30) Teachings On Happiness From The East

Our monkey minds misinterpret the world and give us the wrong advice. People around us misinterpret their world too, and give us the wrong advice. Our lives are one painful skirmish after another, based upon misinterpretation, wrong advice and wrong reactions.

We pretend the problem of unnecessary conflict doesn’t exist. Many of us don’t even realise there is a problem. We just think this is normal.

We have been brought up to bury our heads. We have been taught to ignore the conflict inside.

The result is a life of conflict and indecision. We feel, and we see conflict inside our heads, inside our homes, inside our schools, inside our work place, inside our town, inside our country, in our world on a global scale.

We quarrel with those we love, and wonder how it happened. We suffer angry outbursts, are riddled with turbulent thoughts. We are doubtful, confused. 

We are fighting ourselves and as well as others. And the conflict weakens us …. It makes us unhappy.

If we can see how misinterpretation is affecting our lives, we can change it, and learn to be constantly, blissfully happy. The Bhagavad Gita and the Patanjalis Yoga Sutras are wonderful ancient scriptures from the East. They teach us how to stop mental turmoil, misinterpretation and therefore how to find true happiness.

29) The Beauty Of The Bhagavad Gita

The Bhagavad Gita tells us in the second chapter:

"When we overcome the confusions of the physical world, we experience a kind of unity with all life, and then peace and clarity follow."

The confusions are the ripplings of the mind.

If we learn to control these ripplings, these disturbances, we can see the beauty of now.

Then we can learn to live in the present moment, without constantly thinking about yesterday or tomorrow.

If we can also learn to interpret the world around us correctly, as simply a result of cause and effect, then we realise that no one is to blame.

All we need to do, is live ethically, love without expectation, give our time generously with no thought of reward, be kind, be compassionate.

If we can do this, we will live a life full of equanimity, joy and happiness.

28) Be Kind To Yourself

One of the first observances we follow when we bring the yoga sutras into our life, is non-violence.

This means avoiding violence to others AND oneself. 

It means non-violence in thought, word and deed.

Non-violence also means being kind, generous and compassionate.

We try to focus on being kind, generous and compassionate to every person we come into contact with, on a daily basis.

We often forget that the most important person we need to show kindness, generosity and compassion to, is ourselves.

How can we genuinely treat others in this loving, positive way, if we cannot treat ourselves in this way first?  

So treat yourself with kindness and compassion. And be happy!

27) Heaven or Hell?

Control of the ripplings of the mind is yoga.

The brain moves quickly. But between receiving messages from our senses, to the resultant like or dislike created, there is a world of pain.

For example, the delicious smell of freshly baked bread reaches our nose.

First we sniff the air. Then we realise it is the smell of  bread baking. Then we want to eat some of that bread. We suddenly feel hungry. We imagine the bread to be delicious and we crave the taste of it on our tongue. We become irritated because we have no cash on us to buy the bread. We see someone else buying it and become jealous. And so on.

If we had felt happy that some other lucky individual was buying the bread and would soon be enjoying it, we would feel liberated and at peace.

In fact, our world around us, and everything, and everyone in it, is our own interpretation.

We interpret the messages our senses send us, then we project our own ideas, our interpretation, or misinterpretation, back onto the world.

If we interpret a hell, we suffer.

If we interpret a heaven, we are happy.

We control our mind. There is nothing in the world to bind our interpretation. We choose how to interpret the world.

See the heaven all around you, appreciate your life, and be happy.

26) Bliss

We can see that ultimate reality in everything is pure, clear and empty.

Our core is pure, clear and empty.

We continue to practice and travel nearer to our goal. We remove all negative seeds and thoughts like jealousy, anger, craving.

We finally stop misinterpreting the world, which was once our habit.

We no longer see the world the wrong way.

Once complete and total purity is reached, advanced souls can blissfully see both realities through all of their senses, at the same time.

At this stage, a person is beyond fear. He experiences complete bliss constantly. 

He can really, genuinely, completely be happy.

25) True Meditation

We can see the ultimate reality in everything is pure, clear and empty.

We have started removing the negative seeds in our minds.

When we are meditating and we feel a series of experiences, usually calming, pleasant, blissful, they are still just experiences. 

We now see they are happening because of conditions.

The real Self is that core which is always clear and bright and pure, unchanging, free from all conditionings.

Real meditation is free of any input from our mind,  thoughts  or emotions.

In meditation, absorption on this clear, pure core, we start to remove the seeds in our minds forever, and we can start to really be happy, in the deepest most enduring way possible.

24) Emptiness

Conditioned, dependant arising is the fact that everything and everyone is here as a result of something else. The table is here because a tree grew, was cut down, was made into a table and was transported here.

The same is true for our thoughts and emotions. They occur because of stimuli, because of seeds of thought generated by other things.

Take anger. It originates from something else. An unpleasant thought creates a perception, an idea in your mind. Maybe you have a feeling that someone doesn’t like you. From that idea there is a lot of thinking which goes on. Then the thinking becomes unbalanced, and turns into anger.

