This week Annie & camille will co-facilitate. We will read the Five Mindfulness Trainings together and then discuss the 2nd Mindfulness Training, True Happiness.
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 reverse the process of global warming.
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How might we cultivate the energy of generosity? The Buddha said a lot of things about generosity. Here's a write up from Thich Hnat Hanh Foundation on this topic and I invite you to Google this topic and find more writings that appeal to you. This week we will share concrete ways to practice generating generosity based on Thich Nhat Hanh's teachings in the training above. Here are a few to consider:
(1) Live life and act with the joy of doing the act - what NVC author Marshall Rosenburg called the "joy of a little child feeding the ducks" and what Thay calls "doing the dishes to do the dishes."
When I work and act in this way, I am able to release my attachment to the outcome of what I am doing. And this reminds me that I already have enough conditions for happiness right now. I don't need to cling to more than just this moment and can more easily relinquish what I feel I need for happiness (money, power, time, respect, etc.). I realize that I have enough.
(2) Slow down and notice when I am chasing after a goal or a future moment. When I can let go of my attachment to a future moment and surrender/trust this moment, I realize that I am OK right now.
Any and all future moments are uncertain. Money we have in the bank could disappear tomorrow, material objects that we love will disintegrate. The Five Remembrances of the impermanence of life are truth-- we can never really keep anything.
(3) Practicing metta or loving kindness for myself and others reminds me that my happiness depends on your happiness and your happiness depends on my happiness. If you aren't happy, I can never be fully happy, even if I lock myself up in my mansion and hoard millions of dollars. We are in this together forever.
The answer is not to give you everything and leave myself destitute, nor is it to hoard everything and leave you destitute. In the Fifth of the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings, Thay writes that we won't find happiness by accumulating wealth while millions of people are hungry and dying.
Thay says, "When we truly see ourselves as others and others as ourselves, we naturally want to do everything we can to secure their happiness and well-being, because we know that it is also our own well-being and happiness."
This week after our meditation, we will discuss how each of us finds our way to generosity - how we can use our practice to notice when we are grasping after and hoarding all the things we think are ours. And, how letting go can - perhaps surprisingly - lead to more happiness for us as well as for those we are generous with.
As Thay says, "It takes time to practice generosity, but being generous is the best use of our time".
I remember learning once that when we are generous and kind, we get to experience smiling joyful people more of the time. I love that.