Every world religion has a different way
for its believers to achieve happiness. And yet, many elements of each path are
similar. How do Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism compare and contrast?
According to Islam
---------------------
It is the nature of every person to seek
happiness. Some people strive to seek material happiness in this world
away from religion, thinking that this is the true happiness. But this
kind of happiness will be succeeded by pain and sorrow at the Day of Judgment,
and its people will know that their striving led them only to misery and not
happiness.
While others know that the true way to
happiness is to obey God and follow His religion. For them the pleasures
and riches of the world are of little consequence. When this happiness
penetrates and fills the heart of the believer he does in fact live in this
world as if he were in Paradise. Those are the people who find true
happiness in this world.
What kind of happiness could be greater
than that of someone who humbles himself to God, worships Him, strives for His
pleasure, and strives to enter Paradise and have salvation from Hellfire?
The believer lives with such a sweetness in
his heart that if the masters of the earth knew of it, they would fight him to
death to take it from him. God has said:
{ Whoever
does right, whether male or female, and is a believer, We will make him live a
good life, and We will award them their reward for the best of what they used
to do. } (Quran, 16:97)
Happiness is in the good life mentioned in
this verse, that even the rich disbelievers cannot find, despite the money they
have. That is why we are not surprise when we know that many among them
committed suicide.
To reach true happiness, we need to know
what is the purpose of our life, how to reach success in the hereafter, and to
fulfill the requirements of reaching this success by following the commands of
God and His true religion.
The concept of happiness in
Islam is expressed in the Qur’ân and Sunnah in a number of different ways.
First, we find the Qur’ân discussing the “good life”.This “good life” is happiness itself. It is realized through faith and good
deeds. This does not mean that we will not face difficulties in our good life.
Our worldly lives, even when they are bolstered by faith and good works, are
never free from distress and vexations. This world is the abode of toil, as
Allah says: “Certainly We have created man to be in toil.” [Sûrah al-Balad:
90]
The concept of happiness is
also expressed in the Qur’ân as a negation of wretchedness and misguidance. It
is also expressed through by contrasting it with the description, of a narrow,
straightened life.
Allah says: “But he who turns away from remembrance of Me, his will be a narrow
life, and I shall bring him blind to the assembly on the Day of Resurrection.”
[Sûrah TâHâ: 124]
Now
surely the friends of Allah, they shall have no fear nor shall they grieve.
Those who believe and guarded (against evil): They shall have good news in this
world's life and in the hereafter; there is no changing the words of Allah;
that is the mighty achievement. Noble Qur'an (10:62-64)
Happiness
is a feeling that resides in the heart. It is characterized by peace of mind,
tranquility, a sense of well-being, and a relaxed disposition. It comes as a
result of proper behavior, both inward and outward, and is inspired by strong
faith.
It
is the nature of every person to seek happiness. One of the most elusive
objectives of every human being is "Happiness." The Noble Qur'an
reveals the secret of attaining perfect happiness in this life and forever. We
learn from the Noble Qur'an that happiness is an exclusive quality of the soul.
Thus, a body that attains all the material successes it longs for - money,
power, fame, etc. - often belongs to an unhappy person. Happiness depends
totally on the degree of growth and development attained by the soul, the real
person. The Noble Qur'an provides a detailed map towards perfect happiness for
both body and soul, both in this world and in the eternal Hereafter.
In
the numerous verses throughout this proven Testament, Allah (SWT) personally
guarantees the believers happiness, now and forever. Some people strive to seek
material happiness in this world away from religion, thinking that this is the
true happiness. But this kind of happiness will be succeeded by pain and sorrow
at the Day of Judgment, and its people will know that their striving led them
only to misery and not happiness.
While
others know that the true way to happiness is to obey Allah (SWT) and follow
His religion. For them the pleasures and riches of the world are of little
consequence. When this happiness penetrates and fills the heart of the believer
he does in fact live in this world as if he were in Paradise. Those are the
people who find true happiness in this world.
Conclusion:::
Meaning of Happiness in Islam: Happiness is a
feeling that resides in the heart. Happiness is characterized by peace of mind,
tranquility, a sense of well-being, and a relaxed disposition. Happiness comes
as a result of proper behavior, both inward and outward, and is inspired by
strong faith. Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) said: "True enrichment
does not come through possessing a lot of wealth, but true enrichment is the
enrichment of the soul."
Contentment
is the Secret to Happiness in Life
According to Christianity
--------------------------
English word "happy" is simply defined as, "Fortunate or lucky…. cheerful…contented…characterized by or indicative of pleasure…." (Random House College Dictionary). The biblical presentation of "happy" is more substantive. For instance, the Bible does not present happiness as an experience that just happens because of luck or some shallow euphoric state of mind. One, according to the Bible, can be happy while being corrected by God, suffering for the sake of righteousness, and being reproached for the name of Christ (Job 5: 17; I Pet. 3: 14; 4: 14). There are five Hebrew and two Greek words translated happy in the scriptures. One Hebrew word means "to be at rest, safe" (see Matt. 11: 28-30).
Our study consists of three primary sections, those whom the Bible pronounces as happy or blessed; some common synonyms of "happy," and some examples of biblical happiness.
Those whom the Bible pronounces as happy.
A. Let us notice the particular instances in which the Bible applies the word "happy" to different individuals.
1.The Bible says that those who fear the Lord are happy.
a. In the King James, the writer of Psalms 128 and Solomon use the word blessed and happy to describe the man who fears the Lord (Ps. 128: 1, 2; Prov. 28: 13, 14). "Fear of the Lord" entails the matter of reverence and respect for God.
2. Happy are those who keep God's laws.
a. Agur wrote, "Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he" (Prov. 29: 18). This is essentially what Jesus said in John 13: 17: "If ye know these things, happy (blessed, dm) are ye if ye do them."
b. It is especially needful that points be made about God's laws in this age of lawlessness and disrespect for authority. In fact, one cannot be in a covenant relationship with God (the real source of happiness) within being in a correct posture relative to God's commandments (I Jn. 2: 3-6; 5: 3).
3. Happy are those who have children.
a. The Bible says, "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth" (Ps. 127: 3, 4). The language concludes by saying, "Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate" (vs. 5).
b. Children can be the source of grief, but there is also much joy associated with children (Prov. 3: 1-4).
4. Happy are those who do not condemn self.
a. Paul wrote, "Hast thou faith? Have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in the thing which he alloweth" (Rom. 14: 22). The "faith" under consideration in Romans 14 is subjective faith, not God's revelation (cp. Jude 3).
b. Paul is addressing matters not taught on in God's word; matters that are doctrinally and morally indifferent (see chapter, vs. 14, click on "Romans 14, an Overview" to read more). In the circumstances of Romans 14, one needed to respect one's conscience and not violate it (vs. 23).
5. Those who trust in the Lord.
a. "He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trutheth in the Lord, happy is he, " wrote the wise man (Prov. 16: 20). To trust in the Lord means that we look to him for guidance and instruction. It also means that we do what God has told us without questioning and doubting. Some say, "I cannot see how baptism is for the forgiveness of sins." The word teaches that water baptism is for the remission of sins and if we trust in the Lord, we will accept such teaching (Acts 2: 38, 22: 16).
6. Those who require wisdom.
a. Wisdom and knowledge are closely akin. Wisdom, strictly distinguished, is knowledge in application. Many are unhappy because they lack wisdom. Their judgments and choices in life are wrong and lead to misery and failure. Hear the wise man: "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding" (Prov. 3: 13, see also 14-18).
b. Wisdom is without equal (vs. 15). The way man acquires wisdom is by learning and doing God's teachings (Prov. 1: 1-6; Matt. 7: 24-29).
Words that mean the same as happiness.
A.The scriptures contain many synonyms of "happy" or blessed. These references also contain the associated details and circumstances to the acquirement and enjoyment of these conditions.
a. For instance, there is "pleasure" (2 Cor. 12: 10). This pleasure is the result of a real relationship with God, even amid persecutions and such like (ibid.). "Delight," "contentment," and "loving life" are all synonymous with happiness (Ps. 40: 8; Heb. 13: 5; I Pet. 3: 10). In addition, we read of being "glad" and "rejoicing" (Ps. 126: 3; I Pet. 1: 8).
b. In all these circumstances, there is the relationship with God and the submission to God's teaching.
Examples of biblical happiness.
A. Keep in mind what we have learned of biblical happiness, how it entails a state of blessedness and the understanding that all true blessings come from God (Jas. 1: 17). With these matters in mind, please consider the following passage that depicts the state of happiness:
a. Ps. 34: 12-22 (emphasize different statements).
b. In Acts 2, we read of people who learned they were lost and cried out, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" (Acts 2: 37.) We read how these people were told to "repent and be baptized…for the remission of sins…" (vs. 38). Peter pointed out to these people that they had a responsibility in saving their own souls (vs. 40). As a result, we then read "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized…" (vs. 41). After they became Christians, they remained steadfast (vs. 42). We are told that they had "gladness and singleness of heart" (vs. 46).
