JOKE + One Teacher, Many Traditions

Amazon, 1/24/17; Jen Bradford (Dharma B Meditation), Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Dharma Teacher Seven tells this Buddhist joke: One day the Dalai Lama, a very wise and compassionate leader, was troubled that there were so many Buddhist schools.

"We should all be One," the Tibetan pope thought. He consulted with his Oracle and rinpoche-advisors, who suggested a convention, bringing together all the traditions --

• the Maha-yana or 'Great Vehicle,'
• the Hina-yana or 'Lesser Vehicle,'
• the Vajra-yana or 'Diamond Vehicle,'
• the Mantra-yana or 'Sound Vehicle,'
• the Tantra-yana or 'Esoteric Vehicle,'
• the Thera-vada or 'Teaching of the Elders,'
• and so on...

to iron out their differences and unify behind a single creed and teaching.

He sent invitations out to temples all over Tibet and around the world, asking schools to send their enlightened representatives to a gathering. The Buddhist countries were overjoyed to be invited for such a good cause. And to show their support for their teacher, all arhats, they dressed them up in the finest robes and provided them with the most luxurious cars -- Bentleys, Lincoln Continentals, Mercedes, stretch limos. No expense was spared.

They all congregated in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, at Potala Palace, a kind of Vatican at the heart of the old Himalayan empire, with its cardinals and bishops (rinpoches and high-lamas).

No Parking (Tow Away Zone)

But there were No Parking signs posted everywhere. So cars parked illegally all around the palace, fighting for spots, honking and creating a commotion, bickering: "I'm here by special invitation of His Holiness! It's fine for me to station my car wherever I like," shouted the leader of one school.

The leader of another school proclaimed, "I'm a VIP, an emissary of a faraway land, here by personal request, so my limo needs to be parked as close as possible!"

Yet another shouted them down, proclaiming his eminence and importance: "His Holiness needs me inside right away to get this convocation off the ground; get out of my driver's way!"

The honking and commotion got so bad that the Dalai Lama himself had to come down to settle the petty quarrelling and incessant honking.

He waved his arms and tried to calm them with a gentle voice over the din and clamor to no avail. Finally, he climbed on top of a limousine and settled all arguments, stating: "Maha-yana! Hina-yana! Vajra-yana! -- all VEHICLES will be towed!"

Buddhism: One Teacher, Many Traditions

Explore with the Dalai Lama the common ground underlying the diverse traditions (schools) of Buddhism.

Buddhism: One Teacher, Many Traditions was put together by the 14th Dalai Lama and American Buddhist nun Thubten Chodron (with a foreword Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhist elder Ven. "Bhante G" Gunaratana).

The book, now in paperback has, 4.6 out of 5 stars with 150 ratings.

Buddhism is practiced by hundreds of millions of people worldwide, from Tibetan caves to Tokyo temples to redwood forest retreats.

To an outside viewer, it might be hard to see what they all have in common.

In Buddhism, the Dalai Lama and Western Vajrayana Buddhist nun Thubten Chodron map out with clarity the convergences and the divergences between the two major strains of Buddhism — the Sanskrit traditions of Tibet and East Asia and the Pali language traditions of Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.

Especially deep consideration is given to the foundational Indian traditions and their respective treatment of such central tenets as

• The Four Noble Truths
• the practice of meditation
• the meaning of nirvana (liberation)
• the meaning of enlightenment (bodhi).

The authors seek harmony and greater understanding among Buddhist traditions worldwide, illuminating the rich benefits of respectful dialogue and the many ways that Buddhists of all stripes [Mahayana, Theravada, Vajrayana, Zen, Nichirin, vipassana, secular, etc.] share a common heritage and common goals. Buddhism: One Teacher, Many Traditions

Free Hemi Sync Guided Meditation (video)

MonroeInstitute; Bhante Gunaratana (bhavanasociety.org); Dhr. Seven (ed.) Wisdom Quarterly

Listen and enjoy this binaural beat Hemi-Sync® guided meditation for deep relaxation.

