Dalai Lama’s Rules for Living

A number of years back I discovered the Dalai Lama's instructions for life:

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

Risk is involved in every great opportunity in life. It it isn’t risky, then everyone would be doing, thus making it ordinary and not “great.” Separate yourself from the crowd as one who not only can take risks, but enjoys doing so. Certainty in life can only be so comforting until it gets boring.

2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.

If you lose what you have learned not to do, you will be doomed to repeat it. More importantly, however, do fear failure. Failure is the precursor to success. Hardly any great thing that you wish to accomplish will come without failure. This ties back to the rule of risk mentioned above.

3. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.

Rules are meant to be broken. Most of them are put in place by archaic, corrupt institutions that seek only to enslave and maintain their own power. When it comes to breaking them, be sure to do it properly to avoid punishment. But above all things, make sure you DO in fact break rules. If authority was never questioned, we could be a civilization.

4. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

Obviously friendship is more important that one small fight, but very few people actually put this rule into practice.


5. Be gentle with the earth.

The earth is where we live. So this should be obvious. Hurting the earth is hurting yourself and the futures of your children and loved ones.