách khôn ngoan con người vị kỉ của chúng ta bằng phép luyện tâm phân tích.
  một quyển sách khống chế con quái vật lười nhác và độc ác bên trong mỗi cá nhân để tìm đến sự an nhiên.
• 
  Kim

  I read about this book in some newspaper article at some point. I was interested because I get so tired of people who consider themselves to be religious, church-going folks, being... jerks! And the Dalai Lama did not disappoint. He said what I thought: you can be a good person and have high regard for the people around you without going to church every week.
  
  As the book went on, he did over simplify how to make yourself a better person. Just wake up early and meditate. Just tell yourself not to think bad thoughts about others. Etc, etc. And he's right. That's all it takes; but it's definitely easier said than done. I don't think there are tons of people out there with the Dalai Lama's commitment to discipline. None the less, his ideas are sound and affirming for the regular people who are trying to do good where they can.
• 
  Amber Scaife

  I breezed right through this lovely little book on how we need to adjust our thinking about ethics and separate them from our notions of religion, teach them more substantially in our schools, and cultivate them more vigorously in ourselves as individuals. In the first half, he sets out his reasonings for these claims, and then proceeds in the second half to instruct the reader on how to go about the personal cultivation of secular ethics with practical suggestions. I enjoyed this one a good deal, even though it was mostly a case of preaching to an already-devout member of his choir (there wasn't much here that was new to me or that went in any way against my already-held beliefs on the subject). Definitely recommended.
• 
  Jason Smith

  I should not have raced through this at double time on Audible. I should have absorbed more and will need to revisit the book. His emphasis on compassion as a fundamental attribute of a good, global society was particularly powerful. Also his emphasis on personal responsibility and control over one's self.
• 
  Tasmin

  Viele gute Denkanstöße. Man sollte dem Dalai Lama wirklich öfter mal Zuhören. Er hat wichtiges zu sagen.
• 
  Ana Stanciu-Dumitrache

  Dalai Lama scrie atat de simplu si frumos, e uman si cald, iar cărțile lui sunt o plăcere.
• 
  Ben

  To some, this may be a surprising book and proposition coming from the modern 'father' of an ancient faith.* Not that Buddhism (in my experience and practice) must be faith-driven. Still, many may be surprised to hear a religious leader advocate and articulate universal morality and ethics free from faith-based or doctrinal foundations.
  
  The book is short, practical, well-reasoned, easy to follow, and includes positive prescriptions that can be carried out in the everyday lives of even busy secularists. (I was deeply affected by Hitchens' 'God is Not Great', which did not dislodge philosophical Buddhism's appeal to me, and this book reaffirms my comfort with that affection.)
  
  More than a few readers may be surprised by just how well-read the Dalai Lama is in contemporary neurology and recent science about the brain. Indeed, I look forward to contrasting his opinions here with those of a moral atheist like Sam Harris or a behaviorist like Steven Pinker. If you read more by His Holiness, I think you will be struck by how vigorous and stimulating his intellectual life is.
  
  And since he has such a distinct voice in writing and in speech, it must be hard for a narrator to find the 'voice' of the Dalai Lama in a short treatise like this. While Mr Sheen does a fine job, I found it a distracting listen at times perhaps because he is so well-known. A less high-profile reader may have been called for here.
  
  *NOTE - This review refers to the audio version of this book from Audible.
• 
  Doug

  Ethics-based approach to the idea of improving the condition of humanity by improving yourself first. Wrapped in pretty much a Buddhist philosophy without the religious aspects. Promotes moral/ethical principles that are mostly common to the teachings of the major religions, even if not their practice. Full of very sensible ideas, though nothing revolutionary.
  
  The writing style was simplistic, as if aimed at 12-year-olds, I thought. Whereas the content is more adult focused. So I'm not sure who it's really aimed at. Even aside from the style, I think the appeal will be limited to philosophically minded semi-religious or non-religious people. Strongly religious people would consider it too "secular" or too Buddhist (if they are not Buddhist). Anti-religious people would consider it too religious and/or spiritual.
  