Conclusion:::
Meaning according to Christianity: True happiness is not shallow and based on external stimuli. True happiness is not material, is not inherited, and cannot be acquired through some recipe of human origin. Beloved, true happiness is based on a scriptural relationship with God. Happiness is a state of blessedness that derives from this relationship. Knowing our origin, purpose, and destiny is requisite to happiness (Gen. 1; Eccl. 12: 13; Matt. 25: 46). As seen, biblical happiness can be experienced even amid difficulties and misfortunes. Jesus speaks of men hating, separated from, and reproaching the Christian. Yet, Jesus said "Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven…" (Lk. 6: 22, 23). Herein lies true happiness that we all should seek.
According to Buddhism
-------------------------
Composed by the great Tibetan Bodhisattva Langri Tangpa as ‘Eight Verses of Training
the Mind’, this short text reveals
profound yet totally practical methods to enable a powerful opening of the
heart, the source of all true happiness.
According to Langri Tangpa, every human being has the potential to
become a Buddha, someone who has completely purified his mind of all faults and
limitations and has brought all good qualities to perfection. Our mind is like
a cloudy sky, in essence clear and pure but overcast by the clouds of
delusions.
Just as the thickest clouds eventually disperse, so too even the heaviest delusions can be removed from our mind. Delusions such as hatred, greed and ignorance are not an intrinsic part of the mind. If we apply the appropriate methods they can be completely eliminated, and we shall experience the supreme happiness of full enlightenment.
The Root Text: Eight Verses of Training the Mind
With the intention to attain
The ultimate, supreme goal That surpasses even the wish- granting jewel, May I constantly cherish all living beings.
What is the ‘ultimate, supreme goal’ of human life? For some people it is material possessions, such as a large house with all the latest luxuries, a fast car, or a well-paid job. For others, it is reputation, good looks, power, excitement or adventure. As an end in themselves worldly attainments are hollow; they are not the real essence of human life.
Of all worldly possessions the most precious is said to be the legendary wish-granting jewel, which existed when human beings had abundant merit. Such jewels, however, could only fulfill wishes for contaminated happiness—they could never bestow the pure happiness that comes from a pure mind.
Furthermore, a wish-granting jewel only had the power to grant wishes in one life—it could not protect its owner in his or her future lives. Thus, ultimately even a wish-granting jewel is deceptive. The only thing that can never deceive us is the attainment of full enlightenment. So, whenever we are with other people we should be continuously mindful that their happiness and wishes are at least as important as our own.
Of course, we cannot cherish all living beings right away, but by training our mind in this attitude, beginning with our family and friends, we can gradually extend the scope of our love until it embraces all living beings. When in this way we sincerely cherish all living beings, we are no longer an ordinary person but have become a great being, like a Bodhisattva.
Whenever I associate with others,
May I view myself as the lowest of all;
And with a perfect intention, May I cherish others as supreme.
In the first verse, Langri Tangpa explains how to cherish all living beings, and in this verse he now shows us how to enhance this mind of love. The best way to do this is to familiarise ourselves with cherishing all living beings by putting our determination to cherish them into practice day and night.
If we wish to attain enlightenment, or to develop the superior Bodhichitta that comes from exchanging self with others, we must definitely adopt the view that others are more precious than ourself.
This view is based on wisdom and leads us to our final goal, whereas the view that regards ourself as more precious than others is based on self-grasping ignorance and leads us along the paths of samsara.Here Langri Tangpa is encouraging us to develop the mind of humility and to see ourself as lower and less precious than others.
One of the advantages of humility is that it enables us to learn from everyone. A proud person cannot learn from other people because he feels he already knows better than them.
On the other hand, a humble person who respects everyone and recognises that they may even be emanations of Buddha has the openness of mind to learn from everyone and every situation. Just as water cannot collect on mountain peaks, so good qualities and blessings cannot gather on the rocky peaks of pride.
If, instead, we maintain a humble, respectful attitude towards everyone, good qualities and inspiration will flow into our mind all the time, like streams flowing into a valley.
Examining my mental continuum throughout all my actions,
As soon as a delusion develops
Whereby I or others would act inappropriately, May I firmly face it and avert it.
Whereas the first two verses explain the practice of equalising self and others—cherishing ourself and all living beings equally—this verse shows us how to exchange self with others. This means that we give up our self-cherishing and come to cherish only others.
