Thursday, September 6, 2012

True Happiness in Meditation


Georgia Meditation Center Wednesday Meditation Class

September 5th Dhamma Talk


Yesterday for the dhamma portion of the class Venerable Hart focused on meditation.

Meditation is highly relevant to daily life. Everybody can benefit from meditation, but most people don’t realize it. The Buddha taught that anyone who meditates regularly will attain seeing and knowing according to reality, wisdom, knowledge and inner brightness – which will allow the practitioner ultimately to uproot their defilements (greed, delusion, anger etc) . Meditation is no less necessary for a person than the air we breathe – because without meditation we miss out on happiness and meaning in life.

Happiness is fundamental for every life. According to the Buddhist proverb: Sukhakaamaani bhuutaani, All beings long for happiness.

Most beings think they can find happiness from sensory stimuli – however, real happiness is of a different quality – a happiness that stays with one whether one is sleeping, waking, sitting, lying down, standing or walking along. This kind of happiness is true and long lasting. Meditation is the way people can attain such happiness.. This is because when one’s mind is internalized and united with the center of the body, one will come across the inner sphere of Dhamma which is the origin of the  happiness  which  all  human  beings  are  longing  for.  This  source  of happiness inside is different from  mundane happiness, which is temporary. At the moment one’s mind comes to standstill, one will immediately realize that the feeling one thought was happiness before was actually no more than distraction from one’s suffering. Such mundane happiness tends to be only fleeting, comparatively insignificant, cannot be maintained and still has an admixture of suffering. The true happiness, by contrast, comes from the inside-- illuminating one’s mind from the inside at all times providing happiness together with wisdom – not reliant on external circumstances but merely on the stillness of the mind. It is a sort of happiness one will not get bored with easily and on the contrary, will increase to happiness that becomes more and more profound. Once one reaches the Dhamma sphere inside, one will immediately appreciate that inner wisdom is unlimited, full of wisdom and happiness, which is revealed by the illuminated mind. To attain happiness, safety and satisfaction in life, it becomes obvious that one does not have to search anywhere else but merely allowing their mind to glide down through the stream of brightness at the centre of the body.

Therefore continue to meditate every day and dedicate yourself to the practice, only good things will result from your meditation.