  Personally, I thought the message was excellent, even if idealistic. I'm a bit of an idealist myself. If it were written at a more adult level, I would have given it 4 stars. The style made it tedious and annoying. But I did read it all the way through.
• 
  Diane

  Despite his deep faith, the Dalai Lama is convinced that the striving toward moral ethics and inner values cannot be met solely through religion in the secular world of today. With so many belief systems, a religion-based approach to ethics will never be universal, thus the need for a secular ethics. Secularism - respect for all faiths and no faith - and religion are not mutually exclusive. A good example of this would be Gandhi. deeply religious and all-embracing.
  I picked up this book primarily for the section on meditation. This is dealt with at the end of the book; of course, I enjoyed the thoughtful presentation leading up to this, but I was eager for something that would make meditation easier for me. Silly me!! As with most worthwhile things in life, he writes what I already know, "moderate effort over a long period is the key to success." He gives the reader tools to help us in our journey toward love and compassion and writes with a luminosity and clarity that makes me think we humans have a chance of achieving his vision for a better world.
• 
  Sunny

  I always enjoy listening to the Dalai Lama and his calming words. After the disappointment of realizing Martin Sheen was narrating the book I decided to read instead. He talks about the need for a system of ethics that doesn't depend on religion but instead depends on people's shared humanity and compassion, where people of many religions and none all live together and increasingly must work together to solve global problems. I appreciated how he spoke his own Buddhist religion and says even though it is his religion, it is not for everyone. The understanding that some religions work well for some and not others but can still be well respected by each other can bring us together instead of the opposite which happens often. The reason I gave it three stars is only because soon I found myself skimming the text because it became repetitive and a message he has talked about many times before.
• 
  David Gross

  
  Aristotle noted that ethics differs from other branches of philosophy, “in not being a subject of merely intellectual interest — I mean we are not concerned to know what goodness essentially is, but how we are to become good people, for this alone gives the study its practical value.” This did not turn out to be a good prediction of how this branch of philosophy would develop in the philosophical tradition that followed Aristotle in the West.

  Another philosophical tradition was nurtured in India several hundred years after Aristotle’s time, at Nālandā university, and was very influential to the philosophy associated with Mahayana Buddhism, for instance the Gelug-pa sect of Tibetan Buddhism of which
  Tenzin Gyatso, the Dalai Lama, is a world-renowned spiritual leader. In his new book,
  Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World, he sketches an ethical philosophy worthy of Aristotle’s description. I’ll try to summarize it here.

  The Dalai Lama is not skilled in English, but this book has been very lucidly and precisely translated by Thupten Jinpa, and so although it deals with some subtle and difficult psychological and philosophical concepts, the language barrier does not present difficulties.

  Secular Ethics

  In the first half of the book, the Dalai Lama outlines his understanding of ethics and why he thinks that secular ethics in particular is a thing worth pursuing.

  Ethics, in his view, does not need to be grounded in religious practice or in a religious belief system, though he finds religion valuable and thinks that it can add to our understanding of ethics. By secular ethics he doesn’t mean ethics that is anti-religious, but merely not religious — potentially parallel to but not based on religion. Such an ethics is potentially more powerful than religious ethics because it can make universal claims that might appeal to people across cultures regardless of their religious affiliations, and it can also appeal to people who are nonreligious.

  The Dalai Lama believes that a secular ethics can be built on two fundamental principles: 1) all people share a common human experience, and 2) we are all linked in a dense web of interdependence.

  The general conclusion to draw from this is that one cannot be aloof from one’s fellows, and that the natural and proper outlook towards them ought to be one of empathy (since they are like us) from which follows compassion.

  The Pursuit of Happiness

  One part of human experience that we all share is that we are largely motivated by the avoidance of suffering and the pursuit of happiness. In this, we’re all in the same boat. This common ground is such an important part of our natures, and so universal, that it is potentially a stronger and fundamental bond than the various things that divide us, like nationality, race, language, class, ideology and so forth.

