As an English professor at a suburban community college, I tend to spend most of my days focusing on grammar, writing and reading. Recently however, I have noticed a peculiar syndrome with my students — a total lack of ethics. They easily call one another inappropriate names, bully others who are different, plagiarize work and fail to attend class. If they do attend class, they spend their time immersed with Facebook updating their walls or texting their friends with an utter disregard for their professor’s time. In his Millennium Address, His Holiness states:

“Along with education, which generally deals only with academic accomplishments, we need to develop more altruism and a sense of caring and responsibility for others in the minds of the younger generation studying in various educational institutions. This can be done without necessarily involving religion. One could therefore call this ‘secular ethics,’ as it in fact consists of basic human qualities such as kindness, compassion, sincerity and honesty.”

How can we, as a society, instill such important “secular ethics” in our youth? In those who will inevitably rule the world we live in? To be honest, there are days where I wake up and wonder why I chose to become a teacher—especially when I am met with students who simply have no concern for the world around them.

One of the most important things we can do is start a Study Circle Group to focus on the important teachings of the Dalai Lama. We must take the ethics proposed by His Holiness and disseminate them via small communities of learning; through such study and dialogue we can become mentors to those who have lost their way, who have forgotten what it means to be kind, compassionate and honest. Recently, I have made these teachings part of every class I teach and while I have yet to see the results, I believe that one day my students will become the teachers.

For more information on starting your own study circle, visit The Dalai Lama Foundation Study Circles page. For more resources for your study circle, visit the Learning Zone.

In his book titled The Art of Happiness, the Dalai Lama wrote that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness. For “whether one believes in religion or not, whether one believes in this religion or that religion, we are seeking something better in life —- the very motion of our life is towards happiness”. He then proceeds to show from personal life experience the sources of genuine happiness.

A critical factor for genuine happiness is the state of the mind. He demonstrates that happiness is determined more by one’s state of mind than by external events. As important as our material facilities and success may be, without the right mental attitude and attention, these things have very little or no positive impact on our long-term aspirations for genuine happiness. The mental state and mind factor have tremendous influence on our daily life experiences. Another important source of happiness is what the Dalai Lama refers to as “Inner Contentment”, which he says is “the true antidote of greed”. And one sure and reliable way towards achieving inner contentment is to “want and appreciate what we have”.

A third source of happiness as outlined in The Art of Happiness is a sense of self-worth and human dignity that comes from our relationship and bond with fellow human beings. This bond, the Dalai Lama says, “can become a source of consolation in the event that you lose everything else”.

The Dalai Lama then progresses to show the difference between happiness and pleasure. True happiness he says relates more to the heart and mind and is lasting and genuine, whereas pleasure mainly depends on the physical and is short-lived. And the Dalai Lama then says that we must learn to approach our choices with caution, bearing in mind the fact that what we are seeking is genuine happiness and not just pleasure.

In both the Ethics for the New Millennium and The Art of Happiness, we are presented with key ingredients for achieving genuine and lasting happiness. These include a compassionate heart, seeking to make others happy, acting out of concern for others, love, forgiveness and reconciliation, inner peace, training our minds towards happiness and sincerely deepening our connection to others, friendship, self-control and inner discipline and hope, among others.

On Saturday, 16th June 2007, 15 members gathered together at my residence in Jos-Nigeria for a Study Circle dialogue on the Dalai Lama’s Ethics for the New Millennium. The study centered on the sixth chapter of the Ethics for the New Millennium titled, “The Ethic of Restraint”. It was the second time in one year that we studied this chapter, due to popular demand and interest, and considering the great significance of the message and concepts in that chapter. Above all, we wanted to further deepen our understanding and appreciation of the keys issues, ideas and recommendations the Dalai Lama made in that chapter of the book. Also, during our first study of the chapter, Paul Emenike had requested a repeat study, saying that it was for him, the most challenging and most demanding of all. His request received overwhelming support and endorsement of other Study Circle members, which was why we came back from Chapter 13 to re-study chapter 6. The study was very lively, interesting and fun-filled.

The Ethic of Restraint, which we also called the Dalai Lama’s teaching on “Self-control”, proffers a two-pronged approach for developing human compassion which is the foundation for genuine happiness. These include the restraining of those factors inimical to, and which inhibit compassion, as well as the cultivation of those factors conducive to and supportive for the development and nurturing of compassion. In this Chapter of the Ethics for the New Millennium, His Holiness the Dalai Lama speaks directly to the heart and mind, “from which all our actions spring”. He then likens the undisciplined mind to a wild, rampaging and destructive elephant and also states that negative impulses of the mind, including afflictive emotions constitute major obstacles to our basic aspirations for genuine happiness and is the source of pain and suffering in our world today.

The Ethic of Restraint calls us to reflect very profoundly on our lives, exercise self-control and discipline over our thoughts and actions, ensuring that we think creatively and positively and implement only those actions that benefit fellow human beings, our environment and the world in which we live. The Dalai Lama challenges us all in this chapter of the Ethics for the New Millennium to deliberately cultivate a habit of inner discipline and self-control over our minds, thoughts and emotions, failure of which would lead to devastating and damaging consequences, both to ourselves, to others and the world we inhabit.

There was a moment for deep reflection followed by individual discussions and sharing based on practical and personal life experiences. Members were particularly moved to tears when Peter Chimezie shared his personal experience of how deeply-rooted anger destroys friendship and undermines genuine happiness. He said it began with a simple misunderstanding with his wife at home. He was very upset that his wife refused to obey his instructions. This made him so angry that he beat her up to the point of comma, and he ended up also fighting and insulting everyone in his office throughout that week. He soon discovered that people were running away from him and not wanting to see him. The experience he said caused him and those around him so much pain and sadness.

Dear all,

Special greetings to you. At this time, I want to share details of our April 21-23rd 2006 National Days of Interfaith Youth Service and the Global Youth Service Day in Jos-Nigeria. The program was a huge success. We partnered with the Interfaith Youth Core and the Youth Service America, while the grant check came from the Washington based National Conference on Citizenship, on behalf of the Case Foundation and the UN Foundation.

Pls, note that Study Circle Meetings are going on very well. In a few days from now, I will be sending in details of additional Study Circles in Nigeria.

Pls, find details of report and photos at the ACYD Foundation web site.

Regards and best wishes

Emmanuel Ande Ivorgba