I believe compassion to be one of the few things we can practice that will bring immediate and long-term happiness to our lives. I’m not talking about the short-term gratification of pleasures like sex, drugs, or gambling (though I’m not knocking them), but something that will bring true and lasting happiness. The kind that sticks.

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama is the current spiritual leader of the Guleg (“Yellow Hat”) school of Tibetan Buddhism and is considered the religious and political leader of Tibet. He has lived in exile in India since the Chinese annexation of Tibet in 1959, and in 1989, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to peacefully liberate Tibet from China. Since retiring from his political role in 2011, his principal commitments have included helping others understand and experience happiness, encouraging harmony among the world’s religions, and preserving Tibetan language and culture. He is the author of more than one hundred books.