The best investment advice often comes from books that have little to do with money.
Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World, by The Dalai Lama is no exception.
The Dalai Lama (the term means ocean of wisdom) is the spiritual leader of Tibet. He has been in exile since 1959, driven out by the forces of the People’s Republic of China.
This has not stopped him from winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1959 or becoming an international celebrity. His message of love, compassion, justice and forgiveness needs no translation.
One of the amazing things about The Dalai Lama is he doesn’t believe organized religion is necessarily the answer to world peace and harmony. Refreshingly, he refuses to “talk his book.”
The Dalai Lama believes secularism isn’t a dirty word. The world can be a better place even if people don’t necessarily believe in a particular god.
The Dalai Lama is a man of great spirituality but also has great respect for science over superstition; data over dogma.
He states, “No one religion can ever hope to satisfy everyone. There are just too many different mental dispositions among the seven billion inhabitants of our planet for that to be the case.”
Citizens of the world have many shared values. Most people have a natural disposition toward compassion, kindness, and caring for others.
“We are born free of religion, but we are not born free of the need for compassion.”
Ryan Holiday states,” In reality, we’re made to help each other and be good to each other. We wouldn’t have survived as a species otherwise.”
The Dalai Lama’s book is a guide for how to treat others. Regardless of your feelings about religion, his rejection of only showing compassion towards members of your own squad is something worth pondering.
In our current culture of tribal self-identification, the message couldn’t be timelier.
Beyond Religion wasn’t designed to be a money management book, but it could be.
(Full disclosure: I supplied the investment topics, The Dalai Lama has more pressing matters to attend to than Elon Musk’s tweets or Apple’s earnings.)
Social Comparison
“Recent scientific research on happiness has found that one of the primary sources of discontent in today’s world, especially in more affluent societies is to compare ourselves with those around us.”
Investor Self Sabotage
“We tend to see the troublemaker as something outside ourselves. If we reflect deeply, however, we discover that the real troublemaker is within us: our true enemies are our own destructive tendencies.”
Inevitable Bear Markets
“To be in denial about suffering or to expect life to be easy only causes a person additional misery. I do not mean to suggest that suffering is somehow good in itself: I simply mean that accepting it will make it easier to bear.”
Market Forecasts
“Everything in the world comes about as a result of many factors. In any given occurrence, our own actions are only one factor in a great range of causes and conditions.”
Compound Interest
“Above all, patience is a powerful antidote to the destructive emotions of anger and frustration.”
The Dalai Lama is an evidence-based spiritual leader.
You could do worse than applying his timeless wisdom to your own investments and your life.
Source: Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World, His Holiness The Dalai Lama