  Given that avoidance of suffering and pursuit of happiness are so fundamental, the Dalai Lama (like Aristotle before him), delves into what happiness consists of. Some components of happiness are wealth, health, and friendship. But it seems to be more complex than that, since it is easy to find examples of people who have an excess of any or all of these things and are still unhappy, or where people have a lack of any or all of these things and are still content. There seems to be something deeper involved, a sort of internal attitude towards what fortune brings us, that is the real key to happiness. In various parts of this discussion, this is translated as “peace of mind,” “inner peace,” “inner resiliance,” “inner strength,” and “mental composure.”

  The more you have this, the happier you will be, and though the more transient things like wealth, health, and friendship are also helpful — in moderation — they can actually be harmful to the happiness of people without this variety of inner peace, since — especially in excess — such things can provoke a kind of craving or anticipatory insecurity that induces suffering.

  Two other things that are important to genuine happiness are 1) a sense of purpose, and 2) a feeling of connectedness

  Compassion

  Empathy is natural to people. We seek out situations in which we can observe others or hear about their lives in such a way that we can empathetically feel some degree of their sorrows and triumphs. Much of our social life concerns this, and also much of literature, drama, film, television, and the like.

  We are hard-wired to feel empathy, and also compassion. The Dalai Lama thinks this may be partially because we are helpless for such a long period (relative to other species) as infants. We are only alive as adults because someone was patient and compassionate enough to take care of us when we were young. Without a strong mechanism for empathy and compassion somewhere in our minds, our species wouldn’t last long.

  And this isn’t restricted to the parent/child context, of course. We frequently seek out compassion from others, and we also may find it satisfying to show compassion. The first beneficiary of the compassion that we show for others, perhaps unintuitively, is ourself. This is partially because compassion is a good avenue for acquiring the sense of purpose and feeling of connectedness that the Dalai Lama suggests are important to genuine happiness. He also asserts that compassion “reduces our fear, boosts our confidence… brings us inner strength… [and] gives us respite from our own difficulties.” It can also contribute to health and friendship, two of the earlier-mentioned components of transient happiness.

  So, while compassion is other-focused, it is also in our own individual (enlightened) self interest — what he calls “wise selfishness,” in contrast to short-sighted or narrowly-focused “foolish selfishness.”

  Our natural, ingrained compassion is typically limited in scope — it applies most strongly to those closest to us (family, close friends), and fades off as people become more distant, less well-known, and less similar in superficial attributes like accent, custom, and race. It is often also conditional on reciprocity or on the recipients of our compassion going along with our plans.

  A second, more universal and unconditional form of compassion is based on the object of compassion’s personhood itself — that universal part of human nature we all share, such as our common avoidance of suffering and pursuit of happiness — without regard to who they are or what they’re up to. This sort of compassion doesn’t come naturally but must be deliberately cultivated.

  Compassion and Justice

  The sort of compassion-centered ethics that the Dalai Lama is building is sometimes attacked by people who prefer a justice-centered ethics. Compassion promotes tolerance and forgiveness and discourages retribution, and so the critics believe that it tends to work to the advantage of unjust wrongdoers and thereby increases the amount of injustice in the world.

  The Dalai Lama responds to this by saying that the sort of compassion he is promoting is not meant to be a meek, turn-the-other-cheek variety, but a strong and sometimes confrontational one — something like Gandhi’s program, I think.

  He does counsel nonviolence, and a “hate the sin but love the sinner” attitude toward wrongdoers. This would not satisfy critics who think that retribution is a valid goal of justice, but it does leave the other commonly-cited objectives — deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation, and restitution — available.

  A compassionate approach to wrongdoers has the advantage that it leaves open the possibility for reconciliation and reform. An approach that prioritizes vengeance or retribution tends to restrict the outcomes to either vanquishing a resentful foe, or failing to do so and thereby inviting further retributive injustice — neither of which bode well for the future.

