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A review by astrocourt
The Art of Happiness by Dalai Lama XIV
2.0
The book: The Art Of Happiness
The authors: Howard C. Cutler, American psychologist, and (allegedly) His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama
The subject: Through interviews with the Dalai Lama, Cutler explores the idea of happiness and how Buddhist ideas translate to Western ones.
Why I chose it: Kate recommended it to me. I've also been struggling with negative emotions recently, so wanted to get some insight.
The rating: Two out of five stars
What I thought of it: Let's get one thing straight first of all: this is not a book by the Dalai Lama. It's a book by Howard C. Cutler including a lot of quotes from the Dalai Lama, but not nearly enough. It's a shame, both because you're probably going to be reading this for the Dalai Lama and because a book on the intersection between Western psychiatry and Buddhist beliefs could have been so much better.
Cutler does draw lots of interesting comparisons, which I enjoyed. However, he seems a bit dismissive at times and frustrated that the Dalai Lama can't sum up thousands of years of philosophy into neat sayings. Then, when something does seem simple, he doesn't recognise that it could contain multitudes despite that appearance. He doesn't seem to ask the probing questions, just aiming to fit what the Dalai Lama says into his idea of self-help. Cutler also inserts himself as a character into the narrative and honestly comes across as somewhat unpleasant.
Cutler makes some odd statements as well. He talks about 'quick fix' self-help techniques and therapies that have became so popular in Western culture in recent decades – techniques ranging from 'positive affirmations' to 'discovering your inner child'. I'm not long out of therapy, but having been instructing using these sorts of techniques I can say that neither of them were presented as 'quick fixes'. You have to do them for a long time for them to work and I was told this. He also says that we are not accustomed to cultivating positive attributes – love, compassion, patience, generosity – as weapons against all negative emotions and mental states, which seems incorrect particularly when you consider the cliché of people being given the advice to "lighten up". Perhaps this is something to do with the age of the book though.
He also says this:
The best part of the book was, of course, the bits that the Dalai Lama actually did contribute. I really enjoyed the majority of that. However, that isn't to say that I agreed entirely with what he said. Here are two points of contention.
Nevertheless, he has a lot of interesting things to say, if only Howard C. Cutler would be quiet and let him say them. I would definitely like to read more about Buddhism and more from the Dalai Lama, but will definitely be checking the authorship more carefully in future.
Just one more thing: I'm getting into meditation at the moment, albeit Westernised (I'm practising some form of mindfulness every day to help me with my mental illness). Meditation Oasis is my favourite website for free guided meditation MP3s. Also, more related to the book, I found the story of Kisa Gotami particularly thought-provoking.
The authors: Howard C. Cutler, American psychologist, and (allegedly) His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama
The subject: Through interviews with the Dalai Lama, Cutler explores the idea of happiness and how Buddhist ideas translate to Western ones.
Why I chose it: Kate recommended it to me. I've also been struggling with negative emotions recently, so wanted to get some insight.
The rating: Two out of five stars
What I thought of it: Let's get one thing straight first of all: this is not a book by the Dalai Lama. It's a book by Howard C. Cutler including a lot of quotes from the Dalai Lama, but not nearly enough. It's a shame, both because you're probably going to be reading this for the Dalai Lama and because a book on the intersection between Western psychiatry and Buddhist beliefs could have been so much better.
Cutler does draw lots of interesting comparisons, which I enjoyed. However, he seems a bit dismissive at times and frustrated that the Dalai Lama can't sum up thousands of years of philosophy into neat sayings. Then, when something does seem simple, he doesn't recognise that it could contain multitudes despite that appearance. He doesn't seem to ask the probing questions, just aiming to fit what the Dalai Lama says into his idea of self-help. Cutler also inserts himself as a character into the narrative and honestly comes across as somewhat unpleasant.
Cutler makes some odd statements as well. He talks about 'quick fix' self-help techniques and therapies that have became so popular in Western culture in recent decades – techniques ranging from 'positive affirmations' to 'discovering your inner child'. I'm not long out of therapy, but having been instructing using these sorts of techniques I can say that neither of them were presented as 'quick fixes'. You have to do them for a long time for them to work and I was told this. He also says that we are not accustomed to cultivating positive attributes – love, compassion, patience, generosity – as weapons against all negative emotions and mental states, which seems incorrect particularly when you consider the cliché of people being given the advice to "lighten up". Perhaps this is something to do with the age of the book though.
He also says this:
In depression, thinking can become distorted by viewing events in all-or-nothing terms or overgeneralizing (for example, if you lose a job or fail a class, you automatically think, ‘I’m a total failure!’)...Depression tends to be a bit more serious than that. It's customary to feel a total failure when you are in a slightly awkward situation or you get a mark that's even a little less than perfect, so either of the situations quoted is a total nightmare. I know this is small, but it was just another thing that Cutler seemed to mess up.
The best part of the book was, of course, the bits that the Dalai Lama actually did contribute. I really enjoyed the majority of that. However, that isn't to say that I agreed entirely with what he said. Here are two points of contention.
I have seen some families in our settlements in India, with very difficult situations – living under very poor conditions, and on top of that having children with both eyes blind or sometimes [learning disabilities]. And somehow these poor ladies still manage to look after them, simply saying, "This is due to their Karma; it is their fate."Maybe I'm being too rational for a statement about faith, but isn't this sort of brushing aside the injustices of the world and what humans have done to cause that? Why should people just have to accept that?
So we must still find a way to try to improve life for this majority of the people, the four billion people who aren't involved in a specific religion – ways to help them become good human beings, moral people, without any religion.I hate it when religious people assume that atheists or non-religious people struggle to be good people without religion. There are plenty of people who are directly influenced by their religion to do bad things and plenty of non-religious people who don't require faith (or, if I'm being particularly cynical, the incentive of karma or the afterlife or whatever) to do good things. Of course there are also many good religious people and bad non-religious people, as one would expect.
Nevertheless, he has a lot of interesting things to say, if only Howard C. Cutler would be quiet and let him say them. I would definitely like to read more about Buddhism and more from the Dalai Lama, but will definitely be checking the authorship more carefully in future.
Just one more thing: I'm getting into meditation at the moment, albeit Westernised (I'm practising some form of mindfulness every day to help me with my mental illness). Meditation Oasis is my favourite website for free guided meditation MP3s. Also, more related to the book, I found the story of Kisa Gotami particularly thought-provoking.