THE HAPPINESS THAT NEEDS NOTHING

[Pravin Kumar]

The Happiness That Needs Nothing

This article focuses on the search for happiness which is prevalent in the human condition. Not only in the material world but also in the spiritual realm, for instance the Dalai Lama has stated unequivocally that ‘I believe the purpose of life is to be happy’. Which he qualified by saying:
"From my own limited experience I have found that the greatest degree of inner tranquility comes from the development of love and compassion. The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater our own sense of well-being becomes... It is the ultimate source of success in life."

For many happiness entails seeking for more success, fame, power, money, real estate, friends, lovers, acquisitions, conquests, spiritual experiences, higher ‘states’ … the list is endless. However, I will attempt to show that this is unnecessary for when one awakens to the truth of who (or what) one is, at the deepest level, then this reveals the innate happiness that is at the centre of our being.

Theravadan Buddhism has attempted to reveal this by overcoming its antonym, suffering, The Buddha declared that life is suffering and therefore:

Buddhism maintains that the main purpose of life is to overcome suffering. The Buddha stated that, ‘One thing I teach is suffering and the end of suffering. It is just ill and the ceasing of that ill that I proclaim’. His primary teaching to achieve this was the Four Noble Truths (suffering, its cause, that it can be overcome and how to do this), described as ‘the most fundamental and basic teaching of Buddhism’. The cause of suffering is craving and clinging, which has many aspects one of which is the sense of self-attachment, that is, attaching to ‘phenomena or sense objects as self or as belonging to self’. To overcome this, Buddha suggested the Eightfold Path which centres on the concepts of anatta, no-self and anicca, the impermanence of all things. Once one has realized that there is no essential self and that all things are ephemeral and impermanent then there is truly no one to crave and nothing which is permanent to which to cling.

This gives the key to alleviating needless mental suffering, and existential anxiety, by going beyond the separate self and realizing the universal Self which is at the core of, and animates, our being. In fact my first book was entitled ‘Beyond The Separate Self – The End of Anxiety and Mental Suffering’ which deals exclusively with self identity and living from what is discovered when one directly investigates our moment to moment experience.

This Investigation of Experience is given in the appendix and reveals that our essential nature is Pure Awareness in which our thoughts, mental images, feelings and sensations come and go. At this stage it would be a good idea to carry out this investigation for yourself before continuing.

Once this discovery has taken place and one is established in the outcome then joy, or happiness, becomes one’s natural state. For this is always present but is masked by the suffering caused by misidentifying ourselves as being a separate object in a universe of separate objects. This suffering (of oneself and others) is exacerbated by seeing others as separate objects and thus treating them as such. The outcome of which can be clearly seen in the dysfunctional modern world.

This joy, or happiness, needs nothing (in terms of external conditions) to be present and is naturally experienced when we ‘enlighten’ (in the literal sense of the word) ourselves by shedding the burden of our separate selfhood. As Robert Powell says:

"Krishnamurti’s message – if one may call it that – is really that life itself is pleasurable (although this word is used here in a very special sense); but that we do not know, have never even sensed, this happiness because we are constantly tied up in the process of gratification by becoming something else or achieving some result. "

This becoming, or achieving, is often carried out for the purpose of becoming happy, or self-fulfilled, but is counter productive negating the very result it is trying to achieve! Rather than trying to become something else, or better ourselves, we need to discover what we really are (at the deepest level). In this discovery we find Pure Awareness, the universal Self that is always full and at peace.

When this is realized we encounter the world as it is with a clear mind, and not through the murky filter of self-concern, self-interest, self-promotion, self-pity … the list is almost endless. When we see the world as it is it is much more vivid, brighter, enjoyable and less threatening than when encountered from the viewpoint of ourselves as a separate vulnerable object. This does not mean that we will not experience physical, and mental, pain for these are endemic to bodily existence, but these will not cause mental suffering and existential angst as we will not be relating them back to a separate small self.

The Mahayana Buddhists would describe this as the first stage on the Bodhisattva Path which they call ‘Joyful’:
This stage is reached automatically once one has realized, and identified with, the deeper level of pure awareness. This creates great compassion and joy : ‘Governed by compassion to liberate living beings completely, and always abiding in joy is called the first’ (1.4cd, 5ab)*. One is now truly a bodhisattva and cannot fall back, provided one does not re-identify as an individual self:

Because he has attained this, he is addressed by the very name Bodhisattva …. all paths to lower births have ceased …. all grounds of ordinary beings are exhausted (1.5cd, 7abc)*.

