--- title: Dalai Lama Gives Prayer on Senate Floor description: In the Tibetan spiritual leader's first time addressing the chamber, he recalled one of his favorites to deliver the opening prayer on the Senate floor: "Speak or act with a pure mind, and happiness will follow you like a shadow that never leaves" canonical: https://time.com/14056/dalai-lama-senate-prayer/ author: Alex Rogers article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-06T15:22:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T08:47:51.689Z article:section: Politics og:title: Dalai Lama Gives Prayer on Senate Floor og:description: In the Tibetan spiritual leader's first time addressing the chamber, he recalled one of his favorites to deliver the opening prayer on the Senate floor: "Speak or act with a pure mind, and happiness will follow you like a shadow that never leaves" og:url: https://time.com/14056/dalai-lama-senate-prayer/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt976a9aeba6e4ab38/6986843206f2c1ffca32dbab/dalai-lama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: Dalai Lama, John Boehner, Nacy Pelosi og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Dalai Lama Gives Prayer on Senate Floor twitter:description: In the Tibetan spiritual leader's first time addressing the chamber, he recalled one of his favorites to deliver the opening prayer on the Senate floor: "Speak or act with a pure mind, and happiness will follow you like a shadow that never leaves" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt976a9aeba6e4ab38/6986843206f2c1ffca32dbab/dalai-lama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Dalai Lama Gives Prayer on Senate Floor > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=a9118a36-3e30-44a5-afde-36fc023686c4&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Dalai Lama Gives Prayer on Senate Floor [Watch (HLS stream): Dalai Lama Gives Prayer on Senate Floor](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Vqh4iSNt.m3u8) (1:33)  _Published 2014-03-06. Dalai Lama Gives Prayer on Senate Floor_ by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Mar 6, 2014 3:22 PM UTC by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Mar 6, 2014 3:22 PM UTC The Dalai Lama delivered the opening prayer on the Senate floor Thursday morning, the first time the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader spoke in the Senate. See the unofficial English transcript of his prayer below. --- > “” --- After the prayer, the Dalai Lama watched on as senators recited the pledge of allegiance. “I know I speak for the entire Senate family when I express our gratitude for the prayer in the Senate and his words of encouragement and his blessing,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said. ## Transcript With our thoughts, we make our world. Our mind is centered and precedes our deeds. Speak or act with your pure mind, and happiness will follow you. Like a schedule that never leaves. The second sentence, [ FOREIGN ]. May there be joy in the world with bountiful harvest and special rest. May every good fortune come to be. And may all our wishes be fulfilled. [ FOREIGN ] This is my favorite prayer. Daily, I pray this. That is it gives me inner strength. So enthusiasm, to serve, sentient being, humanity on this one. As long as space remains, and as long as sentient beings remain, until then, may I too remain? 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