The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World
Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Douglas Abrams, 2016
Penguin Publishing
368 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780399185045
Summary
Two spiritual giants. Five days. One timeless question.
Nobel Peace Prize Laureates His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have survived more than fifty years of exile and the soul-crushing violence of oppression. Despite their hardships—or, as they would say, because of them—they are two of the most joyful people on the planet.
In April 2015, Archbishop Tutu traveled to the Dalai Lama's home in Dharamsala, India, to celebrate His Holiness's eightieth birthday and to create what they hoped would be a gift for others. They looked back on their long lives to answer a single burning question: How do we find joy in the face of life's inevitable suffering?
They traded intimate stories, teased each other continually, and shared their spiritual practices. By the end of a week filled with laughter and punctuated with tears, these two global heroes had stared into the abyss and despair of our time and revealed how to live a life brimming with joy.
This book offers us a rare opportunity to experience their astonishing and unprecendented week together, from the first embrace to the final good-bye.
We get to listen as they explore the Nature of True Joy and confront each of the Obstacles of Joy—from fear, stress, and anger to grief, illness, and death. They then offer us the Eight Pillars of Joy, which provide the foundation for lasting happiness. Throughout, they include stories, wisdom, and science. Finally, they share their daily Joy Practices that anchor their own emotional and spiritual lives.
The Archbishop has never claimed sainthood, and the Dalai Lama considers himself a simple monk. In this unique collaboration, they offer us the reflection of real lives filled with pain and turmoil in the midst of which they have been able to discover a level of peace, of courage, and of joy to which we can all aspire in our own lives. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Dalai Lama
• Birth—1935
• Where—Takster, Tibet
• Education—Lharampa degree
• Awards—Nobel Peace Prize; U.S. Congressional Gold Medal
• Currently—lives in Dharamsala, India
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, describes himself as a simple Buddhist monk. He is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan People and of Tibetan Buddhism. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 and the US Congressional Gold Medal in 2007. Born in 1935 to a poor farming family in the village of Takster in northeastern Tibet he was recognized at the age of two as the reincarnation of his predecessor, the 13th Dalai Lama. He studied with a series of tutors, and in 1959, at the age of 23, he took his final examination at Lhasa's Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. Passing with honors, he was awarded the Lharampa degree, the highest-level geshe degree, roughly equivalent to a doctorate in Buddhist philosophy.
He has been a passionate advocate for a secular universal approach to cultivating fundamental human values. For over three decades the Dalai Lama has maintained an ongoing conversation and collaboration with scientists from a wide range of disciplines, especially through the Mind and Life Institute, an organization that he co-founded. The Dalai Lama travels extensively, promoting kindness and compassion, interfaith understanding, respect for the e<nvironment, and, above all, world peace. He lives in exile in Dharamsala, India. For more information, please visit www.dalailama.com.
Desmond Tutu
• Birth—1931
• Where—Klerksdorp, South Africa
• Education—Pretoria Bantu Normal College;
Peter's Theological College (Rosettenville); Cambridge University
• Awards—Nobel Peace Prize; U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom
• Currently—lives in Cape Town South Africa
Desmond Mpilo Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of Southern Africa, became a prominent leader in the crusade for justice and racial reconciliation in South Africa. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. In 1994, Tutu was appointed chair of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission by Nelson Mandela, where he pioneered a new way for countries to move forward after experiencing civil conflict and oppression. He was the founding chair of The Elders, a group of global leaders working together for peace and human rights. Archbishop Tutu is regarded as a leading moral voice and an icon of hope. Throughout his life, he has cared deeply about the needs of people around the world, teaching love and compassion for all. He lives in Cape Town, South Africa. For more information please visit www.tutu.org.za.
Douglas Abrams is an author, editor, and literary agent. He is the founder and president of Idea Architects, a creative book and media agency helping visionaries to create a wiser, healthier, and more just world. He is also co-founder, with Pam Omidyar and Desmond Tutu, of HumanJourney.com, a public benefit company working to share life-changing and world-changing ideas. Doug has worked with Desmond Tutu as his cowriter and editor for over a decade, and before founding his own literary agency, he was a senior editor at HarperCollins and also served for nine years as the religion editor at the University of California Press. He believes strongly in the power of books and media to catalyze the next stage of global evolutionary culture. He lives in Santa Cruz, California, USA.
Book Reviews
The question may be timeless, but their answer has urgent significance.
Time
This sparkling, wise, and immediately useful gift to readers from two remarkable spiritual masters offers hope that joy is possible for everyone even in the most difficult circumstances, and describes a clear path for attaining it.
Publishers Weekly
[An] exquisite book.… An intimate glimpse into the minds of two of the world's spiritual guides, and their foundation for an attainable and practical approach to experiencing a more enriching and sustainable life of abundant joy.
Shelf Awareness
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for The Book of Joy … then take off on your own:
1. First, talk about the two men at the heart of this treatise on joy. Discuss their backgrounds and how two such different men have come to understand the need for and the path to joy. Do the the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu share any similarities in their personal histories?
2. In your own words, what is joy? Do you experience it — frequently, on occasion, rarely if ever? What in your life triggers feelings of joy?
3. How do the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu define joy — what do they see as its true nature?
4. One of the shortest answers to attaining joy in a world of suffering is not thinking too much about yourself. What does that mean? How is it possible to step outside of one's consciousness … NOT to think of the self?
5. The Dalai Lama, when asked about exile from his homeland, says, "wherever you have friends, that's your country, and wherever you receive love, that's your home." Do you agree?
6. What does BishopTutu mean when he says that even a person who struggles with hardship is a "masterpiece in the making"?
7. Go through each of the Eight Pillars of Joy — the four of the mind: perspective, humility, humor, acceptance; and the four of the heart: forgiveness, gratitude, compassion, generosity. Talk about what each of those pillars means, personally or generally, and how each contributes to feeling joyful. Or try the opposite: what happens in you don't incorporate these pillars into your life? How does that "nil" approach detract from experiencing joy?
8. Have you ever kept your own notebook on gratitude or joy, writing down at the start or end of each day your thoughts about what has made you thankful or joyful?
9. What role does religion, or any spiritual practice, play in creating a sense of joy?
10. Nearly every page of The Book of Joy contains some remarkable insight. Which observations or passages in particular made you stop and ponder … or say, "Yes!" … or which struck you as profound in some way?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)