The Doctrinal Context of Absorption (Jhana)

To develop the absorptions.

The Buddha says that just as in the great ocean there is but one taste, the taste of salt, so in this Dharma (the Buddha's doctrine and discipline) there is but one taste, the taste of freedom.

The taste of freedom that pervades the Buddha's teaching is the taste of spiritual freedom, which from the Buddhist perspective means freedom from suffering.

In the process leading to liberation from suffering, meditation is the means of generating the inner awakening required for freedom.

• What are Buddhism's meditative absorptions (jhanas)?

The methods of meditation taught in the Theravada Buddhist tradition are based on the Buddha's own experience, forged in the course of his own quest for enlightenment.

They are designed to recreate in the disciple who practices them the same essential enlightenment that the Buddha (the "Enlightened One") himself attained when he sat beneath the bodhi tree, the awakening to the liberating Four Noble Truths.

The various subjects and methods of meditation expounded in the ancient Theravada Buddhist scriptures -- the Pali language canon and its commentaries -- divide into two interrelated systems. 

 

One is called the development of serenity (samatha-bhavana), the other the development of insight (vipassana-bhavana).

The former -- the development of tranquility -- also goes under the name of development of concentration (samadhi-bhavana), the latter the development of wisdom (pañña-bhavana).

The practice of serenity meditation aims at developing a calm, coherent, concentrated, collected, unified mind/heart as a means of experiencing inner-peace and as a basis for wisdom.

The practice of insight meditation aims at gaining a direct understanding of the real nature of phenomena. More

The new "Monastic Diet" (sutra)

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly based on Book of Protection (MN 2)

Middlesex schoolboy to Shaolin monk: Enter the Suburban Dragon (See below)

Fat Budai, fit Buddha (center), fat Hotei (Sonam Ukyab/Khorsani/flickr.com)

 

S.A.D. reading won't help.

Ever try to diet? It would be better to live-it. The Buddha was fit, but not Budai (Hotei), the "Fat Happy Bodhisattva" so often confused for the Buddha.

He was roly poly and very pudgy. But he was a Chinese monk and jolly folkloric Santa Claus figure named Budai ("Cloth Sack") who came longer after the Buddha. Taoism reveres him more than Buddhism does, and that's only because he is much more of a good luck charm than an exemplar.

 

Four Reflections of a Buddhist Monastic

1. Wisely reflecting I wear this garment in order to protect myself from cold, heat, gadflies, mosquitoes, wind, sun, from snakes [who would strike warm flesh using thermal-vision but not cool cloth], and also as a constant cover motivated by modesty.

 

Vegan diets are compassionate and healthy

2. Wisely reflecting I partake of food not for the pleasure of it, not for the pride (resulting from the physical strength that can be obtained), not for adornment, not for beautifying [and beefing up] the body, but in order to maintain this body, to slake the hunger, and to enable the practice of the high life. And I do so also to quell the pangs of hunger (due to want of nourishment) but avoiding pain (resulting from an excess consumption of food). In this way life is maintained free from wrongdoing and free from distress.

Fitness = sleep, eat well, smile, work, exercise, and relax.

 

I'm not fat. I'm small-shirted!

3. Wisely reflecting I make use of lodgings in order to protect from cold and heat, from gadflies and mosquitoes, from wind and sun, from snakes, as a constant protection against the rigors of climate, and in order to realize that ardent yearning for seclusion (which results in mental concentration and meditative absorption).

 

4. Wisely reflecting I make use of medicine as an aid to eliminate bodily pains that have arisen and also to maintain that important condition [so useful in striving for liberation from all suffering, enlightenment], free from disease.

• The Importance of "Wise Reflection"

"All The Taints" (MN 2) Bhante G explains this sutra dealing with the eradication of the three taints: craving for sensual pleasure, craving for being, and ignorance, which are heart-defilements brought about by unwise reflection or unskillful attention. The seven methods to eradicate them are: seeing, restraining, using, enduring, avoiding, removing, and developing.
 
