The Buddhist View On Happiness | 2 Aug 2024

Ajahn Anan explains that true happiness, from a Buddhist perspective, isn't found in external conditions or fleeting pleasures. Instead, it arises from within through understanding and practicing the Dhamma. He guides us to see that our constant desires and attachments often lead to suffering, while letting go and living a simple life cultivate genuine contentment.

It's a beautiful reminder that the path to lasting peace lies in our own understanding and practice.

Transcript

When our minds have run off with moods and thoughts of the past or of the future,

Then samadhi,

Concentration is not firm,

Sati,

Mindfulness is not in the present.

We know that the mind is currently scattered.

If our mindfulness is firmly established,

Then we know the mind is scattered and the scatteredness ceases.

This is called the mind is just known as being simply a mind.

It is not a being,

Person,

Self,

Me or other.

We see that scatteredness is just a mental phenomena.

It arises,

Stays and ceases.

We can contemplate it as being a mental phenomena.

But mostly our strength of mindfulness and samadhi is not sufficient.

So we need to chant first.

Like chanting the verses beginning with Ittipiso,

Suvagato,

Supatipanno for 108 times.

Or chanting the Bahung chant or the Chinnapunjara gatha.

We chant till the mind becomes peaceful.

Some monks who can chant the padimokkha will use the padimokkha chant.

Because chanting requires memory and determination.

They may be in a lonely place which brings up fear.

And then they chant the padimokkha for 45 minutes and the mind feels at ease.

Those who have experience staying in a place which is open and solitary can notice that the mind can feel as if it's drifting off,

Which can happen at night.

The mind has a feeling that there are some currents of energy that contact the mind.

And when we look at the mind we know that the mind is starting to be chaotic and not peaceful.

Being in a forest of thousands of acres,

It's like we are alone.

The birds chirp,

The monkeys call out,

The sound echoes through the forest.

It's secluded.

But the more seclusion there is,

Then there's a possibility of feeling lonely.

So you need to go over chanting.

Think of the Buddha,

Think of the Dhamma and Sangha.

So the chants we do in the morning and evening group pujas,

We repeat them till it comes up easily in the heart.

In the time we have various dangers coming up,

We pick up a chant and it can make our mind peaceful.

Because our mind runs.

It runs with all the sense objects and experiences.

The sense objects that make us happy,

We think about it and remember it.

So everyone desires this.

They desire happiness.

This is the happiness in the world.

It's called gama-sukha.

It's happiness coming from getting sights,

Sounds,

Odours,

Tastes,

Bodily sensations,

Mind objects,

That satisfies our desires.

We want to get them.

But the happiness from central pleasures in the world are paired with pain from central pleasures.

Which means the central pleasures are a cause that makes suffering arise.

When the happiness disappears,

Or the things that give us happiness parts from us,

Like loved ones departing from us,

Then suffering arises.

Or we have this body.

This rupa,

Physical body,

Is the happiness of ours,

Of our minds.

If the body is strong,

Then we have mental happiness.

We can walk,

Speak and eat fine.

But one day it deteriorates and decays.

The eyes don't see so clearly.

The different parts of the body start to have problems.

The knees that we used to be able to walk easily have decayed.

We use it a lot and it gets worn out.

And our mind may get bothered by it.

We are not at ease.

And we are displeased by it.

Because we can't use this body like we did in the past.

This is the blame of physical form.

If we don't know this in time,

Then we keep suffering ever onwards.

This is the separation of loved things.

The body that has strength and completeness is what is the loved thing of the mind.

If we can accept it as it is,

According to the truth,

That what arises is normal,

Then the mind doesn't suffer.

The body will decay according to its nature.

So this is in regards to the happiness in this world.

The second type of happiness is happiness from samadhi,

Which is what we are training in now.

When we get samadhi arising,

Then we see the mind is more cool and peaceful.

The mind yields and humbles itself to the Dhamma.

The heart is cooled.

It brings one towards the Dhamma easily.

We can listen to the Dhamma and understand it easily.

We accept the truth very easily.

So we practice following the faith that we have in the Buddha,

Dhamma,

Sangha.

This faith has effort to practice accordingly.

When we want to have happiness in the world,

We try to gain it,

According to our strength and means.

We don't harm ourselves and don't harm others.

