This week trending story on social media platform is His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 1 minute and 27 seconds advice on how to tackle negative emotion which was shared via the official Facebook page of the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama @Dalai Lama. Over 2.1 million viewers watched the clip, out of which seventy-three thousands liked, and thirty-three thousands and seventy-five shared on their Facebook pages.
A group of young Indian women visited His Holiness the Dalai Lama and asked His Holiness about how to deal with negative emotions at his residence in Mcleod Ganj, on 27 April 2018.
A young Indian lady asked His Holiness: ‘If I may ask what you do when you have some negative thoughts in your head, what is the simplest thing that one can do to rid oneself from those negative thoughts?’
In response, His Holiness said: Negative emotions are mainly related to two things. One is the Self-Centered attitude- I, my attitude like that. Second, are we accepting things as it appears? In Anatman (Selflessness theory) and Śūnyatā (Emptiness theory) explain nothing exists as it appears.
Furthermore, His Holiness explained that all negative emotions are very much based on appearances, once you realize nothing exists as it appears that is wisdom side or (Praina-Sanskrit word)side and then altruism side or the (Upava-Sanskrit word) is the antidote to the self-centered attitude.
At the end of the video clip, His Holiness inculcates a word of wisdom in those young Indian women’s visitors and the netizens alike about negative emotion, which is the result of two factors: self-centeredness attitude and the false belief of grasping things as it appears.
Below are some interesting responses from over one thousand and seven hundred and twenty-four netizens to His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s advice on how to deal with negative emotions: