The Art of Happiness at Work [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Chapter 1

Transforming Dissatisfaction At Work

It had been a long day for the Dalai Lama. Even by the time he had eaten his meager breakfast of tsampa and tea at 7:30 a.m., he had already been up for four hours, completing his rigorous daily regimen of prayer, study, and meditation. After breakfast he began his usual workday, and that day there was a full line-up: meeting with one person after another, he saw an Indian government liaison officer, the head lama of one of the ancient lineages of Tibetan Buddhism, the president of a member republic of the Russian Federation, a high official in the Tibetan government-in-exile, and various members of his private office staff. And scheduled among these private meetings, I watched with admiration as he met with a group of newly arrived Tibetan refugees. They had made the arduous journey across the Himalayas by any means of conveyance they could find, lucky if they could afford a ride on an antediluvian bus, but more likely to have caught a lift, riding in the open bed of a shuddering pickup truck. Some had crossed the rugged border on foot, climbing high-altitude passes with grim determination. Here and there one could see a child missing a finger or a toe-casualties of frostbite. Many arrived penniless, destitute, their traditional chubas (native Tibetan costumes) tattered and dusty from the long journey. In some of the older faces, ruddy faces, weathered and creased by winds and harsh climate, one could detect traces of untold suffering, spirits hardened by years of mistreatment at the hands of the Chinese Communists. For many of these people, however, a mere glimpse of the Dalai Lama, the fulfillment of a lifelong dream, was enough to revive their withered spirits and infuse them with renewed hope and joy. He offered them all, young and old, words of hope and encouragement, as well as hardheaded practical advice, ranging from "Education is critical to success" to "Now you men should be careful of going with prostitutes-you could catch a disease."

Finally, it was 2 p.m., his last scheduled appointment for the day. And here was I. I had been allotted several hours each afternoon to collaborate on our book, and I was here to collect. Our meetings were far from chatty t-te-²-t-tes, however. In fact, I often gave him no end of difficulty as we struggled to reconcile East and West, pestering him with endless questions, a fair proportion of which he labeled so silly or impossible to answer that it had become a running joke between us, trying even his legendary patience.

Standing outside on his bougainvillea-draped porch, with the majestic snowcapped Dhauladhar Mountains of northern India as a backdrop, the Dalai Lama greeted me warmly as he led me inside his home. Little had changed in this room since our first meeting twenty years before. The same traditional Tibetan thanka paintings lined the pale yellow walls, the same Buddhist shrine covered with ornate Buddhist icons at one end of the room, and the same floor-to-ceiling relief map of Tibet dominating the opposite wall. Even the modest furniture appeared to be the same, although it's possible the sofa may have been reupholstered.

As I unpacked my notebooks and fumbled with my tape recorder, we spoke casually about some of his activities and meetings earlier that day. The Dalai Lama generally scheduled our meetings for his last appointment of the day, so as I loitered in the attached reception room waiting for our meeting to begin, I often had the opportunity to observe the collection of individuals who came to meet with him. On that day in particular I was struck by the diversity of individuals seeking his time and counsel, people coming to visit him from all corners of the earth.

Thinking about this as I began our session, I said, "You know, I couldn't help but notice how many different kinds of people come to see you, people with various professions, all sorts of jobs. And I was thinking about how you also are involved in so many different kinds of activities. Now, this week I want to focus on the topic of work . . ."

"Yes. Good." The Dalai Lama nodded.

"And since we're going to be talking about work this week, I was just curious, what do you consider to be your primary job?"

The Dalai Lama looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"

I was puzzled why he was puzzled. It seemed to be a simple question.

"Well, in the West," I explained, "when you meet somebody, often the first question you ask a stranger is, 'What do you do?' meaning specifically, 'What kind of work do you do? What's your job?' So, if you met a complete stranger and they didn't know you or had never heard of the Dalai Lama and they didn't even know what your monk's robes signified, they just met you as a human being and they asked you, 'What do you do for a living?' what would you tell them?"

The Dalai Lama reflected in silence for a long while, and finally declared, "Nothing. I do nothing."

