Ethics for the New Millennium: His Holiness the Dalai Lama



Ethics for the New Millennium: His Holiness the Dalai Lama

“Ethics for the New Millennium” is a comprehensive book on the spiritual moral system of human beings written by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. This paper discusses two anecdotes related to the vision and compassion of human beings and the religious beliefs. The two anecdotes are analyzed on the basis of the related concepts presented by the Dalai Lama in the book “Ethics for the New Millennium”.

The first anecdote is related to the vision and prospects of human beings. It represents the narrowness of the vision of people who think that they are better than everyone. The anecdote describes two situations related to the vision of people of different ages. In the first situation, there is a young child who is three years old and he brings a bucket full of water which he considers an ocean. However, the second situation describes the set of ideas of a thirty year old mature person who thinks that his ideas are the only truth in this world. The Dalai Lama has analyzed these kinds of situations in human beings as a matter of permanent distress. He states in his book that,

“Eventually … state of permanent distress. The more developed this state, …. the stronger it becomes. But … is principally narrowness of vision and a lack of proper perspective.” (Lama, 2001, pp.110)(Appendix 1)

The second anecdote emphasizes on the proper teaching of religion to the children while they grow up. According to the Dalai Lama, religious beliefs play an important part in the lives of human beings. However, they do not determine the happiness of the person. The ultimate goal of the Dalai Lama is to guide people through the moral systems in spiritual ...