  Forgiveness is an important part of this. It comes from this distinguishing the deed from the doer, but also from imagining how you look at yourself when you have done something wrong that you regret — unless you’re unhealthily neurotic, you don’t identify yourself with your misdeed and you don’t think of yourself as permanently tainted by your sin.

  Motives or Consequences?

  In the Dalai Lama’s framework, ethics is largely a matter of the motives you have when you take action, rather than of the actual consequences of the action. Consequences are too subject to unpredictible factors to be a firm basis for ethics.

  But good intentions alone are not enough. You must also cultivate “discernment” in order to translate your good intentions into beneficial actions. This means learning what actions are really beneficial, what consequences are most likely to follow from certain actions, and so forth. Only reality-based good intentions are really compassionate.

  But on a day-to-day basis, you make far too many decisions to subject each of them to careful scrutiny and to follow all of your actions forward through all of their possible consequences. For this reason, you should develop ethical heuristics that can carry some of the weight — that way, when you do encounter situations that require careful ethical discernment, you will have enough mental energy to do the job. (You may recognize this as also a line of thought
  Adam Smith pursued in
  The Theory of Moral Sentiments.)

  There will be times when your ethical heuristics aren’t up to the task — for example, when they contradict each other in a moral dilemma. Here is how the Dalai Lama uses discernment to find the best way forward in such cases:

  I always start by checking my motivation. Do I truly have others’ well-being at heart? Am I under the sway of any disturbing emotions, such as anger, impatience, or hostility? Having determined that my motivation is sound, I then look carefully at the situation in context. What are the underlying causes and conditions that have given rise to it? What choices do I have? What are their likely outcomes? And which course of action, on balance, is most likely to yield the greatest long-term benefit for others? Making decisions in this way, I find, means they are not the cause of any regret later on.

  From here, he briefly mentions some pressing global issues, in a fairly superficial way. His point though, is that in each case, what may seem like structural problems in our institutions and governments and such are really ethical problems in the people who make up these bodies, and that we aren’t going to solve these problems with changes at the organizational level unless people become more ethically educated and motivated. (And who is educating and training people in ethics these days? It seems like just about everybody has dropped the ball.)

  How to Cultivate Ethics

  Part two of the book is more of a practical how-to. How does one develop compassion and discernment?

  The Dalai Lama believes that it is a three-stage process, with each stage building on the one before it: 1) restraint — don’t harm others, 2) virtue — cultivate positive values, 3) altruism — live selflessly.

  These three things apply to our actions, thoughts, and motives. The tools we can use to achieve these stages are heedfulness, mindfulness, and awareness. Heedfulness is a sort of state of alert and caution, knowing that we may have habits or tendencies to violate these goals of restraint, virtue, and altruism, and that we need to be on guard. Mindfulness seems to mean keeping these goals in mind and seeing how they apply to whatever situation we are in. Awareness is a sort of introspection with the design of rooting out impediments to self-control.

  “Conscience,” as an independent mental faculty that acts as a sort of ethical lodestone, is something unfamiliar to Dalai Lama’s philosophical heritage, he says. In its place is a conscientiousness motivated by self-respect and by consideration of others’ opinions. These respond to personal misdeeds in a way analogous to “conscience” — self-respect says “this deed is unworthy of me” and consideration-of-others says “and I’ll be poorly thought-of for doing it.”

  Destructive Emotions and Drives

  People are motivated by a variety of emotions and drives. Most of these are healthy in moderation but can cause problems if they become pathologically exaggerated. Others, like hatred, are not good even in small amounts. The destructive emotions (or exaggerations of otherwise-healthy emotions) come in three categories: anger (e.g. hatred, emnity, malice, irritation, agitation, hostility, temper), attachment (e.g. greed, lust, craving, desire), mixed (e.g. envy, jealousy, pride, intolerance, prejudice, anxiety, guilt).

