Figure 1: The promotional picture of Wisdom of Happiness (https://www.woh.movie/)
In 2024 the documentary Wisdom of Happiness premiered. In this 90-minutes documentary the Dalai Lama talks from time to time directly in the camera to give the viewer advice on how to live a peaceful life in the 21st century. The documentary also offers an autobiographical perspective on the fourteenth Dalai Lama as Dalai Lama. For this, it features the distinctive religion, language, and culture of the Tibetans and the suppression they face under the Chinese.
The promotional picture of Wisdom of Happiness shows the Dalai Lama with the NASA-picture of the Earth between the twinkling stars in the universe (see figure 1). The Dalai Lama is staged in this picture with his hands cupped as a bowl under the image of the Earth. The depiction of the Dalai Lama with the earth on scale also appears in the second part of Wisdom of Happiness when he talks in the camera with the earth in the size of a pomelo in his hands (see figure 2). Such depictions of the earth kept in hands have become a global visual expression within the climate change discourse that is especially used to call for taking care of the earth.[1]
In Wisdom of Happiness the Dalai Lama urges viewers to take care of the earth. He uses the metaphor of the earth as our (only) home that we should take care of. In addition to several global imageries of the earth: what perspectives on the climate crisis offers Wisdom of Happiness and how is this framed by (Tibetan) Buddhism? I answer these questions by expanding on the prominent reoccurring audio-visual spectacle in Wisdom of Happiness of fast floating clouds.
Figure 2: The Dalai Lama talks to the viewers with ‘the earth’ in his hands (https://www.woh.movie/about)
Clouds of Ignorance: Emotions as Root Cause of Twenty-First Century Problems
One prominent audio-visual spectacle in Wisdom of Happiness are clouds that transform into thunderstorms. Clouds are prominent within Tibetan Buddhist iconography. Tara, who is in multiple branches of Buddhism revered as either bodhisattva, mother goddess, or tantric deity, is in Tibetan Buddhist art frequently featured sitting on a cloud and/or surrounded by clouds.[2] In general, Tibetan Buddhist art includes mountains, trees, (lotus)flowers, and clouds.[3] The clouds in Tibetan Buddhist art most often point towards the celestial nature of the beings that are portrayed with those clouds, either by sitting on it or being surrounded by them (see figure 3).
Figure 3: mural of Green Tara surrounded by other celestial beings. Picture taken by Deborah de Koning 10 June 2025 (Lumbini, Nepal).
Clouds can also have a negative implication in Buddhism. They are associated with ignorance or delusion (moha) – one of the three roots of evil that Buddhism identifies.[4] The famous Manjushri, a bodhisattva who is believed to delay personal enlightenment to help others, keeps a sword of wisdom in his right hand to cut through the clouds of ignorance or delusion.[5] In Wisdom of Happiness the Dalai Lama frequently refers to ‘destructive emotions’ such as anger and greed (the other three roots of evil), hatred, and fear that cause the problems of our time. He illustrates the devastating effects of such emotions with examples of the suppression of the Tibetans under the Chinese. When he broadens the scope of his lecture beyond the Asian context, he also includes stress as destructive emotion that emerges from the contemporary drive for competition and self-centeredness.
Destructive emotions are according to the Dalai Lama one of the root causes of the problems of the twenty-first century. Many of the (bad) decisions that people make are rooted in strong feelings and emotions that create distorted perceptions. The Dalai Lama uses the metaphor of thunder for the ‘disruption’ that takes place when we bottle up the emotions of stress and fear. As a solution to many of our problems he proposes that we face our emotions and ‘clear’ our minds through training so that we can turn our destructive emotions into compassion.
Clouds, Connection, and Compassion
The Dalai Lama concludes his lecture in Wisdom of Happiness, by arguing that this century should be a century of compassion. The virtue of compassion (karuna) is very central in Buddhist teachings in general, and in Mahayana Buddhism in particular. One of the two famous bodhisattvas in Mahayana Buddhism is Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. The Green Tara, who is very popular among Tibetan Buddhists, is believed to be an emanation of Avalokiteshvara (see figure 3).[6]
Wisdom of Happiness mentions compassion a dozen of times. According to the Dalai Lama compassion is the sense of concern of others’ suffering and others’ wellbeing. He relates sensitivity of others’ wellbeing to women by referring to his own compassionate mother. Since every human being is born out of a female, all humans have the seed of compassion inside.
The Dalai Lama connects compassion to another Buddhist key insight: interconnectedness. Interconnectedness is visualized in Wisdom of Happiness by showing a flock of deer that crosses the Tibetan highlands as a group. Those animals have a sense of community, and they cannot survive on their own. The Dalai Lama stresses that humans are also social animals. Everybody benefits from a society that is based on compassion. He urges people to work together to protect and save the world.
When the Dalai Lama criticizes distinctions that people make between each other, Wisdom of Happiness again uses the visual spectacle of thunder clouds. He argues that we have created false perceptions in our minds by making a distinction between us and them. He then brings forward some Buddhist key-teachings: there is no independent self and everything is interconnected. For interconnectedness contemporary Zen Buddhism also uses the metaphor of clouds. The famous Zen Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh – who also met the Dalai Lama – frequently uses clouds in his sayings. Two examples are: ‘smile to the cloud in your tea’ and ‘a cloud never dies’ (see figure 4). These sayings illustrate the Buddhist ideas of interdependence and continuous transformation (of which everything is part).
Figure 4: saying of Thich Nhat Hanh in calligraphy (https://www.parallax.org/product/smile-to-the-cloud-in-your-tea/)
As the roof of the world Tibet is well-known for its mountain peaks that are surrounded by clouds. Imagery of clouds and thunder (often in combination with fire) are also frequently used in the climate change discourse to create an eco-apocalyptic scenery. Both these framings of clouds are part of the audio-visual spectacle of Wisdom of Happiness. But the reoccurrence of thunderstorms and fast floating clouds in Wisdom of Happiness also brings forward some specific Buddhist ideas of transformation, delusion, and interdependence. These specific framings distinguish the documentary from other ones that address climate change. The Dalai Lama can explain in a concise way several of the contemporary global phenomena for a general audience while at the same time skillfully weaving them together with a number of Buddhist core ideas.
[1] https://religionclimate.odoo.com/blog/current-insights-1/wie-draagt-de-aarde-op-handen-13
[2] Kaur, G. (2022). Tara in Vajrayana Buddhism: A Critical Content Analysis. Feminist Theology, 30(2), 210–221, 213-214. https://doi.org/10.1177/09667350211055444
[3] Linrothe, R. (2012). ‘Landscape Elements in Early Tibetan Painting Tsiang.’ In: K.R. Tsiang & M.J. Powers (eds.). Looking at Asian Art. University of Chicago: Art Media Resources, 159-177.
[4] Keown, D. & Hodge, S. (2003). A dictionary of Buddhism. Oxford University Press, ‘moha’, 179.
[5] Coulter, C. R. & Turner, P. (2020). Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities. McFarland, ‘Manjusri,’ 307.
[6] Keown, D. & Hodge, S. (2003). A dictionary of Buddhism. Oxford University Press, ‘Tara’, 295.
Climate Change, Clouds, Compassion, and Connection: A Buddhist Perspective on the Ecological Crisis in Wisdom of Happiness