Because the main obstacles to gaining this realisation are our delusions, Langri Tangpa explains how we can overcome our delusions, and in particular our self-cherishing. Normally we divide the external world into that which we consider to be good or valuable, bad or worthless, or neither. Most of the time these discriminations are incorrect or have little meaning.
For example, our habitual way of categorising people into friends, enemies, and strangers depending on how they make us feel is both incorrect and an obstacle to developing impartial love for all beings.
Rather than holding so tightly to our discriminations of the external world, it would be far more beneficial if we learnt to discriminate between valuable and worthless states of mind. To overcome a particular delusion we need to be able to identify it correctly and distinguish it from other states of mind.
It is relatively easy to identify delusions such as anger or jealousy and to see how they are and how they are harming us. Delusions such as attachment, pride, self-grasping, and self-cherishing, however, are more difficult to recognise and can easily be confused with other states of mind.
For instance, we have many desires but not all of these are motivated by desirous attachment. We can have the wish to sleep, to eat, to meet our friends, or to meditate, without being influenced by attachment.
A desire that is attachment necessarily disturbs our mind, but since it may affect us in subtle, indirect ways we may find it difficult to recognise when it arises in our mind. In summary, through practising the Lojong instructions, Langri Tangpa and countless other practitioners of the past have attained profound realisations, including the complete realisation of exchanging self with others.
At the beginning the practitioners of these instructions were self-centred people just like us, but through perseverance they managed to eliminate their self-cherishing completely.
If we practise these instructions wholeheartedly and patiently there is no reason why we too should not attain similar realisations. We should not expect to destroy our self-cherishing immediately, but through practice it will become weaker and weaker until it ceases altogether. The complete eradication of self-cherishing is an uncommon Mahayana realisation that can only be accomplished through the practice of exchanging self with others.
Whenever I see unfortunate beings
Oppressed by evil and violent suffering,
May I cherish them as I had found
A rare and precious treasure.
Pure compassion is a mind that finds the suffering of others unbearable, but it does not make us depressed. In fact, it gives us tremendous energy to work for others and to complete the spiritual path for their sake. It shatters our complacency and makes it impossible to rest content with the superficial happiness of satisfying our worldly desires, yet in its place we shall come to know a deep inner peace that cannot be disturbed by changing conditions.
It is impossible for strong delusions to arise in a mind filled with compassion. If we do not develop delusions, external circumstances alone have no power to disturb us; so when our mind is governed by compassion it is always at peace.
This is the experience of all those who have developed their compassion beyond the limited compassion normally felt for a close karmic circle into a selfless compassion for all living beings. Developing compassion and wisdom, and helping those in need whenever possible, is the true meaning of life.
By increasing our compassion we come closer to enlightenment and to the fulfillment of our deepest wishes. The indication that we have mastered the meditations on cherishing others and compassion is that whenever we meet another person, even someone who is harming us, we genuinely feel as if we had found a rare and precious treasure.
Even if someone I have helped
And of whom I had great hopes
Nevertheless harms me without any reason
May I see him as my holy Spiritual Guide.
The purpose of this verse is to teach us how to develop and improve our experience of wishing love. It is important to understand the relationship between actions and their effects. Our normal reaction when faced with a problem is to try and find someone to blame, but if we look at the situation with wisdom we shall realise that we created the cause of that problem through our negative actions.
The main cause of all our problems is necessarily a negative bodily, verbal, or mental action that we ourself created in the past; other people’s actions are only secondary conditions that enable our negative karma to ripen.
If they do not provide the conditions for our negative karma to ripen, someone or something else definitely will; for once the main cause has been established, unless we purify it through purification practice, nothing can stop the effect from occurring sooner or later. Instead of blaming others for our problems we should use our misfortunes to deepen our understanding of karma.
By training our mind to recognise the spiritual lessons in all our experiences, we can come to view everyone and everything as our Spiritual Teacher, and we can turn any and every situation to our advantage.
When others out of jealousy
Harm me or insult me,
May I take defeat upon myself And offer them the victory
This sixth verse reveals that having gained some experience of love and compassion for all living beings we now need to put this good heart into practice in our daily life. For instance, when someone out of anger or jealousy harms or insults us, with our mind abiding in love and compassion we should happily accept the harm and not retaliate. This is the meaning of accepting defeat and offering the victory to others. This practice directly protects us from discouragement and unhappiness.
Langri Tangpa’s intention in this verse is to encourage us to practise patience. We may think that if we patiently practise accepting defeat all the time, our suffering and problems will multiply and completely overwhelm us; but in fact the practice of patience always lessens our suffering because we do not add mental pain to the difficulties we are having.
