Foreword: Listening to the Dalai Lama's appeal to the world by Sofia Stril-Rever -- My three commitments in life -- Pt. One As a Human Being -- 1. Our Common Humanity -- I Am No One Special -- I am just a human being -- In our blood, a vital need for affection -- My mother, a compassionate woman -- It's time to think in human terms -- Every person we meet is our brother or sister -- Loving-kindness, the condition of our survival -- I pray for a more loving human family -- We are all alike -- Until My Last Breath, I Will Practice Compassion -- What do we mean by "compassion"? -- True compassion is universal -- The power of compassion -- I am a professional laugher -- I am a devoted servant of compassion -- Compassion, path of my happiness -- I love the smile, unique to humans -- 2. My Lives Without Beginning or End -- I Rejoice at Being the Son of Simple Farmers -- My everyday life -- I was born on the fifth day of the fifth month -- I can see into the humblest souls -- My parents never thought I might be the Fourteenth Dalai Lama -- I recognize my rosary -- I successfully pass the tests of remembering my previous life -- My Childhood in Lhasa -- I climb up into the Lion Throne -- I find my teeth -- Childhood memories -- I indulge in illegal treats -- I almost looked like Moshe Dayan! -- My Reincarnation Lineage -- I am summoned to become the Dalai Lama to serve others -- The Tibetans will decide if they want a Fifteenth Dalai Lama -- My Dalailamaship -- Why shouldn't a very beautiful woman be my next incarnation? -- We are without beginning or end -- I could reincarnate in the form of an insect -- pt. Two As a Buddhist Monk -- 3. Transforming Oneself -- My Ideal: The Bodhisattva -- My identity as a monk -- My monk's vows -- The daily meditations of a Buddhist monk -- Living as a bodhisattva -- Spiritual practice in order to become better human beings -- Temples of Kindness in Our Hearts -- Toward brotherly exchanges between religions -- Politicians need religion more than hermits -- My pilgrimages, from Lourdes to Jerusalem -- A life of contemplation on love -- Temples inside -- Transforming Our Minds -- Analysis of the mind as a preliminary to spiritual practice -- Impermanence and interdependence, or seeing the world as it is -- Transforming our mind on the Buddha's path -- Actualizing our potential -- Training our emotional life -- 4. Transforming the World -- I Call for a Spiritual Revolution -- We can do without religion, but not without spirituality -- Spiritual revolution and ethical revolution -- The sickness of duality -- The disregard of interdependence by Westerners -- I Do Not Believe in Idelogies -- Humanity is one -- Interdependence is a law of nature -- A sense of responsibility is born from compassion.
War is an anachronism -- Everyone must assume a share of universal responsibility -- My Dialogue with the Sciences -- Why is a Buddhist monk interested in science? -- Humanity is at a crossroads -- Ethics in the sciences to save life -- The tragedy of September 11, 2001, taught me that we must not separate ethics from progress -- 5. Taking Care of the Earth -- Our Ecological Responsibility -- As a child, I learned form my teachers to take care of the environment -- The Tibet of my childhood, paradise of wildlife -- In Tibet the mountains have become bold as monks' heads -- Reflections of a Buddhist monk on our ecological responsibility -- Our Planet is One World -- The Buddha in the Green Party! -- Human rights and the environment -- Mind, heart, and environment -- Taking care of the Earth -- Interdependence as seen from space -- pt. Three As the Dalai Lama -- 6. In 1959 the Dalai Lama Meets the World -- I Was the Only One Who Could Win Unanimous Support -- At sixteen, I become the temporal leader of Tibet -- We wrongly believed that isolation would guarantee us peace -- I endorse the Kashag's appeal to the United Nations -- The motherland, a shameless lie -- Mao's personality impressed me -- March 10, 1959, a day of insurrection in Lhasa -- My Children, You Are the Future of Tibet -- Forced exile -- My Priority is stopping the bloodshed -- Children of hope -- I am a proponent of secular democracy -- Liberty, equality, and fratenity are also Buddhist principles -- I love the image of swords transformed into plowshares -- Human beings prefer the way of peace -- What would Gandhi have done in my place? -- 7.I Appeal to All the Peoples of the World -- I Denounce the Sinicization of Tibet -- I ask the world not to forget that thousands of Tibetans were massacred -- In the name of humanity, I appeal to all the peoples of the world -- The Han-ification campaign in Tibet -- Five hundred Tibetans perished while fleeing their occupied country -- Tibet, Sanctuary of Peace for the World -- My people's contribution to world peace -- I propose that Tibet become a sanctuary of ahimsa for the world -- In the name of the spiritual heritage of my people -- My weapons are truth, courage, and determination -- Tibet is still suffering from flagrant, unimaginable human rights violations -- In China, I see that change is on the way -- To all my spiritual brothers and sisters in China -- Conclusion: I Place My Hope in the Human Heart -- We Can Only Live in Hope.
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