The Open Road: Susan Derrera

In The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Pico Iyer writes:

[The Buddha] 'had no wish to spread his discoveries, since he didn't feel confident that they would be of use or interest to anyone else; the essence of his teaching, famously was "Be lamps unto yourselves" and "Seek no refuge but yourself." But when he became convinced that there might be some virtue in talking of his own experience, he spent the last forty-five years of his life ceaselessly traveling. . . . Although he engaged in public debates, he repeatedly shied away from cosmic questions as distractions, perhaps, from the main concern.

"Forget about next life," I once heard the Dalai Lama say.... "This very life should be useful to others.  If not, at least no harm."'