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The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living Hardcover – October 26, 1998
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- Print length322 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherRiverhead Books
- Publication dateOctober 26, 1998
- Reading age18 years and up
- Dimensions6 x 1.25 x 8.75 inches
- ISBN-101573221112
- ISBN-13978-1573221115
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At first, the Dalai Lama's answers seem simplistic, like a surface reading of Robert Fulghum: Ask yourself if you really need something; our enemies can be our teachers; compassion brings peace of mind. Cutler pushes: But some people do seem happy with lots of possessions; but "suffering is life" is so pessimistic; but going to extremes provides the zest in life; but what if I don't believe in karma? As the Dalai Lama's responses become more involved, a coherent philosophy takes shape. Cutler then develops the Dalai Lama's answers in the context of scientific studies and cases from his own practice, substantiating and elaborating on what he finds to be a revolutionary psychology. Like any art, the art of happiness requires study and practice--and the talent for it, the Dalai Lama assures us, is in our nature. --Brian Bruya
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Product details
- Publisher : Riverhead Books; First Edition (October 26, 1998)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 322 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1573221112
- ISBN-13 : 978-1573221115
- Reading age : 18 years and up
- Item Weight : 1.2 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 1.25 x 8.75 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #185,099 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #43 in Dalai Lama
- #2,503 in Happiness Self-Help
- #4,681 in Personal Transformation Self-Help
- Customer Reviews:
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About the authors

His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, was born in 1935 to a peasant family in northeastern Tibet and was recognized at the age of two as the reincarnation of his predecessor, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama. The world's foremost Buddhist leader, he travels extensively, speaking eloquently in favor of ecumenical understanding, kindness and compassion, respect for the environment, and, above all, world peace.

Howard C. Cutler is an American writer and psychiatrist who practices in Phoenix, Arizona. He is an expert in the science of human happiness, and co-wrote The Art of Happiness with the 14th Dalai Lama. Cutler has been interviewed by Time and O, The Oprah Magazine, as well as hundreds of radio and television programs. He has also spoken to audiences and offered courses/workshops to aid in happiness in the United States and around the World.
Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
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But, I digress. Unlike many of the Dalai Lama's earlier books this one is geared specifically toward and for the general public. Just as you don't have to be Jewish to enjoy Levy's Rye, you don't have to be a Buddhist to appreciate this book. As a matter of fact, although every idea in this book is quintessentally Buddhist, every idea in this book is, more importantly, quintessentially human. The Dalai Lama's basic thesis is that we are all born to be happy. Reading this, I kept being reminded of Jefferson's words, "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." It's too bad that our modern culture conflates "Happiness" with "Pleasure" (which is far more fleeting) and that "Pleasure's" main attribute is "Money" and lots of it, or the things that "Money" can buy. Not that "Money" is unimportant, but the idea that "Money can't buy Happiness" is a core idea here, and is proven over and over again.
This book and its sequels grew out of a series of personal interviews between the Dalai Lama and noted Psychologist Howard C. Cutler, who has become an important exponent of the Positive Psychology Movement of the last decade. Positive Psychology focuses not on what's wrong with an individual but on what's right and how to reinforce what's right through positive practices---essentially, Cutler's approach amounts to a primer on classical Buddhist Psychology. The Dalai Lama speaks here, but it is Cutler who amplifies and expounds on the Dalai Lama's core ideas in a Western idiom. His Holiness does detail certain meditative practices as well.
According to the Dalai Lama (and most Positive Psychologists), Happiness is not the end result of a thought process but is the process itself. Acting kindly, compassionately, mindfully and with awareness result in a person being, in effect, happy, even in the face of the day-to-day toxicity of much of our culture. His Holiness also believes that Happiness is highly contagious, and that it will spread virally if only we maintain our positive practices.
Yes, it is hard to remain "happy" in the face of dealing with obnoxious bill collectors or dishonest repairmen, but that is where compassion comes in. Compassion is not a form of blind forgiveness---I don't have to say, "It's okay" to the mugger who's just stolen my wallet---but, rather, it is a form of understanding that bad things do occur, that although they may occur to me, the universe is not personally out to get me, and that the mugger who mugged me, the bill collector who cursed me or the repairman who overcharged me, is acting out of their own unhappiness. I don't have to turn any cheeks or allow it to happen ever again. I don't have to embrace them as misguided souls. I don't have to let it fester and make me sick and angry either. I just have to grasp the idea that the mugger, the bill collector and the repairman are all human, like me, and all subject to the same faults and foibles that I am. Sound tough? It sure is. That's why it's a lifelong practice.