Once true self-discovery has taken place, and we experience the peace and joy of this, then all that is required is to cultivate this by further investigation whenever we revert to misidentification of ourselves as a separate object. This is easily recognized for it always will (eventually) produce mental suffering which can be used as a wake-up call to the fact that misidentification has taken place.

This also ties in well with the Dalai Lama’s comments regarding love and compassion for once one is identified with the universal Self (Pure Awareness) one sees apparent ‘others’ as That also, which naturally produces a feeling of ‘oneness’ with them and caring for their well-being. This also enhances the ‘virtue’ associated with the first stage (joyful) which is ‘giving’, about which Chogyam Trungpa talks of in terms of generosity without any philosophical, merit-acquiring or religious motives, The aim is to give with an open-heart with no judgement or evaluation of ourselves or those to whom we are giving . This is naturally spontaneous once one sees all as the (one)Self.

Then to be happy we do not need to search for more conducive external circumstances, or mental states, for this will take one away from the (happiness that is always present) here and now. Searching entails anticipating a future result which always masks what is already here …

*These scriptural quotes (i.e. those with chapter and verse numbers) come from the ‘Guide to the Middle Way’ by Chandrakirti, the principal disciple of Nagarjuna, which are contained in: G. K. Gyatso, Ocean of Nectar, 1995, London

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Appendix

Below follows a simple method to investigate the nature of reality starting with one’s day-to-day experience. Each step should be considered until one experiences, or ‘sees’, its validity before moving on to the following step. If you reach a step where you do not find this possible, continue on regardless in the same way, and hopefully the flow of the investigation will make this step clear. By all means examine each step critically but with an open mind, for if you only look for ‘holes’ that’s all you will find!

1. Consider the following statement: ‘Life, for each of us, is just a series of moment-to-moment experiences’. These experiences start when we are born and continue until we die, rushing headlong after each other, so that they seem to merge into a whole that we call ‘my life’. However, if we stop to look we can readily see that, for each of us, every moment is just an experience.

2. Any moment of experience has only three elements: thoughts (including all mental images), sensations (everything sensed by the body and its sense organs) and Awareness of these thoughts and sensations. Emotions and feelings are a combination of thought and sensation.

3. Thoughts and sensations are ephemeral, that is they come and go, and are objects, i.e. ‘things’ that are perceived.

4. Awareness is the constant subject, the ‘perceiver’ of thoughts and sensations and that which is always present. Even during sleep there is Awareness of dreams and of the quality of that sleep; and there is also Awareness of sensations; if a sensation becomes strong enough, such as a sound or uncomfortable sensation, one will wake up.

5. All thoughts and sensations appear in Awareness, exist in Awareness, and subside back into Awareness. Before any particular thought or sensation there is effortless Awareness of ‘what is’: the sum of all thoughts and sensations occurring at any given instant. During the thought or sensation in question there is effortless Awareness of it within ‘what is’. Then when it has gone there is still effortless Awareness of ‘what is’.

6. So the body/mind is experienced as a flow of ephemeral objects appearing in this Awareness, the ever present subject. For each of us any external object or thing is experienced as a combination of thought and sensation, i.e. you may see it, touch it, know what it is called, and so on. The point is that for us to be aware of anything, real or imaginary, requires thought about and/or sensation of that thing and it is Awareness of these thoughts and sensations that constitutes our experience.

7. Therefore this Awareness is the constant substratum in which all things appear to arise, exist and subside. In addition, all living things rely on Awareness of their environment to exist and their behaviour is directly affected by this. At the level of living cells and above this is self-evident, but it has been shown that even electrons change their behaviour when (aware of) being observed! Thus this Awareness exists at a deeper level than body/mind (and matter/energy ) and we are this Awareness!

8. This does not mean that at a surface level we are not the mind and body, for they arise in, are perceived by and subside back into Awareness, which is the deepest and most fundamental level of our being. However, if we choose to identify with this deepest level – Awareness - (the perceiver) rather than the surface level, mind/body (the perceived), then thoughts and sensations are seen for what they truly are, just ephemeral objects which come and go, leaving Awareness itself totally unaffected.