If we wish to have more happiness from the quality of samadhi,

Then we need to put effort into practicing it.

We have to make an effort to fight against the old mind states and moods.

This is because the happiness in the world is the happiness from sights,

Sounds,

Odours,

Tastes,

Bodily sensations and mind objects,

Which are obstructions to us to not get the happiness of samadhi.

So we need to put all the sense objects of the world down first.

We stay with the kamatthana,

The meditation object,

Butto,

Dhammo,

Sangho,

The in and out breath,

Or chanting.

We establish our samadhi to be good,

Which is recollecting to be in the present.

When the mind is peaceful,

We can call it khanika samadhi,

A little bit of samadhi,

Or there is a more concentrated samadhi,

Or the samadhi that is on the level of one-pointedness,

Which is called apanat samadhi.

In the beginning,

If our barami,

Spiritual virtues are not enough,

Then we get a little bit of samadhi first.

Like we can listen to dhamma and we feel the mind is full and happy.

Sometimes we feel that the hairs stand on end,

The tears flow,

And the body feels light.

Or we sit and feel like the waves are crashing on the shore.

There are sensations of flushes or flashes in the mind.

These are the five forms of bhitti,

Rapture.

The body can feel as if it expands and gets as big as a whole hall.

It's so light,

Like it will penetrate the hall,

Feeling like it's floating in the air.

This is a form of rapture.

If this arises in the dhamma practitioner,

They may have doubts about what this is.

We read the text and it says that it is rapture arising from the peace of mind.

And it may not be while we're listening to the dhamma.

We may hear about someone making merit and we give our anumodhana,

We rejoice,

And we have rapture coming up.

Or we give dhana,

We donate to the poor,

And we feel inwardly full.

We have inner happiness and feelings of fullness.

Even it may not be much wealth,

But the receiver is delighted and we feel completely satisfied.

This is rapture arising.

So someone with intelligence knows how to make merit,

Which makes our mind have rapture arise.

It can be from helping in Buddhist works,

And we have rapture arise,

Feelings of satisfaction.

Some people have a lot of strength of mind in helping the work and duties of Buddhism or in the various social works.

I don't know where they get the strength of mind from.

It's a great strength of mind.

They do it and they feel inner happiness and fulfillment.

They offer it as puja,

Homage to the Buddha,

Dhamma,

Sangha.

This is called goodness.

We can call it merit.

It's meritorious.

There is the merit from giving dhana,

From keeping precepts,

And from bhavana,

Mental cultivation.

When we cultivate the mind like this,

This is us wanting to have a higher level of happiness,

That is having jhana,

Mental absorptions.

But in the beginning,

We can't yet get it.

So we'll get up to it in steps.

It is momentary samadhi.

Then,

When we practice samadhi more often,

The body and mind are light.

It's emptiness.

It's amazing as well.

It's called access concentration.

And especially at the time when the wisdom of ours arises,

And we see all things as being something impermanent,

The body is impermanent.

It decays for us to see.

All the material objects,

We currently see them as being solid and permanent.

Then one day we see it from knowing,

From wisdom,

That these things are currently arising and ceasing.

And currently,

We understand it by what we have learnt.

We build material objects,

Or build various buildings,

And they have about a hundred year lifespan.

There is good wood and good cement,

And it decays.

But if we see it according to wisdom,

Then we see it on a deeper level.

We see it currently decaying and deteriorating.

It's happening right now.

Seeing like this is called wisdom arising.

We see that our life is closing in on death.

We see it clearly with wisdom.

So we need to find the way out.

And Dhamma practice is the way out of all suffering.

We may have rapture arise for three days and three nights.

This is coming from wisdom,

From vipassana insight arising.

But if it's solely samadhi,

Then its goal is to head towards peace until getting to jhana.

The mind is then stilled.

It can restrain,

Hold down the greed,

Anger and delusion.

But it's the restraining of the kalesas,

The mental defilements.

It doesn't remove the defilements at all.

This is called practicing samadhi.

It is the happiness in samadhi.

Sometimes having happiness in samadhi like this,

We do like it.

We aren't interested in anything else.

Being in samadhi is better than things outside of us.

They can't compare to samadhi at all.

The mind is full,

Happy and peaceful.

This is happiness of the second type.

So hermits or dhamma practitioners who absorb into this type of happiness,

Many will be reborn as a brahma god.

