https://www.stillwatermpc.org/dharma-topics/true-happiness-is-impermanent-but-it-can-be-renewed/
True Happiness Is Impermanent but It Can Be Renewed
Image Caption: Calligraphy by Thích Nhất Hạnh.
Dear Still Water Friends,
Decades ago when I was struggling to find meaningful work, I came across a description of the word “vocation” that changed my life. It was a passing comment in a book whose title I no longer remember: Vocation is “the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” The quote was attributed to the Presbyterian theologian Frederick Buechner. The memory of that quote and its impact on me arose as I was reflecting on this week’s focus on the Second Mindfulness Training: True Happiness.
For me, Thầy’s (Thích Nhất Hạnh’s) “true happiness” is essentially the same as Buechner’s “deep gladness,” and the great issue many of us are struggling with now is “How can we mindfully respond to the increased suffering that we believe is occurring, or is about to occur, in our lives, the lives of those we love, in our country, and everywhere on earth?” The ongoing challenge for each of us is to identify actions that both generate true happiness and reduce the suffering that is in us and all around us. And to do that, it is important that we deeply understand true happiness.
The Second Mindfulness Training, as revised by Thầy in 2012, is:
True Happiness
Aware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing, and oppression, I am committed to practicing generosity in my thinking, speaking, and acting. I am determined not to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others; and I will share my time, energy, and material resources with those who are in need. I will practice looking deeply to see that the happiness and suffering of others are not separate from my own happiness and suffering; that true happiness is not possible without understanding and compassion; and that running after wealth, fame, power and sensual pleasures can bring much suffering and despair. I am aware that happiness depends on my mental attitude and not on external conditions, and that I can live happily in the present moment simply by remembering that I already have more than enough conditions to be happy. I am committed to practicing Right Livelihood so that I can help reduce the suffering of living beings on Earth and stop contributing to climate change.
In a clarifying 2005 Dharma talk entitled “True Happiness” Thầy addresses three pivotal teachings that are pertinent to our understanding and practice of the Second Mindfulness Training. (Note: the subheadings are mine. The indented text is from Thầy’s talk.)
1. Happiness is a practice
We should distinguish between happiness and excitement, and even joy. Many people in the West, especially in North America, think of excitement as happiness. They are thinking of something, or expecting something that they consider to be happiness, and, for them, that is already happiness. But when you are excited you are not really peaceful. True happiness should be based on peace, and in true happiness there is no longer any excitement. …
You have to cultivate happiness; you cannot buy it in the supermarket. It is like playing tennis: you cannot buy the joy of playing tennis in the supermarket. You can buy the ball and the racket, but you cannot buy the joy of playing. In order to experience the joy of tennis you have to learn, to train yourself to play. In the same way, you have to cultivate happiness.