Or do it the Hard Way
How about a strictly vegetarian Shaolin monk's diet?
From Middlesex schoolboy to Shaolin monk: Enter the (Terribly Suburban) Dragon

So much strength and power from veggie diet?

He's the ordinary north London boy who became a Chinese warrior monk. And his story is as astonishing as it is inspiring. Matthew Ahmet is 20 and he's hard -- very hard. His head is shaved, and his body bears the ravages of a violent life. A mark on his forehead shows where a metal bar came crashing down on his skull. His forearms have been sliced repeatedly by razor-sharp knives, and his left arm has a "punishment" burn from boiling water. So when he sits down, flashes a beautiful smile, and talks about spreading happiness and peace, it comes as a great surprise. More
 

Why do ALL diets fail? Lose weight anyway (ModernHealthMonk.com).

Bhante G explains two Sutras (video)

CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Bhante G (BhavanaSociety.org), 2012

In this discourse, "Setting in Motion the Wheel of the Dharma" (Samyutta Nikaya 56.11), Bhante G expounds an explanation of the Buddha's first talk to the five first monastic disciples. This is followed in Part II on "The Discourse on the Not-Self Characteristic."

• VIDEO: PART II (SN 22.59a)
• TEXT: "Characteristic of Not-Self" (Anatta-lakkhana Sutta, SN 22.59)

The absorptions in Buddhist meditation

The Wanderling, "The Jhanas in Theravadan Buddhist Meditation"; Wisdom Quarterly

(Wonderlane/Flickr.com)

The Noble Eightfold Path -- the Buddha's prescription for attaining enlightenment -- is familiar. We have some idea what is meant by right speech, right action, right livelihood, and so forth. And we know that these are very important.

• HOW TO: I want to start meditating

However, the one factor of the path that is often shortchanged is the eighth fold: Right Concentration. Here the Wanderling seeks to explain what "right concentration" is, how to practice it, and the role it plays on the road to enlightenment.

Right concentration (samma samadhi) is explicitly defined in the Mahasatipatthana Sutta (DN 22) and in other sutras (e.g., Saccavibhanga Sutta, MN 141) as jhanic meditation:

And what is right concentration? Here a [meditator] -- secluded from sense desires, secluded from unwholesome states of mind -- enters and remains in the first jhana, which is filled with rapture and joy born of seclusion accompanied by initial and sustained attention. With the stilling of initial and sustained attention, by gaining inner tranquility and oneness of mind, one enters and remains in the second jhana, which is without initial and sustained attention, born of concentration, and filled with rapture and joy. With the fading away of rapture, remaining imperturbable, mindful, and clearly aware, one enters and remains in the third jhana, and of such a person the Noble Ones declare, "Equanimous and mindful, one has a pleasant abiding." With the abandoning of pleasure and pain -- as with the earlier disappearance of elation and distress -- one enters and remains in the fourth jhana, which is beyond pleasure and pain and purified by equanimity and mindfulness. This is called right concentration.

Therefore, the jhanas are at the very heart of the Buddha's teaching. This fact is presented in not only one important sutra but in many as well as in commentaries and in personal meditation instructions with living masters.

Before he became the Buddha, at the beginning of his spiritual quest, Siddhartha Gautama studied with two teachers. The first taught him the first seven jhanas; the second taught him the eighth. Both told him they had taught him all there was to learn.

But Siddhartha, having reached these blissful states, realized that the end of all suffering had not been brought about. At best these attainments, which are very heavy wholesome karma, will only lead to high heavenly rebirths in fine material and immaterial states. While this might be considered "salvation" or liberation (moksha) by other Indian teachers, Siddhartha realized that those long-lived states -- dependent on karma, existing within samsara, fraught with subtle defilements like clinging and wrong view -- were also impermanent and unsatisfactory.

So he left each of these teachers and continued on his six year journey to nirvana, abandoning the jhanas and instead taking up the practice of severe austerities.