But it's a worldly,

Mundane brahma.

So when the strength of samadhi is lost,

Then from being a brahma,

They will come back to be born in the human realm again.

But it's a higher happiness than the happiness from sights,

Sounds,

Odours,

Tastes,

Bodily sensations and mind objects,

Which have suffering arising with it as well.

So happiness in sensual pleasures has the six levels of heaven.

If it's higher than this,

Then it's the happiness of a brahma,

The second type of happiness.

The third form of happiness is the happiness of knowing and understanding of the dhamma.

It is able to cease the defilements bit by bit,

Which is nibbāna bit by bit.

If we get nibbāna,

It is the ultimate happiness.

But if we haven't got this nibbāna,

Then we need to train and struggle so that samadhi arises and contemplate to have wisdom arise.

Like I've previously explained,

When we can see the sāpāva dhamma,

The nature of reality,

Then the mind is cleared and transcendent.

It can let go.

Because it sees the truth of rūpa and nāma,

Material and mental phenomena being anicca,

Dukkha,

Anatta,

Impermanent,

Unsatisfactory and not-self.

Like Venerable Anya Kodanya,

Who understood deeply,

And the Pañcawākīya,

The five ascetics,

Who understood deeply that material and mental phenomena has arising and ceasing as being normal.

This is the teaching of the Sama Sambuddha,

The perfectly self-awakened Buddha.

So we need to train in it.

We know that nibbāna is the highest happiness.

There's only good.

But we can't get it yet.

So we try to do it bit by bit.

Starting from developing goodness,

From giving dāna,

From keeping sila,

Precepts.

Or we go at times when dhamma practitioners go to the monastery for one day and one night,

Three days and three nights,

Or seven days and seven nights.

They are determined to practice and cultivate their minds.

And especially in the vāsa,

The three-month rains retreat,

The monks and novices will practice and train the mind by eating one meal,

Eating only in the bowl,

Not speaking,

Trying to sleep a little,

Or not sleeping at night all through the vāsa.

Various practices like this are to polish and buff the mind.

They are tutanga,

Austere practices,

In order to have a stricter mind.

They are all so that the mind will gain peace,

And by having sila as its foundation.

The laity have the five moral precepts and the eight precepts on the weekly lunar observance days.

Novices have the ten precepts.

Monks have the 227 precepts.

So they are up to our strength and ability that we can undertake.

And we train this mind to be peaceful,

So that we can gain peace of mind.

And the peacefulness of mind is so that it can be progressed to have wisdom,

The wisdom which knows the truth.

We see the body as us.

If we see the body as us,

That it is our self,

Belonging to us,

Then this means the mind is deluded.

If we talk in the way of a sage,

Then it's being deluded in self.

Deluded in self,

That it is truly our self.

If we know that this body is truly not self,

Then this is seeing according to the truth,

Which is that we have then seen the self,

That this self is not a self.

It is natural elements going their way according to nature.

We then understand.

How do our bodies grow bigger?

They grow from food,

Air,

Water,

The fire element.

We grow and get bigger from eating food,

And our bodies get bigger.

And we take it all as a self.

Whatever goes into this body,

It's all us and ours.

Our mind attaches to it like this.

If we never learn about this,

Then we don't know it at all.

We were born,

And it's all us,

Continually.

Aging is us.

Sickness is us.

Death is us.

Birth is us.

But the Buddha taught us to see it as not us,

Because we have wisdom.

So then we won't suffer.

So we need to learn about it.

And it's just left now that we need to try to practice the Dhamma,

So that we can understand it,

To be able to see the truth,

The truth of material and mental phenomena.

This is the way to Nibbāna,

Which is the third type of happiness.

It's a happiness that has no suffering mixed in with it,

And we're able to get it.

The first type of happiness is the happiness in sights,

Sounds,

Odors,

Tastes,

Bodily sensations,

And mind objects.

We already know about these sensual pleasures.

But the second type of happiness we need to train in to get samādhi,

And we convert that samādhi to contemplate to get wisdom,

Which will then be the third type of happiness,

Arising bit by bit.

So may you be determined to train and instruct yourselves like this every day,

Until you get to true happiness,

Which is Nibbāna.

May you grow in blessings.

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🙏🏾 2025.