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Finding true happiness and how does this work?
Hello everyone,
I hope that being enlightened is really something that reflects what it is that it suggests. How can I become happy until I become enlightened?
Many thanks,
Simon
I hope that being enlightened is really something that reflects what it is that it suggests. How can I become happy until I become enlightened?
Many thanks,
Simon
0
Comments
I love your inquisitiveness! Are you unhappy? You might want to start looking at why you are unhappy, and take it from there. Being skillful with the stuff in our lives typically leads us toward more joy, but it really depends on the conditions in your world at this moment.
With warmth,
Matt
I am confused about how the universe interprets my actions. For example, I would consider (should I have structured this universe myself) that eating chocolate and other junk foods would ask the universe to replace that energy with real love, and that taking intoxicating substances would say to the universe "actually I don't want it, take it away" ... I find that neither approach makes any difference.
Do you think that Buddha fasted before he became enlightened to pay for the suffering in the universe that had been created before he became enlightened?
The Buddha fasted because he wished to discover whether self-deprivation was a step towards Understanding and eliminating Suffering.
he discovered it wasn't, which is why he began to eat again, and established The Middle Way.
Everything in Moderation - Including Moderation.
The Universe doesn't owe you a thing, and you owe the universe nothing.
The basis of finding True, Inner Happiness, equanimous Joy, deep serenity and Contentment - is to Understand the origin of Suffering, or stress, and the cessation of suffering, or stress.
That's it.
That's what the Buddha taught, and that's what we all need to learn.
I am a little unsure of what your question is asking. Are you saying that you wish "eating chocolates" would be replaced by "real love" in your universe? I do not think the universe interprets your actions any more than the earth interprets a seed that is planted into it.
I wonder if you are trying to dream of mythic realities, rather than experience the one you have. Would you be more specific as to what you're seeking in this line of questions?
With warmth,
Matt
Everyone is looking for true happiness because of the inherent unsatisfactoriness(dukkha) in life. Most look for this happiness outside not realising that the answer lies within themselves.
Enlightenment is a state free from wanting and not wanting.
"What kind of a person does Enlightenment produce?"
Said the Master:
"To be public-spirited and belong to no party,
to move without being bound to any given course,
to take things as they come,
have no remorse for the past,
no anxiety for the future,
to move when pushed,
to come when dragged,
to be like a mighty gale,
like a feather in the wind,
like weeds floating on a river,
like a mill-stone meekly grinding,
to love all creation equally
as heaven and earth are equal to all
— such is the product of Enlightenment."
On hearing these words one of the younger disciples cried, "This sort of teaching is not for the living but for the dead," and walked away, never to return.
Anthony de Mello
I don't think one can become truly happy until they become enlightened. Fortunately, enlightenment happens little bit by little bit, and so does the accompanying happiness ... so we don't have to wait for some big "bang" of enlightenment to hit us on the head.
Ha.
Well I see that like that is important, but also like that obviously there doesn't always need to be like that. Sudden would be better I think, perhaps I will redesign some of this "enlightenment" later on...
Love and Light!!!
those two are different things.
You could try helping other people, forgetting about your self for a while, see how that works.
Metta,
Abu
Yes indeed, the word "enlightenment" does contain the word "light". But
I don't think that my Buddhist monk teacher has ever mentioned anything like what you are referring to in the 10+ years I've been taking classes.
Just before Buddhahood one may be on the "Path of No More Learning", yet before entering that path, one may be an enlightened being, yet reside in Nirvana with remainder. What is it that remains? Ignorance?
Nirvana with remainder refers to someone who has achieved nirvana (an arhat), but has not yet died. The remainder is the physical body.
Paradoxically it requires accepting the inevitability of suffering, as described in the First Noble Truth.
P
If you adopt a broken toy mentality, complaining about what is wrong all the time and forgetting what you can do, you will be pretty much screwed. Many people think like that. Just ask yourself what is easier: naming 5 problems you currently have or 5 things that would make your life fulfilling? Is your mind usually focused on what goes wrong or on what you are trying to accomplish? How many hours of your day are spent idling or complaining instead of building the life you want?
Your life purpose should never be in the future. You don't want get carried away on the path of the ego, which is also pretty much the opposite to Buddhist teachings.
Your purpose of life should be to accept the moment, whatever it brings, in the moment.
Whatever you're trying to accomplish in the future, won't bring you the fulfillment you are looking for.
I think your description of "build their beings on the ego" is mistakenly interpreting the reasons to have purpose or goals for the future. When we plant a seed, we have the hope that it will grow, our mission becomes to furnish the seed with what it needs to grow, and have acceptance that in the present, it is growing exactly on schedule. The purpose feeling doesn't dissolve, but we can see that it is ultimately empty.
When people first start walking the path, their desires for self evolving and enlightenment do pull them out of rutted thinking. Much like a child first learning to walk, they may lean a little too far forward in the beginning, but that's great. They'll balance out eventually, as they practice and become more skillful with their footfalls. The same is true of desires. We may wish too far in the future to see what is present in front of us, but as we become more skillful, we see closer and closer to what is in front of us, and we find we quite naturally don't need to lean.
With warmth,
Matt
I agree with you, but I also believe this does not go for every purpose.
And this is how I felt, what Nameless was suggesting in his post. To 'think up' some purpose to live for, to feel some fulfillment. I believe that's for the ego.
Even a purpose for enlightenment in the end becomes no purpose.
If one 'creates' some purpose for ones life, one will deal with it with ego and that is why I think it's not a very good suggestion. That which creates the purpose, is the ego. Even for enlightenment.
Happiness and its opposite are both conditions of mind. Nirvana <s>enlightened</s> is the cessation of all conditions...
Regards
Yet another great post Matt.