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Guided Meditation: Happiness in Mindfulness; Dharmette: Four Truths of Happiness (1 of 4) There is Happiness - Gil Fronsdal

The following talk was given by Gil Fronsdal at Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA on November 19, 2024. Please visit the website www.audiodharma.org for more information.

Guided Meditation: Happiness in Mindfulness

Hello everyone, and happy to be here.

To continue into our meditation, there is a wonderful, important complementarity between two things we do in practice. On one hand, there is the commitment to being present, to being mindful here and now. We decide to stay awake and aware. This involves a sense of commitment, of making a choice: "Yes, this is what I want to do, and I will stand behind it. I will put my life energy into this for these minutes."

On the other hand, the awareness practice should be calm, light, and easygoing. It can even include a sense of happiness or joy—feeling the goodness and wholesomeness of being present.

Putting those two together results in a commitment to being light. "Commitment" can sound like a heavy-duty word, requiring us to bear down and be serious. But this is a commitment to be easy, soft, and happy. It is difficult to make the commitment heavy and serious when the goal is lightness and forgiveness. It is a willingness to start over again and again. Commitment is not so much holding the course, but rather choosing to start over repeatedly in a light, happy, engaged way. You feel so fortunate to be able to do this.

Assume a meditation posture. There is so much that can be expressed in the posture. Today, let the posture express a commitment to be here, rooted in a relaxed way. It is for each of us to find the posture that balances these two aspects.

Gently close your eyes. As we begin this commitment—I understand the Latin root of the word contains the meaning "to touch together," to stay connected, to stay in touch—this works very well for mindfulness. A commitment is to stay in touch with our present moment.

Begin by being in touch with breathing. Take some enjoyably pleasant, deeper breaths, and relax on the exhale.

Adjust the arms a little bit so that the shoulders can relax more. Then, breathe normally. As you breathe in a normal way, scan through your body to see what you can relax and soften. Sometimes it is possible to do a global relaxation, with a sense of relaxing or calming the whole body as you exhale.

Similarly, relax the thinking mind. Gently scan the mind for places where there is contraction, tension, pressure, or agitation. Relax and calm the thinking mind with every exhale.

Find some sensation in the body—maybe in the hand—that is relatively neutral, uncomplicated, and free of pain. For a minute or two, be mindful of this part of your body. Experiment to see how you can be aware calmly and lightly, with a light touch. Do not activate the thinking mind so much as the "calm hand." Let awareness almost flow out of the hand, being aware of sensations in a calm, soft way.

Awareness has no agendas; it is receptive, open, and soft to the hand or whatever you are paying attention to.

Now, in the same way, be aware of the body breathing. Find a location where it is relatively easy to be aware of the sensations of the body connected to breathing. Be committed to being in touch, but let the commitment be soft, relaxed, and calming. Be committed to a continuous, soft awareness that has a very light touch to it.

If the mind wanders away, don't rush back to the breathing. Re-establish a calm, soft awareness, and invite the breathing back in.

Whatever is agitated within, know it calmly. A calm, light awareness that is not reactive; it simply knows. Simply be aware.

Maintain a gentle, soft commitment to being present, rather than wandering off in thought.

If you can touch into a calm, light awareness, is there any feeling or sense of well-being in the awareness itself? Is there any goodness, delight, or joy—however mild—in this amazing capacity we have to be aware here? If there is, breathe with that. Open to that well-being. Make room for it to be here.

As we come to the end of this sitting, take a few moments to feel whatever degree of well-being might be here for you. It may be present together with something that is a little more troubling. Where is the well-being? Is there some sense of calm, subtleness, happiness, or inspiration? Is there a sense of rightness or goodness in being present with "what is," in whatever way we can?

It is good. Soon enough we will go about our day, and we will probably be less present, less aware in this intimate, close way of our moment-to-moment experience. It is good to have time to do this, to feel the goodness of it.

Consider if there is any appropriate way of offering this out into the world to support others. Is there any appropriate way to bring this practice with you so you can make this world a better place for others?

May all beings be happy. May all beings be safe. May all beings be peaceful. May all beings be free. And may we contribute to that possibility.

Thank you.

Dharmette: Four Truths of Happiness (1 of 4) There is Happiness

Hello and welcome. This is the beginning of a four-part series following the five-part series on the Four Noble Truths¹, which are the truths of suffering. Now, I will offer you four truths of happiness. These don't come directly from the Buddhist teachings, but hopefully, having been involved in the teachings for so long, this can be a reformulation that is useful for you.