Anybody coming here for a bullet-point approach to solving all of life's problems or to be reassured by pop-psychology tripe will be disappointed in this book. This is a substantive popular work that gives back to the reader exactly what the reader puts in.
Howard Cutler is obsessed with scientifically validating the Dalai Lama's very simple (but not simplistic), practical, common-sensible observations of human nature and potential. That happy people tend to be healthier, for example, seems self-evident, an assertion not begging for research and statistical justification.
Cutler is reminiscent in moments of the young Carlos Casteneda, whose occasional obtuseness served to make Don Juan's teachings all the more clear and luminous. I often have the feeling that the Dalai Lama is patiently instructing a small child, simplifying and simplifying again till the tike finally gains purchase. Yes, relationships based solely on sexual satisfaction, for example, are less likely to endure than those which combine physical attraction with genuine affection and respect. Imagine that.
Actually, in his dialogs with the Dalai Lama, psychiatrist Cutler is a worthy representative of science-worshipping westerners. One gets the feeling that he'd sooner trust the results of a remote clinical study than believe what's before his own eyes and defer his own immediate, real, personal experience to the results of research.
I reckoned years ago that science is the REAL religion of our culture, what we truly believe and live by on Friday night and Monday morning. Now I begin to see that our dependence on objective, detached, remote validation of reality is not merely our religion; it's also in substantial measure superstition. And the Dalai Lama, bless him, is as patient and compassionate with his American friend as a kind-hearted anthropologist might be in explaining the workings of a technological gadget to an isolated "primitive" tribesperson. I'm not accustomed to seeing technically proficient, well-educated Americans, particularly doctors (who are surely our high priests with the perceived power to induce or alleviate pain, to kill or cure, even perhaps one day to achieve something like immortality for the species), as primitive, and this was the amusement.
To Cutler's immense credit, he routinely "busts" himself. And to my own credit, just after I stifle a smirk at his dunderheadedness, I frequently find myself busted as well, as some long-held perceptual bias breaks down and the light shines through.
All in all, the journey of this read has so far been immensely worthwhile though often tedious and plodding in the going. Perhaps this is altogether fitting. The pursuit of happiness is indeed arduous, like walking 359 degrees round a circle towards an illusory end point. Surrendering to it is deceptively simple; could be as simple as stepping backward one little click.
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Reviewed in India on August 24, 2023
Das Buch präsentiert eine Kombination aus buddhistischer Weisheit und westlicher Psychologie, die einen einzigartigen Ansatz für das Verständnis und die Erreichung von Glück bietet. Es regt dazu an, die eigene Wahrnehmung von Glück zu überdenken und bietet praktische Werkzeuge, um eine positive Einstellung zu entwickeln und schwierige Situationen zu bewältigen.
Die Weisheit des Dalai Lama strahlt in jedem Kapitel des Buches. Seine klaren und einfühlsamen Botschaften ermutigen den Leser, sich mit sich selbst und anderen in Verbindung zu setzen, um wahres Glück zu finden. Die gemeinsamen Dialoge mit Howard C. Cutler bringen auch die westliche Perspektive ein und bieten interessante Einblicke und Anregungen.
The Art of Happiness ist leicht verständlich geschrieben und enthält zahlreiche praktische Beispiele, Übungen und Fallstudien. Diese helfen dabei, die Konzepte in den Alltag zu integrieren und schrittweise positive Veränderungen herbeizuführen.
Das Buch behandelt auch Themen wie Mitgefühl, Beziehungen, Arbeit und die Bedeutung von Selbstreflexion. Es bietet eine ganzheitliche Herangehensweise an das Glück und ermutigt den Leser, sich selbst besser kennenzulernen und die eigene Lebensführung zu gestalten.
Insgesamt kann ich The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living wärmstens empfehlen. Es ist eine Quelle der Inspiration und eine wertvolle Ressource für jeden, der nach einem tieferen Sinn des Lebens sucht und nachhaltige Freude und Erfüllung finden möchte. Es ist ein Buch, das man immer wieder zur Hand nehmen kann, um neue Erkenntnisse und Weisheit zu entdecken.











