Concept Of Love In The Dalai Lama

Register to read the introduction… The first way to gain compassion is to confine the factors inhibiting compassion, one need to dispose of their “lack of inner restraint” (Ethics for the New Millennium, 81). Once this is achieved, a person’s state of mind becomes perfected. The perfection of the mind is achieved through the second way of developing compassion, which attains factors contributing to compassion, such as love or tolerance. Furthermore, the Dalai Lama proclaims that love is an essential need in human development and is prevalent in the most basic of relationships. Starting in the womb, love is essential to the proper development of the child and is crucial during the very first years of life. Compassion and love are not only fundamental to survival but they are also sources of internal and external peace, which leads to the ultimate goal, …show more content…
Although both Pope John Paul and Jacobs express using the Bible and the Ten Commandments as a source for morality in regards to what is right and what is wrong, Jacobs states that the Bible should be used as a source because the Ten Commandments are rational views on morality, not because they were commanded by God. This is juxtaposed from Pope John Paul, who states that the Ten Commandments should be followed because God commanded them, and his word is not only the ultimate rule but what is ultimately right. Jacobs does acknowledge, however, that even though religion and morality do not necessarily have to coincide with each other, in order to have the total relationship with God, religion should be added to morality as an extra dimension to the relationship with God. Ethics and religion come together again in Judaism, according to Jacobs, when looking at the goodness of man. He explains that in order to be “good” one cannot only be good towards God, but must be good towards God and mankind. Simply being good to God does not fulfill the requirement of being a good and moral person. (Jacobs, 30). Louis Jacobs provides a different view on compassion than is heard from by the Dalai Lama or Pope John Paul when he provides an example on animal compassion. In the example, Jacobs explains that when a hunter slaughters an animal and uses a method that causes the least amount of suffering, it redeems their character than if they slaughtered the animal using the most painful method. (Jacobs, 31). Jacobs portrays that the morality of a decision only counts if it’s done solely out of benevolence. If the act is done because the person feels it is the right thing to do, or because it is what God views as correct,