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Amanda Ruiz

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Mrs. Thomas
UWRT 1102-017
18 October 2015

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Reflection
I read this book about a year ago and really enjoyed it. It challenged many of my beliefs
and made me reevaluate my outlook and how I chose to deal with setbacks. After deciding to do
my inquiry project on happiness, I knew that this would be one of the first books I referenced.
There were many Buddhist principles detailed throughout the text but they were easy to
understand and would be easy to implement. This source has taught me the importance of
outlook/perspective on happiness and training the mind. I plan on my next source being more
scientific in nature. My topic is very broad, leaving me with an endless amount of avenues to
explore, so I intend on narrowing the scope of my inquiry in the coming week.

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Cutler, Howard C. The Art of Happiness: His Holiness The Dalai Lama. New York: Riverhead,
1998. Print.

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Tenzin Gyatsu, the fourteenth Dalai Lama, is the temporal and spiritual leader of the
Tibetan people. His Holiness was born in 1935 to a farming family in northeastern Tibet. He was
recognized as the reincarnation of the thirteenth Dalai Lama at the age of two and began his

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monastic education at six years old. He was unfortunately forced into exile in 1959 after the
suppression of the Tibetan uprising. In addition to winning a Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for his
non-violent struggle for the liberation of Tibet, he has collaborated with many scientists,
including psychologists, trying to help individuals achieve peace of mind. In The Art of
Happiness, psychiatrist Howard C. Cutler takes the Dalai Lamas eastern ideas and relays them
in a way that is very easy to understand. You do not have to be a Buddhist to get something out
of this book. It is meant to enlighten anyone.

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Through multiple extensive interviews and meetings, the Dalai Lama explains that while there is
no perfect algorithm, one can experience happiness by training their mind and
altering their outlook. When he refers to training the mind he is using the term mind in the
sense of the Tibetan word sem which has a much broader meaning, closer to psyche or
spirit, it includes intellect and feeling, heart and mind(15). He insists that by bringing about a
certain inner discipline, we can undergo a transformation of our attitude, our entire outlook and
approach to living (15). He urges that our outlook has a much more profound affect on our
happiness than external events.

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Other quotes: begin by identifying those factors which lead to happiness and those which lead
to suffering. Having done this, one sets about gradually eliminating those factors which lead to
suffering and cultivating those which lead to happiness. That is the way (15).

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As long as there is a lack of inner discipline that brings calmness of the mind, no matter what
external facilities or conditions you have, they will never give you the joy and happiness that you
are seeking. (26)

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Although you may not always be able to avoid difficult situations, you can modify the extent to
which you suffer by how you choose to respond to the situation. (152)

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Analysis: Although the title sounds like a self-help book, the text certainly does not read like one.
The only issue I had with this reading was the psychiatrist trying to rationalize all of the
Buddhist concepts with science. I skipped over some of his commentary and focused more on the
thoughts of the Dalai Lama, himself. Throughout the text, he proves himself to be the idea of the
perfect human, with qualities that we should all strive to acquire. His simple ideas made me
wonder why we as a society have been complicating this quest for happiness. He is not
reinventing the wheel. This is something that everyone, regardless of their religion, is capable of
doing. This book could be useful for those doing inquiries on sources of happiness, training the
mind, finding meaning in pain and suffering and shifting perspectives.

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