The anger comes from perceptions (usually misinterpreted and therefore wrong), which may have become habits, and in this way it can continue on and on.

So everything is dependent on the conditions. When there is one thing present it is only there because of another thing being present.

The experience you are having is an interplay between your senses and your thoughts, perceptions, emotions. The experience is empty of any origin itself, it is happening because of other things.

This is emptiness, or conditioned, dependent arising.

Our self, our personality is something that is put together, arranged, made.

You may decide to act in a certain way towards a friend. You may do the same thing again and again, creating a habit. It can seem that your personality is this habit, that this is you. In fact, the personality is a result of conditioned arising.

At your core you are really empty of habit.

Go back to your core, and you see that in fact you are clear and bright and pure.

Condition gives rise to seeds.

Seeds give rise to thoughts.

Thoughts give rise to actions.

Actions give rise to habit.

Habit produces destiny.

When the truth of this hits us, like a train, and we start to watch ourselves, the way our thoughts run, and we learn, we can truly learn to be happy.

23) Ultimate Reality

Ultimate reality is like a diamond.

To begin, we can’t see ultimate reality unless we are in meditation, clear and balanced. Then we are unaware of ourselves and absorbed completely, like water poured into water.

Being absorbed in this way, means we are well on the way towards the goal, to be happy, fulfilled, at peace.

When we are not in meditation, we cannot see ultimate reality, even though it is all around us, everywhere.

We go back to seeing the world as we always have, misinterpreting all we see. We go back to self-grasping, to delusion, to fiction… the source of all our problems.

We fail to appreciate the “emptiness” of all things. Emptiness is not nothingness.

Emptiness at our core is the clear pure light of Self, only That.

This is when we can say “I Am That.”

22) Positive Seeds

The world each of us sees is simply a product of our own seeds, our own thoughts.

Wanting to help one person find happiness changes these seeds in our mind.

Wanting to help all beings find happiness changes these seeds in our mind massively.

Even if the wish is a feeble one at first, the seeds in our mind change. So the thoughts in our mind change drastically too.

Everything, everywhere is altered, because our world is a product of our own seeds and thoughts.

The seeds in our mind are altered in all states of wakefulness. 

Even in the dream state, we become more lucid, and we try to improve.

Thinking the four thoughts creates bliss deep inside us. We can be doing the housework, or making a cuppa, or …. anything, anywhere. Just wanting to help others makes us blissfully happy.

Focusing on the four thoughts, is hugely empowering. We start to find that we become very good at everything we do. Our natural abilities improve.

We feel that in some crazy way, we are being carried along on a tidal wave of positive energy.

We can be happy.

21) Ultimate Love

The four thoughts of kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity ultimately produce a feeling of infinite love for all beings.

They trigger total freedom from selfishness, which is the ultimate liberation.

When we have total liberation from selfishness, ultimate love explodes.

Ultimate love is total selfless.

Ultimate love, once ignited, is there for the rest of your life.

Ultimate love is being completely focused on helping every living being achieve happiness, and wishing for nothing else.

The most precious thing we can do in life is help everyone to be happy.

20) Practicing Balance, Kindness, Compassion, Joy, Equanimity

Keeping balanced keeps the mind free from turbulence. It keeps the mind bright and aware.

Regular contemplation of infinite kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity, to achieve happiness for all living beings, changes our lives in a BIG way!

Contemplation on these four gives real meaning to our lives. We know we weren’t meant to just live, consume and die. Deep inside we know we were meant for much greater things. We were meant to love, serve, help and nurture others, and to help make them happy.

This shifts our focus from selfish things such as our next holiday, house, car, to focusing on the things in life that are genuinely fulfilling, rewarding.

Selfishly focusing on ways to get bigger and better holidays, houses, cars is compulsive, exhausting and leaves us feeling empty.

Helping others find happiness helps us Be Happy! 

19) How Can We Stop The Pain?

How Do We Stop The Thoughts Which Produce Pain?

There is really only one way to achieve lasting happiness.

By using infinite kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. 

Constant use will stop the pain and create happiness.

We can do this when we can keep our feelings in balance.

We can learn this. It requires practice, practice, practice.

·         If something is enjoyable, stay balanced.

·         If something hurts, stay balanced.

·         If something is distasteful, stay balanced.

·         If something makes you feel great, stay balanced.

In order to achieve balance, we MUST really desire it. If we are not motivated, we will not succeed. If we are motivated, we will succeed.

Every second of our life, we can feel genuine love for all the life forms out there.

We need infinite kindness, a burning desire to somehow make all living beings happy, on our own if necessary.

We need infinite compassion to take away every pain of all living beings, on our own if necessary.

We need to be infinitely joyful and enthusiastic about looking after, nurturing, helping all life in all its forms, on our own if necessary.

We need to keep infinite equanimity in all situations, whether we feel well or we feel ill, still driven to help everyone everywhere, on our own if necessary.