Nothing? In response to my blank stare, he repeated himself. "If I was suddenly posed with this question that would probably be my answer. Nothing."

Nothing? I didn't buy it. He clearly worked as hard as anyone I knew, harder even. And as grueling as this day had been, it was light duty compared to his schedule during his frequent trips abroad. In fact, informally attached to his small staff on a speaking tour of the U.S. the year before, I had witnessed a remarkable display of relentless activity, dedication, and hard work: as a statesman, he had met with President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and a host of high-ranking senators and members of Congress. As a teacher, an ordained Buddhist monk and consummate Buddhist scholar, he gave extensive lectures expounding the most subtle facets of Buddhist philosophy. As a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and tireless advocate for world peace and human rights, he gave public addresses to tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands. As a religious leader striving to promote interfaith dialogue and harmony, he met with religious figures from many faiths: priests, rabbis, ministers, and swamis, even the president of the Mormon Church. He met with scientists, scholars, entertainers, the famous and the obscure. And in each place he visited, he met with local Tibetan refugees struggling to make a life and prosper in their new country. He worked morning till night, traveling from city to city with such speed that one place seemed to merge into the next. And yet not a single meeting or event on this tour was initiated at his own request-all were based on invitations from others. And even more remarkable-no matter how rigorous his schedule became, he seemed to handle his work effortlessly. He was happy doing it.

He did nothing? Not by a long shot.

"No, really," I pressed. "What if someone persisted and asked you again?"

"Well," he laughed, "in that case, I would probably say, 'I just look after myself, just take care of myself.'" Perhaps sensing my frustration with this glib response, he smiled and continued, "I think maybe this answer isn't entirely serious. But actually, if you think about it, that's true. All six billion human beings in the world are just 'taking care of number one.' Isn't it? So whether one is a professional, or whatever line of work one is in, each of us from birth to death is just working to take care of ourselves. That's our main task."

My attempt to pin him down on his job description was getting nowhere fast. And this wasn't the first time I had noticed his natural reluctance to engage in discussion about his role in the world. Perhaps it was due to a certain lack of self-absorption, an absence of self-involvement. I don't know. But I decided to drop the subject of his job for now and turn to the wider issue.

"Well, in working to take care of ourselves most people need some kind of job. Now many times in the past I've heard you say that the purpose of life is happiness."

"That's right," he affirmed.

"So, we need a way to be happy at work as well as at home, but that's not always easy. Let me give you an example of a friend of mine. I gave her a copy of The Art of Happiness shortly after it came out. She told me that she kept it on her bedside table and read from it each night before she went to bed. She was tremendously inspired by your words, and she said that when she read it she felt it was really possible to be happy. But then she told me, 'When I go to bed, I'm thinking that if I make the effort, happiness is within my reach, genuine happiness is out there waiting for me. But then the next morning I have to get up at five o'clock in the morning and face an hour-long commute to work. And the minute I step into the office, everything changes-I have to deal with the pressures, the demands, my boss is a jerk, and I can't stand my co-workers. And suddenly it seems like the idea of happiness slips away. It just evaporates. Things are so hectic that I barely have a chance to catch my breath, let alone think about training my mind or inner development. And of course the company I work for doesn't care a bit about my happiness. But I need to work. I need the money. I can't just quit and expect to get another job. So, how can I find happiness at work?'

"And of course my friend isn't an isolated case," I continued. "In many countries throughout the world, there seems to be a kind of widespread dissatisfaction at work. In fact, I recently read a survey that reported that nearly half of American workers are dissatisfied at work, unhappy with their jobs. I've talked to some experts who say that the number may even be higher than that. And things seem to be getting worse. According to the Conference Board, the nonprofit organization that conducted the survey, that same survey showed that over the past five or six years the percentage of people who are satisfied with their job has dropped by around eight percent."

The Dalai Lama appeared surprised. "Why is that?" he asked.

"Well, according to the studies I've read, there may be a variety of reasons, ranging from inadequate compensation, or simple boredom, ...