9. Next investigate this Awareness itself to see whether its properties can be determined.
Firstly what is apparent is that this Awareness is effortlessly present and effortlessly aware. It requires no effort by the mind/body and thoughts and sensations cannot make it vanish however hard they try.

10. Next, this Awareness is choicelessly present and choicelessly aware. Once again it requires no choice of the mind/body and they cannot block it however they try. For example, if you have a toothache there is effortless Awareness of it and the mind/body cannot choose for this not to be the case. You may think that this is bad news but it is not so: can you imagine if you had to make a choice whether you would like to be aware of every sensation that the body experiences? In fact be grateful that there is no effort or choice involved for Awareness just to be - such ease and simplicity - which is not surprising for you are this Awareness!

11. It can be seen then, that for each of us this Awareness is omnipresent; we never experience a time or place when it is not present. Once again be grateful that the mind/body is never required to search for this Awareness; it is just always there, which of course is not surprising for at the deepest level we are this Awareness.

12. Next, notice that this Awareness is absolutely still for it is aware of the slightest movement of body or mind. For example, we all know that to be completely aware of what is going on around us in a busy environment we have to be completely still, just witnessing the activity.

13. In the same vein this Awareness is totally silent as it is aware of the slightest sound and the smallest thought.
14. In fact this Awareness is totally without attributes for all attributes occur in and are noticed by their lack, i.e. sounds occur in silence, exist in silence, are noticed by their contrast to silence, and disappear back into silence; forms occur in space, exist in space, are noticed by their contrast to space, disappear back into space, and so on.

15. It can be easily seen that this Awareness is totally pure; it is unaffected by whatever occurs in it, in the same way that a cinema screen is unaffected by any movie shown on it, however gross or violent. In fact no ‘thing’ can taint Awareness; for by definition Awareness cannot be affected by any ‘thing’, as all ‘things’ are just ephemeral objects which appear in, exist in and finally disappear back into Awareness, the constant subject.

16. This Awareness is omniscient; everything appears to arise in it, to exist in it, is known by it and to subside back into it.

17. Finally, it seems that this Awareness is forever radiant; it illuminates whatever occurs in it, thus the mind can see it, i.e. become conscious of it.

18. When one identifies with this Awareness, there is nothing (in terms of enlightenment or Awakening) to achieve, or struggle towards, for how can one achieve what one already is?
All that is required is for the mind to recognize that one is this Awareness.

19. When one identifies with this Awareness there is nothing to find, for how can one find what cannot be lost? All that is required is for the mind to stop overlooking what is always present, that which perceives the mind and body.

20. When one identifies with this Awareness, there is nothing to desire, long for or get, for how can one get what already is? All that is required is for the mind to realize that which one already is: pure Awareness.

So now we have reached the 'Pure, radiant, still, silent, omnipresent, omniscient, ocean of effortless, choiceless, attributeless Awareness’ which we all are! Give up all striving, seeking and desiring, and just identify with This which you already are. Identification with This, rather than with body/mind (thought/sensations), gives instant peace, for Awareness is always still and silent, totally unaffected by whatever appears in it.

Although we, in essence, are 'The pure, radiant, still, silent, omnipresent, omniscient, ocean of effortless, choiceless, attributeless Awareness' it is impossible to experience this: we can know it or realize it but it is beyond the realm of experience. This is because all experience appears in This, exists in This and dissolves back into This. In much the same way that you do not see the cinema screen whilst the movie is playing, this pure screen of Awareness cannot be seen by the mind, i.e. experienced, whilst the movie of mind/body is playing on it. The only way it is possible to see the screen is when no movie is playing, but as experience is the movie this pure screen of Awareness is always outside of the realm of experience.

However, recognition of oneself as this 'pure, radiant, still, silent, omnipresent, omniscient, ocean of effortless, choiceless, attributeless, Awareness' may evoke many experiences such as bliss, joy, relaxation (what a relief that there's no individual ‘me me me’), a lifting of a great burden, i.e. enlightenment in the literal sense of the word, universal love etc. These experiences vary greatly from person to person and are ultimately irrelevant as the recognition and realization of one’s own essential nature is the crucial factor for attaining freedom.