These, too, failed to result in enlightenment. They did not provide the answer to his quest, the final solution to all suffering once and for all. So he abandoned them and took up a Middle Way avoiding extremes of sensual indulgence and self mortification.

The discourses indicate that on the night of his enlightenment, he sat under the Bodhi Tree and began his meditation by again practicing the jhanas. (See Mahasaccaka Sutta, MN 36), He wondered why he feared pleasure and bliss beyond sensuality. He spontaneously remembered entering jhana as a child under a rose apple tree during a harvest festival with his father. This helped him realize that the jhanas might be the way to his goal not an impediment to it.

When his mind was "concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of imperfection, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability," he directed it to the "true knowledges." This gave rise to his incredible breakthrough in consciousness known in the sutras as Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi.

Therefore we see from textual sources that the jhanas are not only at the heart of his teaching but also at the heart of his own practice.

(dhammawheel.com)

WHAT THEY ARE 

The Pali word jhana (Japanese zen, Sanskrit dhyana) is best translated as "meditative absorption." It derives from dhayati, meaning to meditate or be sucked [in], pulled in, absorbed.

What is it to be absorbed in something or in a state of "absorption"? It is a common experience, for example, we get so involved in a TV show, video game, or mystery novel that we are surprised when the phone rings and brings us back to our usual scattered state which we think of as "reality."

The jhanas are eight heightened states of consciousness that arise during periods of strong concentration. They have the ability to temporarily purify heart and mind (making consciousness equanimous and imperturbable, bright and one pointed). They are naturally occurring states of mind, but learning how to enter them at will and then to stay in them for designated periods of time takes practice.

HOW TO ENTER THE JHANAS

There is very little actual instruction on how to "do" jhana practice in the sutras. [It more sort of happens naturally when we let go and sit without expectations or sensual distractions, frustrations or ambitions. It may be that all we can do is cultivate favorable conditions, the factors of absorption (jhananga) that oppose the Five Hindrances, for them to blossom on their own as a side effect of mental purification.]

One probable reason for this is that the jhanas were a well-known practice among serious spiritual seekers 2,600 years ago. Like today, when giving someone directions to our house, we do not include super basic information, such as how to start the car, shift gears, and so on.

So it might not have been considered necessary to explain how to do them. Another probable reason why few instructions exist in the sutras is that the jhanas are best learned in a one-on-one setting with a teacher. [And those who seek them tend to have some natural ability or affinity with them, obviating a need for much initial instruction about attaining them even as instructions become crucial on how to work with, develop, and master them.]

They do not lend themselves to "book learning." Let us examine each jhana and how one goes about "doing" them.

One thing that IS mentioned as contributing to a positive overall outcome in the pursuit of meditative absorption is not so much HOW it is done, but WHERE it is done, that is, the optimal place, dwelling, or setting.

Bhante G (Ven. Henepola Gunaratana, Abbot of the Bhavana Society in West Virginia), citing various sutras writes:

The factors which make a dwelling favorable to meditation are mentioned by the Buddha himself. If should not be too far from or too near a village that can be relied on as an alms resort, and should have a clear path: it should be quiet and secluded; it should be free from rough weather and from harmful insects and animals; one should be able to obtain one's physical requisites while dwelling there; and the dwelling should provide ready access to learned elders and spiritual friends who can be consulted when problems arise in meditation (A.v,15).

The types of dwelling places commended by the Buddha most frequently in the suttas as conductive to the jhanas are a secluded [deserted and peaceful] dwelling in the forest, at the foot of a tree, on a mountain, in a cleft, in a cave, in a cemetery, on a wooded flatland, in the open air, or on a heap of straw (M.i,181). Having found a suitable dwelling and settled there, the disciple should maintain scrupulous observance of the rules of discipline. [One] should be content with simple requisites, exercise control over sense faculties, be mindful and discerning in all activities, and practice meditation diligently as instructed. It is at this point that [one] meets the first great challenge of contemplative life, the battle with the Five Hindrances.

