Nothing outside yourself can cause any trouble.
You yourself make the waves in your mind.
If you leave your mind as it is, it will become calm.
Shunryu Suzuki Roshi
Category: Look for Happiness
Where contentment comes from
Doesn’t contentment come from the heart rather than from having everything you want? This sense of gratitude and contentment creates a mental state that’s very pure and conducive for seeing clearly. Our society is very restless, very critical, very aware of what’s wrong. We’re always thinking of ways to make things better than they are…. We’ve developed the intellect — the ability to experiment, the wonders of modern science and so forth — but we’ve done it mostly out of curiosity and greed. If we had developed wisdom as well, then our intelligence would work in harmony with nature rather than by exploiting it.
Ajahn Sumedho, There’s No Place Like Here
Having possibilities but not fixed outcomes for the day
That is why the sage can act without effort
and teach without words,
nurture things without possessing them,
and accomplish things without expecting merit:
only one who makes no attempt to possess it, cannot lose it.
Lao Tzu
Light and darkness
When you possess light within, you see it externally, Anais Nin.
Yesterday was the Summer Solstice, the northern hemisphere’s longest day of sunlight, the official start of Summer in this part of the world, when the northern polar axis of the earth tilts most sunwards and longer days of sunlight follow. Traditional cultures knew the significance of this date and marked it by lighting bonfires. This tradition passed into the Christian era with the lighting of bonfires and fireworks on Midsummer’s Day or in some European countries on the eve of the feast of Saint John, le feu de la Saint-Jean.
Fire, light, festivals. They remind us that our lives need moments of joy and celebration. We can forget this when we are in a difficult place, like when we are faced with new challenges. Our mind switches into danger mode and narrows its focus, dominated by thoughts of the difficulty. The Chinese Proverb “When you only have two pennies left in the world, buy bread with one and a lily with the other” reminds us that even in hardship, we need to create reminders of beauty and warmth. Our circumstances are always changing. Life can at times be difficult or dark. It it how we live in those dark moments which determines whether we suffer. Even with little means we can decide to celebrate, we can choose to notice the beauty in our lives. It is true that we can certainly be cheered when the sun shines outside. However, largely our sense of contentment is determined by what we do within. “Difficulties are inevitable, suffering is optional” the phrase reminds us. To paraphrase that in the light of the start of summer – a lack of sun may be inevitable from time to time, but darkness within is optional.
Searching outside ourselves
Because we don’t always understand what it means to be in relationship to the present moment, we search. […] What are we searching for? Depending on our particular life, our background and conditioning, what we search for may seem different from one person to another; but really we’re all looking for an ideal life. Something seems to be missing right here, so I’m interested in searching for the missing part. What if we cease this looking, searching? What are we left with? We’re left with what’s been right there at the center all the time. Underneath all that searching there is distress. There is unease. The minute that we realize that, we see that the point isn’t the search, but rather the distress and unease which motivate the search. That’s the magic moment – when we realize that searching outside of ourselves is not the way.
We begin to see that it isn’t the searching that’s at fault, but something about where we look. And we return more and more to the disappointment, which is always at the center. We’re in pain and we use the search to alleviate that pain. We begin to see that the pain comes because we are pinching ourselves. The very peace we’ve been searching for so hard lies in recognizing this fact: I’m pinching myself. No one’s doing it to me.
Charlotte Joko Beck
What we think we need for happiness
On one of the few sunny days recently, I was walking along the lanes near our house and took this photograph of the cows happily eating in the farm next door. It reminded me of the old Buddhist tale which I have posted about before, but because it follows some of the themes of the last few days I will return to it again here. Mindfulness practice helps us see that our sense of wellbeing can be increased if we stop trying to hold onto our idea of what life should be like, and instead move towards what life actually is like. So this leads to another meaning in the words “let go” – letting go what we think we need for happiness and the conditions we feel must be fulfilled in order for happiness to come.
The story is here told by Thich Nhat Hahn, and like all parables can speak to us in different ways at different moments in our lives. Hopefully it may speak to you in some way today:
One day the Buddha was sitting in the forest with some monks when a farmer approached them. The farmer said, “Venerable monks, did you see my cows come by? I have a dozen cows and they all ran away. On top of that I have five acres of sesame plants and this year the insects ate them all up. I think I am going to kill myself. It isn’t possible to live like this”
The Buddha felt a lot of compassion toward the farmer. He said “My friend, I am sorry, we did not see your cows come this way”. When the farmer had gone, the Buddha turned to his monks and said “My friends, Do you know why you are happy? Because you have no cows to lose”
I would like to say the same to you. If you have some cows you have to identify them. You think they are essential to your happiness, but if you practice deep looking, you will see that it is not these cows that have brought about your happiness. The secret of happiness is being able to let go of your cows.
Mindfulbalance 