The Buddha identified three kinds of happiness: dukkha-sukkha, or happiness that’s dependent on the conditions of your life; anicca-sukkha, or happiness that is based on our mind state; and sukkha-sukkha, happiness that’s independent of the conditions of your life or your mind state. .... ........... In the Four Noble Truths, which are among the cornerstone teachings of Buddhism, the Buddha focused primarily on suffering, or duhkha, as a gateway to finding freedom from suffering. But he also taught that being mindful of sukha, or the pleasant and happy times in your life, can provide the same liberating insights as moments of anxiety do. So I suggest to practice being mindful of the moments of happiness. The reason is not just so youll appreciate the many gifts in your life, although that’s certainly valuable. Instead, the purpose is for you to develop a more subtle relationship to joy that will bring you a greater sense of well-being in both happy and unhappy times. By that I mean experiencing a type of happiness that’s profoundly different than anything else in our lives. It’s referred to in various spiritual traditions by many different terms—enlightenment, emptiness, nirvana. Essentially, it’s the freedom that comes from no longer being identified with your ego sense of self. You become liberated from the feelings of fear, stress, and suffering that inevitably come when you are identified with the ego, which is always coping with the fragility, uncertainty, and unavoidable loss and death of physical life. Most often this form of happiness occurs out of the blue. It may happen on a meditation retreat, or it can follow an accident or life-threatening illness, or it can arise out of a spontaneous relaxation into the sacred now, without your having a clue as to why it occurred. But it’s also possible, through what I call happiness practice, to cultivate states of mind that will bring you more-frequent glimpses of this ultimate freedom. Even a small taste of it gives you the sense of what’s possible and can provide faith and inspiration for your practice. The first thing to understand about happiness practice is that it is a practice. Just as you sometimes struggle in your asana practice with poses you’d rather avoid, you may find some elements of this practice difficult, as well. Just know that there’s a reason for the difficulty and have faith that your efforts will bring you closer to a state that’s even more rewarding than are your conventional ideas about joy. To do happiness practice, you first need to develop clarity about the various types of happiness you feel. In my experience as a vipassana practitioner and a teacher, I’ve observed that there are three types: The first arises when conditions in your life are what you desire them to be; the second is the sense of well-being that comes when your mind is joyful and at ease, regardless of the conditions of your life in that moment; and the third is the unbounded joy you feel when your mind has reached final liberation. To understand each of the types more deeply, I suggest using three tools: mindfulness, investigation, and appreciation. #PhillipMoffitt
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 03:31:01 +0000