Seeking the jhana states in a more formal setting, the texts mention The 18 Faults of a Monastery. They are unfavorable to the development of jhana. They are: a large monastery, a new one, a dilapidated one, one near a road, one with a pond, leaves, flowers or fruits, one sought after by many people, one in cities, among fields of timber, where people quarrel, in a port, in border lands, on a frontier, a haunted place, and one without access to a spiritual teacher. More

The jhanas were not only at the heart of the Buddha's own practice but also at the heartof Buddhism. Even so, the jhanas are not enough. The Buddha's breakthrough took place only after he entered and emerged from the eighth absorption and with the defilement temporarily suppressed took up the practice of insight. His awakening did not occur in jhana but aided by them. Wisdom goes beyond the jhanas. Enlightenment is going even beyond beyond.

Pro-jhana

ATI: Jhana 

ATI: Right Concentration  

Samadhanga Sutta (AN, V.28) 

PRACTICAL ADVICE FOR MEDITATORS by Bhikkhu Khantipalo 

JhanasAdvice.com 

PaAuk.org

Anti-jhana

• VIPASSANA and JHANA: What the masters say 
• BuddhaNet: Ethnic Buddhism 

Another view

• Shikantaza 
• Hua T'ou

The importance of "Jhanas" in Buddhism

Stephanie Nash (mindfulnessarts.org) interviews Leigh Brasington, respected jhana meditation teacher about the "meditative absorptions." This is the beginning of a longer interview about the what, why, and how of jhanas as part of a meditation practice. Filmed in August 2009 at Cloud Mountain Retreat Center, Washington.

The Jhanas in Ancient Buddhism
Ven. Henepola Gunaratana ("Bhante G")
The various subjects and methods of meditation divide into two inter-related systems. One is called the development of serenity (samatha), the other the development of insight (vipassana).

The former also goes under the name of development of concentration (samadhi), the latter the development of wisdom (pañña). The practice of serenity meditation aims at developing a calm, concentrated, unified mind as a means of experiencing inner peace and as a basis for wisdom.

The practice of insight meditation aims at gaining a direct understanding of the real nature of phenomena.

Of the two, the development of insight is regarded by Buddhism as the essential key to liberation, the direct antidote to the ignorance underlying bondage and suffering.

Whereas serenity meditation is recognized as common to both Buddhist and non-Buddhist contemplative disciplines, insight meditation is held to be the unique discovery of the Buddha and an unparalleled feature of his path.

However, because the growth of insight presupposes a certain degree of concentration, and serenity meditation helps to achieve this, the development of serenity also claims an incontestable place in the Buddhist meditative process.

Jon Kabat Zinn narrates a guided meditation that corresponds to the first two stages of Ajahn Brahm's jhana meditation technique: (1) Letting go of past and future, placing attention on the body, (2) letting go of inner chatter, placing attention on sounds, (3) letting go of diversity, placing attention only on the breath.

Together the two types of meditation work to make the mind a fit instrument for enlightenment. With his mind unified by means of the development of serenity, made sharp and bright by the development of insight, the meditator can proceed unobstructed to reach the end of suffering, nirvana.

Pivotal to both systems of meditation, though belonging inherently to the side of serenity, is a set of meditative attainments called the jhanas. Though translators have offered various renderings of this word, ranging from the feeble "musing" to the misleading "trance" and the ambiguous "meditation," we prefer to leave the word untranslated and to let its meaning emerge from its contextual usages.

From these it is clear that the jhanas are states of deep mental unification that result from the centering of the mind upon a single object with such power of attention that a total immersion in the object takes place.

The early sutras speak of four absorptions, named simply after their numerical position in the series: the first jhana, the second jhana, the third jhana, and the forth jhana. In the sutras the four repeatedly appear each described by a standard formula, which we will examine later in detail.

The importance of the jhanas in the Buddhist path can readily be gauged from the frequency with which they are mentioned throughout the discourses. They figure prominently both in the Buddha's own experience and in his exhortation to disciples.