Note that although we cannot experience our essence, we can absolutely know it* just as we know, without a doubt, that the screen is there (when we watch a movie). Then however terrifying, gripping or moving the movie is we are not shaken because we know it is a movie. We still enjoy it, in fact we enjoy it even more, because it is just pure entertainment and we are not totally identified with it. In the same way, once we know our essential nature, life can be seen as a movie and enjoyed as such without identifying ourselves as being trapped in it. Thus, although we cannot experience our essence, once we recognize it all of our experiences are transformed by no longer identifying with them but just enjoying them, or accepting them as ephemeral states which come and go. When viewed like this, thoughts and sensations lose their power to overwhelm us, as we stop buying into them as indicators of who or what we are. They are just like waves on the ocean or clouds in the sky, which appear and disappear leaving the ocean or the sky unaffected.

*Just as you could not see a movie without the screen, you could not experience anything without Awareness, for without that what would there be to experience? For without that we would see nothing (there would be no Awareness of what was seen), hear nothing, feel nothing, taste nothing, smell nothing and not know our own thoughts! In fact, experience on any level would not be possible.

COLIN DRAKE

[eye_of_tiger]

Pravin,

Based upon what I have read and personally experienced in my own life, happiness like love is meant to be shared.

I am deeply concerned when a person claims to experience either of these, in total isolation from all other human beings.

And I would add, in total isolation from reality.

I believe that we are meant to experience the whole range or spectrum of our emotions.

Which means that we are not always meant to feel happy.

Sometimes it is healthy to feel grief, anger and sadness, and to be serious.

Even if you are the Dalai Lama.

Rather than the only purpose of life being for you to be happy, I would see one of the many purposes of life being to share your happiness with others, to make it a little easier for your fellow human beings to endure with courage, dignity and compassion the suffering which life on this planet inevitably entails.

Buddhism maintains that the main purpose of life is to overcome suffering

.

Again I have serious issues with any teaching or teacher which or who declares that the ONLY or MAIN purpose of life is...........ANYTHING!

One of the many purposes of life is to minimise our own suffering as well as the suffering of others, but a certain amount of suffering in any life is unavoidable.

And to a degree suffering and pain are there by design to show us that something is wrong, as well as to motivate us to make whatever positive changes are necessary to evolve spiritually.

But I am convinced that life was never meant to be ALL or ONLY about suffering (or avoiding all suffering).

That is NOT spirituality.

That is instead MASOCHISM.

Brian

[Pravin Kumar]

Brian,

Without experiencing Pain and Suffering how shall we experience Joy and Happiness. Both Negatives and Positives are to be there. If there is negative then only you can experience positive. I read in another book "The Path of Meditation" by Osho. He had written about Pure and Impure Emotions. If you are flattered and feel its effect then that is Impure Emotion. But if you are not affected at all it means you have developed Pure Emotions within you. You can love others truly only after you have developed that True Love within which is done by doing good deeds to others and helping them. And if I club this what is mentioned right on the top I think we have the answer. We start our journey from pain and suffering and try to reach Joy and Happiness. It is like standing on a HUGE CIRCLE and our aim is to reach the center point of that CIRCLE which is ultimate.

We eliminate pain and suffering ourselves and only then can experience Happiness and Joy. That is my way of thinking.

Pravin Kumar

[eye_of_tiger]

Then I will have to agree to disagree with your sources.

Anyone can experience and recognise joy and happiness, without necessarily having to endure an equal amount of pain and suffering to balance it out.

There will always be some pain and suffering and joy and happiness in a person's life, but I think that this whole idea that we must have at least an equal measure of pain and suffering in order to be able to recognise and appreciate the joy and happiness, is the opposite of someone developing self love.

Self love is the solid foundation upon which spiritual development rests and progresses.

We are meant to experience the entire spectrum of human emotions during our physical lifetimes, but our soul's natural state is of pure joy and happiness, and unconditional love.

Taken to the extreme (which you are NOT doing) the idea that the more suffering the better and that only through pain and suffering can we come to truly know and love God can be used (and has been used many times in the past) to excuse incredible amounts of cruelty to be carried out without any feelings of compassion against the innocents, in God's name.

Blessings 2U

Brian