Our greatest duty and our main responsibility is to help others. But please, if you can't help them, would you please not hurt them.
Interpretation
Helping others is our primary responsibility, but we must avoid causing them harm if we're unable to help.
This quote by the Dalai Lama emphasizes the importance of helping others as a fundamental duty in life. It suggests that while our greatest responsibility lies in being of service to those in need, we must also practice restraint and compassion by not causing harm when we are unable to assist.
In practice
During a speech at a charity event, the quote can inspire volunteers to keep helping despite challenges.
Human beings are not intrinsically selfish, which isolates us from others. We are essentially social animals who depend on others to meet our needs. We achieve happiness, prosperity and progress through social interaction. Therefore, having a kind and helpful attitude contributes to our own and others' happiness.
Material objects give rise to physical happiness, while spiritual development gives rise to mental happiness. Since we experience both physical and mental happiness, we need both material and spiritual development. This is why, for our own good and that of society we need to balance material progress with inner development.
All major religious traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and forgiveness the important thing is they should be part of our daily lives.
The ultimate source of a happy life is warm-heartedness. This means extending to others the kind of concern we have for ourselves. On a simple level we find that if we have a compassionate heart we naturally have more friends. And scientists today are discovering that while anger and hatred eat into our immune system, warm-heartedness and compassion are good for our health.
My religion is kindness. _x000D_ A good mind, a good heart, _x000D_ warm feelings these are _x000D_ the most important things.
If a person's basic state of mind is serene and calm, then it is possible for this inner peace to overwhelm a painful physical experience. On the other hand, if someone is suffering from depression, anxiety, or any form of emotional distress, then even if he or she happens to be enjoying physical comforts, he will not really be able to experience the happiness that these could bring.
Only after we can learn to forgive ourselves can we accept others as they are because we don't feel threatened by anything about them which is better than us.
What I know at sixty, I knew as well at twenty. Forty years of a long, superfluous, labor of verification.
More knowledge may be gained of a man's real character by a short conversation with one of his servants than from a formal and studied narrative, begun with his pedigree and ended with his funeral.
If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favourable.
It is a good rule never to look into the face of a man in the morning till you have looked into the face of God.
Are great things ever done smoothly? Time, patience, and indomitable will must show.
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