In his childhood, while attending an annual plowing festival, the future Buddha spontaneously entered the first jhana. It was the memory of this childhood incident, many years later [during his six year quest for enlightenment] after his futile pursuit of austerities, that revealed to him the way to enlightenment during his period of deepest despondency (M.i, 246-247).

After taking his seat beneath the Bodhi tree, [Siddhartha] entered the four jhanas immediately before direction his mind to the threefold knowledge that issued in his enlightenment (M.i.247-249).

Throughout his active career the four jhanas remained "his heavenly dwelling" (D.iii.220) to which he resorted in order to live happily here and now.

His understanding of the corruption, purification, and emergence in the jhanas and other meditative attainments is one of the Ten Powers [of a Buddha or Tathagata] which enable him to turn the matchless wheel of the Dharma (M.i.70).

Just before his passing away the Buddha entered the jhanas in direct and reverse order, and the passing away itself took place directly from the fourth jhana (D.ii.156).

The Buddha is constantly seen in the suttas encouraging his disciples to develop jhana. The four jhanas are invariably included in the complete course of training laid down for disciples ("Fruits of Recluseship" discourse (DN 2; MN 27).

They figure in the training as the discipline of the Noble Eightfold Path... More

Supporting American Buddhism (dana)

"I do not perceive anything, O monastics, that when undeveloped and uncultivated entails such great suffering as the mind. Indeed the mind when undeveloped and uncultivated entails great suffering!” - The Buddha (AN 1: 9)

What is Dana?

“How much does it cost to come to a retreat at Bhavana Society?” “There is no set fee.” “If there is no set fee, how can you operate?"

We are frequently asked the "suggested" donation for retreats at Bhavana Society Meditation Center. We cannot answer this question because that would be tantamount to setting a price. The Buddha’s teachings are priceless. So we offer services for dana. What is dana? Its simplest meaning is “generosity.”

We practice dana by offering the Buddha's teachings without a pricetag. Participants can practice dana by making a donation of money, time, and/or labor. Donations allow us to continue offering the teachings to others. This center was built and is maintained only by the generosity of those who value the teachings.

Along with sila (virtuous behavior) dana is considered essential to building a strong foundation where wisdom can arise through meditation. It is through the practice of dana that we learn to let go of greed (be it intense or subtle). If one would like to offer the center a financial donation, this link may be used:

• Dana: The Practice of Giving
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The Buddhist concept of Happiness

Bhante G (author of Mindfulness in Plain English, bhavanasociety.org, West Virginia)

Happiness in Pali is called sukha, which is used both as a noun meaning “happiness,” “ease,” “bliss,” and “pleasure,” and as an adjective meaning “blissful” and “pleasant.”

To understand the nature of happiness, a brief discussion of the Buddhist analysis of feeling is necessary. Feeling (vedana or sensation) is a mental factor present in all types of consciousness, a universal concomitant of experience. It has the characteristic of being felt, the function of experiencing, and as manifestation the gratification of the mental factors. It is invariably said to be born of contact (phassa), which is the coming together of a sense object, a sense faculty, and the appropriate type of consciousness.

When these three coalesce, consciousness makes "contact" with the object. It experiences the affective quality of the object. And from this experience a feeling or sensation arises keyed to the object’s affective quality.

Since contact is of six kinds (by way of the six sense faculties), feeling is also of six kinds: It corresponds to the six kinds of contact from which it is born. There is feeling born of eye-contact, feeling born of ear-contact, and so on. Feeling is also divided by way of its affective tone either into three or five classes. On the threefold division there is pleasant feeling (sukha-vedana), painful feeling (dukkha-vedana), and neither pleasant nor painful (i.e., neutral) feeling.

The pleasant feeling may be subdivided into bodily pleasant feeling called “pleasure” (sukha) and mental pleasant feeling (cetasika-sukha) called “joy” (somanassa)....

