levels of happiness
Jan. 5th, 2022 07:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cattasallaWhile the Buddha's message coheres into a cohesive whole, he didn't give the same teaching to everyone. Not everyone has the same goals and interests. He taught what was best for whom he was teaching to.
Some people just wanted a good rebirth. That's fine, he taught basic ethics to secure a good rebirth.
Some people just want to be a little happier in their lives, but not eliminate all their stress and discomfort. Some people find a certain level of discomfort tolerable, unnoticeable even. He taught for them, too.
And some people want to make a complete end to all stress and suffering. Some people want to leave the wheel of rebirth, wandering in the realms from lifetime to lifetime, and reach the Deathless. He taught them--us--too.
I've been spending time with a Plum Village group. I love Thich Nhat Hanh, he is brilliant, and has done a wonderful job bringing Buddhism to the west. I first took refuge from his nephew, in fact.
But one thing that strikes me about TNH is a catchphrase I hear a lot from him, "You have all the conditions you need to be happy in this present moment." If I were to sum up his teachings as I understand them, that would be it.
Look at that: Conditions. You have all the conditions for happiness right here, right now. Conditions. He's still speaking of a conditional happiness, one you just have to arrange the conditions for to bring about (or realize the conditions are already present for).
This is not the highest teaching of the Dhamma as I understand it. Thanissaro Bhikkhu makes a big deal out of this: There is an unconditional, unfabricated happiness. This is what the highest teachings point to. It's not enough, for me, to simply have the conditions for a conditional happiness--that still depends on conditions. I'm after the unconditioned happiness. Nibbāna.
Some people just wanted a good rebirth. That's fine, he taught basic ethics to secure a good rebirth.
Some people just want to be a little happier in their lives, but not eliminate all their stress and discomfort. Some people find a certain level of discomfort tolerable, unnoticeable even. He taught for them, too.
And some people want to make a complete end to all stress and suffering. Some people want to leave the wheel of rebirth, wandering in the realms from lifetime to lifetime, and reach the Deathless. He taught them--us--too.
I've been spending time with a Plum Village group. I love Thich Nhat Hanh, he is brilliant, and has done a wonderful job bringing Buddhism to the west. I first took refuge from his nephew, in fact.
But one thing that strikes me about TNH is a catchphrase I hear a lot from him, "You have all the conditions you need to be happy in this present moment." If I were to sum up his teachings as I understand them, that would be it.
Look at that: Conditions. You have all the conditions for happiness right here, right now. Conditions. He's still speaking of a conditional happiness, one you just have to arrange the conditions for to bring about (or realize the conditions are already present for).
This is not the highest teaching of the Dhamma as I understand it. Thanissaro Bhikkhu makes a big deal out of this: There is an unconditional, unfabricated happiness. This is what the highest teachings point to. It's not enough, for me, to simply have the conditions for a conditional happiness--that still depends on conditions. I'm after the unconditioned happiness. Nibbāna.