  All destructive emotions share the trait of distorting our perception and of making it more difficult for us to practice virtues like compassion. What can we do about this?

  First off, we can adopt a mental attitude of opposition to destructive emotion — which is more easily done when you reflect on their negative consequences — and we can cultivate certain antidotes. “For example, the main antidote for anger is forbearance, for greed is contentment, for fear is courage, and for doubt [such as anxiety or guilt] is understanding.” Other examples are patience, self-discipline, generosity, and forgiveness (the Dalai Lama describes some of these virtues in detail). Most important is compassion, which can
  cover a multitude of sins.

  And secondly, we can further develop our emotional awareness. This means learning the triggers that set off destructive emotions, our emotional habits, how to recognize the physiological signs of being under the influence of destructive emotions, and so forth.

  How to Get from Here to There

  All of this may seem easier said than done. In the final chapter of his book, the Dalai Lama lets us in on the secret. Becoming more ethical, like learning other difficult skills, takes attentive practice and a lot of time. The practice he recommends is meditation, and he suggests and very briefly sketches several varieties of meditation that strengthen particular skills (like heedfulness, mindfulness, and awareness) that are important to ethical development.
• 
  Omar

  "In the face of all the challenges of today's interconnected world, is my optimism about the future of humanity idealistic? Perhaps it is. Is it unrealistic? Certainly not."
  
  Well at least he's self-aware. One problem, or reservation, that I have with spiritual leaders is that they say all the right things, but don't have a real grasp, or the 'insider look', into bureaucratic challenges, social issues, and personal challenges we all face that gets in the way of a sense of ethics at times. They say all the right things from an eagle eye perspective, and make you feel a little better about humanity knowing that there's people like that out there, but then you go back to your life and realize that the real world doesn't actually operate that way. Real life is unfortunately not a Disney movie where if you just say and do the right things everything will work out. The world does not operate in an egalitarian manner. Society can be cruel and unforgiving. Natural selection/evolution favours the resourceful. I think to strive and be more ethical both individually and collectively is a noble pursuit, but it's important to keep a level head on human nature and the capitalist machine and how that effects people and nations. I think we should all strive to be the sort of people he prescribes here and to hold ourselves accountable to a code of of ethics, and I will take his advice to heart so i'm doing my tiny part to be on the right side of things, but the spiritual revolution that a lot of these figures hope for isn't going to happen anytime soon. To reiterate though, I am glad that people like him are out there because at least he is trying to steer the ship in the right direction. I admire and respect his efforts-- and I hope people like him never stop advocating for change.
  
  4/5 .
• 
  Sebastian Gebski

  It's the highest time for the whole world to switch from separatistic religious dogmas to common, shared system of ethics with universal values behind it. It's not easy, no doubt about that, but the modern world demands it - or we'll all succumb to conflict and chaos (again). The fact that it's one of the religious leaders who comes up with such a book is actually a good sign.
  
  To be perfect frank, this book is very needed, but it doesn't mean it brings any kind of breakthrough - maybe my way of thinking was already very aligned with what Dalai Lama proposes, but I haven't found anything truly revealing. Which actually may be a pro as it probably means that the content is far from controversial (for the wide spectrum of an audience) - and that increases the chances of wider adoption. If you're not sure whether you agree, just check the part on the word "secular" - how Dalai Lama steps carefully not to hand any weapon to any potential zealots.
  
  What struck me very quickly was that the book is very approachable, but not in an American way of being approachable :) It means that it's not oversimplified, but assumes that the reader should be able to comprehend some ideas without being guided by hand like a small child. Truly appreciated :D
  
  As a declared agnostic atheist, all I can do is show both thumbs up!
• 
  Arno Mosikyan

  Hey Goodreads where is your 10 stars, I can't just mark 5 stars, this is not enough!
  
  What a spiritual leader, what a wisdom! His excellence Dalai Lama still remains the bastion of unchallenged wisdom compared to the leaders of other creeds. Impressive, a vivid example how to construct spirituality paradigm in the science infused 21st century.
  