The five types of feeling: pleasure, joy, pain, displeasure, and equanimity

The Buddha enumerates contrasting types of mental happiness:

• the happiness of the household life and that of monastic life
• the happiness of sense pleasures and that of renunciation
• happiness with attachments and taints and happiness without attachments and taints
• worldly happiness and spiritual happiness
• the happiness of concentration and happiness without concentration
• Aryan happiness
• mental happiness
• happiness without joy
• happiness of equanimity
• happiness not aimed at joy
• happiness aimed at formless object[s]

Happiness associated with the wholesome roots produced by the renunciation of sensual enjoyments is spiritual happiness or the happiness of renunciation. The happiness of meditative absorption (jhana) is a spiritual happiness born of seclusion or withdrawal from sense pleasures and the Five Hindrances. It is also a happiness of concentration (samadhi-sukha).

There are numerous ways of bringing about happiness. “Friends bring happiness when a need has arisen; pleasant is contentment with whatever there might be; [to have accrued] merit is pleasant at life’s ending; and pleasant is the destruction of all suffering. Happy it is, in the world, to be a mother, and happy it is to be a father; happy, in the world, is the life of a recluse and happy is the state of Brahman. Happy is age-long virtue, and happy is confidence well-established; happy is the gaining of wisdom, and happy it is not to do evil [defined as deeds, words, and thoughts rooted in greed, hatred, delusion, and/or fear]. “Happy is the arising of the Awakened Ones; happy is the teaching of the Dharma; happy is the unity of the group, and happy is the ascetic life of the united” [Dh. 194, 331-333].

In pursuit of happiness many people are engaged in sense pleasures or self-indulgence in the extreme (hedonism). Because of the availability of ample opportunity for people to indulge in sensual pleasure, the human realm is called a plane of sensual pleasure.

As enjoying sensual pleasure is called happiness, to be born as a human being with all the senses complete is a happy occurrence. For one can experience a very high degree of sense pleasure through sensory stimuli. One can be happy thinking that one has plenty of wealth. For even the thought “I have enormous wealth” gives one a secure feeling. This feeling of possessiveness is one's happiness.

One can be happy consuming one's wealth in any manner one deems secure, entertaining one's senses in any manner one wishes, or sharing with relatives, friends, or giving charitably to whomever one pleases, or saving as much as one pleases, using wealth whenever one needs. One can be happy thinking that wealth was earned honestly. One can be happy thinking that one is free from debts [A.ii.p.69].

For these reasons, "happiness" has been defined by some as a "satisfaction of the will." If we obtain what we have been dreaming, we are said to be happy. Pursuing this definition of happiness, we may do countless things to fulfill our wishes so as to be happy. We may spend all our time, money, energy, skill, and opportunities to do our best to make our lives happy, or to bring happiness to the lives of others.

Considering all the possible variables available for the will to desire, this definition is inadequate. If we will to procure something perishable, changeable, impermanent, and subject to slipping from your grasp, procuring that particular object makes us more unhappy than not procuring it. Or if we obtain something and we have to spend our time, energy, peace, skill, even our health to protect it, safeguard it, and secure it, then we will experience more unhappiness than happiness.

Sariputra, echoing the Buddha’s explanation of sense desire, says to his fellow monastics: “There are these five strands of sense desire. What five? There are forms cognized by the eye, longed for, alluring, pleasurable, lovely, bound up with passion and desire. There are sounds cognized by the ear… smells by the nose… tastes by the tongue… contacts cognized by the body, longed for, alluring, pleasurable, lovely, bound up with passion and desire. These are the five strands of sense desire. And the happiness, the well-being arising therefrom is called sensuous happiness.”

Generally, people misconstrue the source of happiness. They think that by pleasing their insatiable desire they can be happy. They do not realize that the means available to them to please their desires are limited by time and space. When we try to obtain happiness by pleasing unlimited and insatiable desires by means limited by time and space, we end up frustrated, losing whatever relative happiness we have.

