In the modern world, it can be pretty much impossible to slow down and start worrying about what’s around you, our minds always on how we’ve failed in the past or what could be coming to hurt us in the future. In the above video, the Dalai Lama shows us how nothing from the past should be getting in the way of our thoughts in the present. In fact, every action we take in this life should be focused on how we feel in the present and what would better our situation in the here and now.
It’s no surprise that the man who is supposedly the literal embodiment of enlightenment responds to a pseudo-philosophical question which such a straight forward answer. In the video, he’s asked what he would say if he’d been mute his entire life until this exact moment. He replies that this comment is stupid, and that he would just say whatever was occupying his mind at that moment in time. For example, if he was hungry, he would merely ask for food. In this sense, the Dalai Lama show us how his wisdom does not come from the knowledge he has picked up throughout his life and how he can impart this onto us, but his mentality on life and how that then frames his experiences. It can be argued that one of the main reasons we stop learning is because we feel that our time is too occupied by problems, problems that will only affect us in the future. This could show why we often see those among us who are occupied with the here and now as more enlightened.
The Dalai Lama also made viral news a few years ago when a reporter attempted to tell him a joke that did not go down well. Â If these videos teach us anything, it’s that the Dalai Lama does not suffer fools lightly so if you were planning on asking him a silly question or telling him a dumb joke, I’d think again. Take a look below to see what I’m talking about.