I begin with the idea that happiness is a very important part of Buddhist practice. It might be overlooked if the emphasis is placed too heavily on suffering. Some people are quite inspired—even happily inspired—when they hear Buddhist teachings emphasizing the suffering in the world. People have told me it was a relief to hear a Dharma² teacher say explicitly, "There is suffering in this world; we suffer a lot." So many people around them were denying it, pretending otherwise, painting it over with a bright picture, or ignoring it. To hear someone name it validates their experience.

I like to say that in Buddhism, we "stop for suffering." We stop to look at it, to speak with it, to see it for what it is, to study it, and to find our way through it. But we do this not so that we can suffer better, but rather so we can become free of suffering. In that freedom, we find happiness.

One of the primary descriptions of someone who has matured in this practice is that they are peaceful and happy. In the time of the Buddha, people were surprised to see the monastic community—how much they smiled, how happy they were, and the joy that was present. We aim to come to a place of happiness and joy without denying that there is suffering, without becoming a victim of the world's suffering, and without reacting to it. We find a different way of being honest in the middle of it, finding a genuine, appropriate kind of well-being.

The first truth of happiness is: There is happiness.

There is the possibility of happiness. It is healthy to experience that happiness. It is okay to experience it. There are religious traditions and cultures—including in the time of the Buddha—that mistrust joy and happiness. I have had people ask me explicitly as a Buddhist teacher, "Is it really okay to experience joy?" Somehow, in the way they grew up, joy belonged to the world of indulgence. To be a "good" religious person, you were supposed to suffer. If you suffered well, something good would happen to you after you died.

Something similar was happening in the time of the Buddha. When the Buddha discovered a deep, meditative joy, one of his first big insights was: "This is a healthy joy. This is a joy that is onward-leading to greater freedom." He said, "This is a joy not to be afraid of."

So, there is happiness. Do not dismiss it, overlook it, or think that other things are more important. It would be like saying that because there are important things to do in the world, we shouldn't stop to eat meals. In fact, it is healthy to eat. We should stop, take care of ourselves, and eat calmly and clearly in a way that enjoys the food and the occasion. Physiologically, things go better for us if we are not living in a stressful, hurried way.

Happiness is a phenomenally important possibility for human beings. It is a condition and support for many other things. Dharmic happiness opens the door to the depths of our hearts—the depths of our inner life. Recently, I saw someone define the "soul"—not in a religious way, but in a psychological way—as the inner depths of a person. These inner depths are often not experienced, felt, or made time for. Part of the function of being settled, calm, peaceful, and happy is to have the conditions in place to receive, sense, and feel our depths: the wisdom, the creativity, the challenges, and the processing of unresolved issues that do well to be seen and received in consciousness.

What is the happiness you have in your life? Can you avail yourself of more happiness, joy, and well-being? Are there small joys through your day that you are overlooking because you have such important things to do, because you are in a hurry, or because you are on a device surfing the web with an addictive mindset—clicking and looking, unable to get off when it is time to get off?

How does that limit you? Could you stop and just look out the window to enjoy and feel happy about what you see? Some people are now experiencing the start of winter, with snow outside. Or perhaps there is foliage changing color, or a squirrel bouncing around. There might be small joys.

Experience joy with the food you eat. Take time to eat it and appreciate the fact that you have food. Not everyone does. Do not feel guilty for it, but feel a sense of well-being, joy, and safety.

Take time to walk. When you have to walk from a parking space to your destination, show up a little early and take your time. Even if it is just a couple of hundred feet, maybe take a longer, less direct route so you can walk close to some nice trees. Appreciate the trees, a view, or something enjoyable.

Don't overlook the small joys, the small enjoyments, the small pleasures when they are available. You don't have to chase them, crave them, or try to manufacture them too much. Throughout the day, just slow down a little bit, look around, pause, and see. There might be much more well-being than you usually allow yourself to feel. Even in emotionally difficult states, there are things we can do to sprinkle more delight, joy, and happiness into the day.

I suspect this is part of the function of cat videos. Some people are taken out of their own difficulties because they are so delighted by kitten or cat behavior. I am not necessarily recommending that, but there are things we can do to bring happiness in. And as we experience it, allow yourself to feel it—let it register in a deep way.

So, the first truth of happiness is: There is happiness.

There might be more happiness and well-being available to us than we usually realize. It is a good idea to avail ourselves of it. It has a good effect on us and supports other good things to come. There is a happiness that opens the doors of the heart.

Happiness has a place in this suffering, difficult world. Tomorrow, we will move on to the causes of happiness, which is a parallel to the causes of suffering, last week's theme.

I look forward to continuing. I feel delighted by the prospect that many of you might be a little bit happier today, experiencing a little more joy, delight, or well-being with this assignment: avail yourselves of the joy and happiness that is already available to you, which you may be overlooking. In doing so, may your joy and happiness be contagious for others.

Thank you.