  QUOTES
  
  “But for all its benefits in offering moral guidance and meaning in life, in today’s secular world religion alone is no longer adequate as a basis for ethics.
  
  Ultimately, the source of our problems lies at the level of the individual. If people lack moral values and integrity, no system of laws and regulations will be adequate.”
  
  I do not agree that ethics requires grounding in religious concepts or faith. Instead, I firmly believe that ethics can also emerge simply as a natural and rational response to our very humanity and our common human condition.
  
  Instead of looking to blame others and the world around us, we should first look within ourselves
  
  What we need today is an approach to ethics which makes no recourse to religion and can be equally acceptable to those with faith and those without: a secular ethics."
• 
  George

  Beyond Religion is another one of those special books that are written with the idea in mind to make the world a better place. Its author? A man who has dedicated his life toward travelling the world and spreading his messages of peace, tranquillity, and the capability of humanity.
  
  It is, in one way of thinking, the culmination of the Dalai Lama's understanding of modern society and culture. It is also the product of his life as a spiritual leader. This book contains one man's empathy and compassion for every human in the race. It is his literary fountain of wisdom.
  
  So what are his ideas? Being a Buddhist leader, you would think that His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama would use any opportunity to promote his own religion and talk to its followers. The interesting thing is that it is not what he does. He disregards expectations from outsiders -- regularly in fact -- and promotes something that is, as the title of his book suggests, 'beyond' any religion. His discourse is on 'Ethics for a Whole World'.
  
  And his beliefs are centred in the goodness of human beings; in compassion, love, empathy, and how those three qualities can lead to fulfilled lives. Whether you are a consciously spiritual person or not -- argues the author -- you still wish to pursue happiness and want to be led away from suffering. In this way, the Dalai Lama is really an advocate of the common good; he is an expounder of the essence of universal humanity.
  
  'We need to recognise two things,' says the Dalai Lama. 'The first is that religion is not the only way to pursue a spiritual life. There are indeed ways of living the fulfilling and contented lives we all desire which do not require religious belief. The second is that in order to build a harmonious and peaceful world, we require more than just tolerance and understanding between the various religions. We also need mutual tolerance and understanding between believers (of whatever faith) and non-believers – between those with religion and those without.'
  
  That is just a taste of the teacher's message. The book explores the musings of the Dalai Lama, and expands upon his view that 'the most promising avenue [towards happiness] is to be found in a system of secular ethics grounded in a deep appreciation of our common humanity'.
  
  'Common humanity'. This is absolutely key to the ideas discussed in the book. The thought that we are all, to some degree, equal; that we are united in our humanity and share deep and universal qualities between us. The Dalai Lama implores us -- as human beings living in the 21st century -- to try to open our minds to ethics that would lead us all to having more fulfilled lives, and would contribute to the ideal goal of world peace -- peace in a world in which there are nuclear weapons which could eradicate us all in minutes.
  
  The thinker is never one to condemn humanity though; he is dedicated to focusing on the positives. There are points in which is highlights religious sectarianism, deplores warfare and consumer society, and offers a critique to a way of life in which many are comfortable, but he is never scathing, offensive, or patronising. He simply wishes us to think more!
  
  On of his main concerns, though, seems to be the lack of ethical education -- education of the 'heart' -- in modern educational systems. 'I always try to to reach out to young people and spend some time with them,' he says. It is his 'hope and wish' that, 'one day, formal education will pay attention to what I call education of the heart'. He relevantly also explains that 'it is now down to the youth of today to make a better world than the one which has been bequeathed to them. Much rests upon their shoulders'. This is another focus of the great man - on youth, on the future, on reaching out to the younger members of our society and to try to help them to build better prospects for themselves and for all.
  