MONEY
Does wealth really bring happiness? Obviously not. For there are many wealthy people who live miserable, unhealthy lives. Does education bring happiness? Apparently not. For there are many well educated people who are more unhappy than those who are uneducated. Does this mean that the poor and uneducated are happier than the wealthy and educated? No, not at all. [Happiness is not in those things].

Does marrying someone whom we are passionately attached to bring happiness? No. Does divorce make us happy? Apparently not. Does being single bring happiness? No, not at all.

Some people believe that revenge makes them happy. But tit-for-tat actions never bring any happiness to anyone. In reality, an "eye for an eye" makes everybody miserable, not happy. It is not by cultivating, but by destroying hate, that happiness grows in our minds.

“One who with the rod harms the rodless and harmless soon will come to one of these states: One will be subject to acute pain, disaster, bodily injury, or even grievous sickness, or loss of mind, or oppression by the kind, or heavy accusation, or loss of relatives, or destruction of wealth, or ravaging fire that will burn one's house” [Dh. vs. 138 - 140].

“One who, seeking one's own happiness, does not torment with the rod beings that are desirous of happiness obtains happiness in the hereafter” [Dh. v. 132]. All of us without exception have within us the roots of happiness.

However, they are buried under our hatred, jealousy, tension, anxiety, worry, and other negative states of mind. In order to find the roots of happiness, we have to remove the roots of unhappiness and cultivate and nourish the roots of happiness.

Suppose one thinks of making oneself happy by killing, stealing, committing sexual misconduct, lying, or taking intoxicating drinks and drugs that cause infatuation and heedlessness, would that person really be happy?

Certainly one is not happy. Why? One's mind is confused by what one is doing. How can a person who is full of greed, hatred, and delusion be happy? How can a person who kills be happy? The Buddha said:

“To live without anger among the angry is, indeed, happy. To live unafflicted among the afflicted is happy. To live without ambition among the ambitious is happy. To live without possessions is a happy life like that of the radiant gods [devas]. To live without competition among those who compete is happy. For one “who wins creates an enemy, and unhappy does the defeated sleep. The one who is neither victor nor defeated sleeps happily” [Dh. v. 201]. “There is no happiness greater than the perfect calm” [Dh. 203].

“Good is the sight of Noble Ones; happy always is it to live with them; away from the sight of fools, one would always be happy” [Dh. 206]. Living with the wise is very comfortable and happy. “A wise person is pleasant. Living with the wise is very comfortable and happy. “A wise person is pleasant to live with as is the company of kin” [Dh. v. 207].

No matter how long our list of happiness is, we continue to be unhappy, frustrated, suffering without ever being successful in experiencing happiness -- unless we add the essential, absolutely necessary item to our list and execute it with diligence:

That item, number one on our list of priorities, is the purification of mind through the practice of virtue, concentration, and wisdom.

Whatever else we do without these essential and absolutely necessary components, we are not going to experience happiness, but the opposite of it. Happiness is the result of the purification of mind.

We will never find enduring happiness in greedy, hateful, deluded, or fearful states of mind. For these are the very roots of unhappiness, pain, and suffering. More>>

Fear of Serenity?

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"Right Concentration" (samma samadhi) is part of the Noble Eightfold Path. It is defined in many sutras as the Four Jhanas ("meditative absorptions"). This is fundamental to realizing the Dharma. So why are people afraid, and why do some teachers advise against, practicing jhana and Serenity Meditation? Renowned meditation expert, Bhante G (abbot of the Bhavana Society in West Virginia), explains.

• Audio Download
• Jhana Retreat Guided Meditation Nine - (more downloads)
• Dharma Articles
• Question: Morality, Concentration, Wisdom - (more articles)

Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness
Bhante Gunaratana

The Noble Eightfold Path is the core of the Buddha’s teaching and the fourth Noble Truth. In his book, Bhante G systematically discusses each step individually, while never losing sight of their relationship to each other or how they affect our daily lives. As always the author is clear and direct in language, with many practical examples drawn from real life experience, and lists of check-up points to help identify their role in our lives.

Wisdom Publications (Boston) 2003