  He asks: 'What greater folly could there be than to spend [our] short time [on this earth] lonely, unhappy, and in conflict with our fellow visitors?' His answer: 'Far better, surely, to use our short time in pursuing a meaningful life, enriched by a sense of connection with and service toward others'. I wouldn't want to argue against that perception.
  
  And one of the most beautiful aspects of this book is that it is written for the common human being too. Never are the ideas dressed up as complicated, or written with a certain particular audience group in mind; the book is actually very accessible to anyone, and the thinkings explored are made to be as uncomplicated and exoteric -- and relevant -- as possible.
  
  This book is a brilliant gateway to anyone who has ever asked questions about life; who has wanted to know more, and to improve their happiness. It is also great for question stimulation - reading it will make you think reflectively and calmly and offer solutions to every day problems that tend to reach everyone. It is also a book that aims at respecting all religions and offering a pathway that can be taken by anyone - whether they are religious and theistical or not at all.
  
  It is, in short, marvellous.
  
  Don't be afraid of trying this one out because -- if you do try it -- you will definitely be rewarded with profound insight and a greater sense of what is right, or wrong, when it comes to determining the happiness and goodness of life.
  
  So far, of the twenty-first century, just over a decade has gone; the major part of it is yet to come. It is my hope that this will be a century of peace, a century of dialogue – a century when a more caring, responsible, and compassionate humanity will emerge. This is my prayer as well. - His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.
• 
  Nic Ayson

  Hmmm.. a tricky one to rate. Whilst it all makes perfect sense, and without wanting to be as bold to claim I have, nor do I even imagine I am living a life of spiritual enlightenment, compassion and forgiveness there was nothing really groundbreaking to read here. It all made perfect sense, but none of it was delivered in a way which I would then go forth to make great fundamental changes in my life.
  Overall, all concepts delivered in this book would, if the world was to live by them, make the universe a far better place to be in. They are presented in a nice neat simplistic style of language that is accessible to all so it makes for a rather easy read.
  The challenge perhaps to us all is to remember that a fulfilling and worthy life that is meaningful and full of connection need not be so terribly complex. If we can let go of some of our old ways and habits of our daily thoughts and actions - to make simple changes one day and moment at a time, we could potentially all live in a far more harmonious world.
• 
  Rajiv S

  I found this book to be one of acknowledgement, acceptance, and counsel towards those of us who may not have strong religious ties but seek to do good in the world. I am so humbled by the Dalai Lama's humility, and the way he can accurately and succinctly describe our contemporary culture. Beyond Religion is a book that is supremely important for the modern coastal millennial--we are somehow a hyper-secular generation with strong moral instincts, but operating without the traditional foundations of religion. I think particularly in today's day and age, we need to take a breath and read a bit more to get a sense of perspective on life, the value of forgiveness and the futility of unmanaged emotions. A short, quick read...at times, a bit dry or obvious...but inspiring none the less.
• 
  Anupama

  Well, I was both madly impressed and frustrated by this book, mostly because I’d come back to listening to it during a frustrating week and the Dalai Lama felt like it was appropriate to remind me the importance of compassion 😅. No really, I would give this a 5/5. There was a solid attempt at secular ethical philosophy, which while it seemed more “all inclusive” than strictly secular, I enjoyed, and the last hour had tangible change-your-life-now techniques to try. Is it ridiculous to say I wish there were more people in the world like the Dalai Lama? I respect the man very much indeed. Would read again.
  
  #20booksin2018 #neverstoplearning #ethicalcompassion #personalgrowth
• 
  Christopher

  Fantastic primer on the philosophy of ethics
  
  This book touches on a lot of different topics, but the crux is that it is quite possible to live a good life, full of compassion and caring for others, without the need for any sort of religious basis or impetus for doing so. While some people find their ethics rooted in religious belief, the fact is that many ethical values are shared across all religions and the non-religious alike.
  The last chapter introduces the concept of mindfulness and meditation and serves to teach those who are curious about it, how to do it, and its benefits.
  The Audible narration by Martin Sheen is delightful. His voice is perfect for the material.