Suffering, worry, depression and pain are feelings—types of mind—so, they exist inside and not outside our mind. If while experiencing adverse conditions, our mind remains calm and happy through the practice of patience, we do not have a problem.
We may have a challenging situation, and may even be sick or injured, but we are free from pain. By controlling our mind in this way we experience a cessation of our pain, worry and depression, and find true inner peace. Furthermore, by keeping a peaceful mind in difficult situations we are far more likely to find solutions and respond constructively.
Buddhist practice is very gentle. It does not require physical deprivation and hardship but is mainly concerned with the internal task of controlling and transforming the mind. In summary, if we wish to help others effectively, we need to be able to accept our problems without getting angry or discouraged. Helping others is not always easy—it often involves considerable hardship and inconvenience, and going against the wishes of our self-cherishing mind.
Unless we are able to accept this, our commitment to benefit others will be half-hearted and unstable. However, once we develop the ability to accept our own problems patiently we shall have the strength of mind to practise taking on the suffering of others and giving them happiness.Gradually we shall develop the inner realisation of accepting defeat and offering the victory.
In short, may I directly and indirectly
Offer help and happiness to all my mothers,
And secretly take upon myself All their harm and suffering.
In this verse Bodhisattva Langri Tangpa explains the practices of taking by means of compassion and giving by means of love as a conclusion to the preceding verses. ‘In short’ in the verse therefore means ‘in conclusion’. When we first meditate on taking and giving we cannot actually take on the suffering of others nor give them our happiness, but by imagining that we are doing so now we are training our mind to be able to do so in the future.
The word ‘directly’ refers to actually taking on the suffering of others through our imagination. When we start our practice of taking and giving, we do not need to think too much about how it is possible to relieve others' suffering through the power of mind alone.
Instead we should simply practise taking and giving with a good motivation, understanding it to be a supreme method for increasing our merit and concentration. This practice also purifies our non-virtues and delusions, especially our self-cherishing, and makes our love and compassion very strong.
Through gradual training, our meditation on taking and giving will become so powerful that we shall develop the ability to take on the suffering of others and give them hapiness. We can reflect that since beginningless time we have had countless lives and countless bodies, but that we have wasted them in all meaningless activities. Now we have the opportunity to derive the greatest meaning from our present body by using it to engage in the path of compassion and wisdom.
Furthermore, through all these method practices,
Together with a mind undefiled by stains of conceptions of the eight extremes
And that sees all phenomena as illusory,
May I be released from the bondage of mistaken appearance and conception.
The first line indicates that the ultimate Bodhichitta is not an isolated realization but depends upon all the method realisations explained in the first seven verses. For a realization of ultimate truth to be ultimate Bodhichitta, we need the realisations of cherishing others, great compassion, and so forth. Moreover, for our study and meditation on emptiness to have a deep impact on our mind, it must be motivated at least by renunciation, the wish to attain liberation from samsara by abandoning our delusions.
If we are motivated only by philosophical curiosity the best we can hope to achieve is a superficial, intellectual understanding of emptiness; we shall never achieve a deep and liberating experience. All our problems arise because we do not realise the ultimate truth. The reason we remain in samsara is that we continue to engage in contaminated actions because of our delusions, which stem from self-grasping ignorance. Ignorance is the source of all our negativity and problems, and the only way to eradicate it is to realize emptiness.
Emptiness is not esay to understand, but it is important that we make the effort. Ultimately our efforts will be reawarded by the permanent cessation of all suffering and the everlasting bliss of full enlightenment.
Since 'Eight Verses of Training the Mind' come from the wisdom of a fully enlightenend being, it is reliable and of tremendous value. By putting these instructions into practice we shall experience ultimate happiness, purify all our negative karma and obstacles, and eliminate the ignorant minds of self-cherishing and self-grasping, the principal cause of suffering.
Just as the thickest clouds eventually disperse, so too even the heaviest delusions can be removed from our mind. Delusions such as hatred, greed and ignorance are not an intrinsic part of the mind. If we apply the appropriate methods they can be completely eliminated, and we shall experience the supreme happiness of full enlightenment.
The Root Text: Eight Verses of Training the Mind
With the intention to attain
The ultimate, supreme goal That surpasses even the wish- granting jewel, May I constantly cherish all living beings.
What is the ‘ultimate, supreme goal’ of human life? For some people it is material possessions, such as a large house with all the latest luxuries, a fast car, or a well-paid job. For others, it is reputation, good looks, power, excitement or adventure. As an end in themselves worldly attainments are hollow; they are not the real essence of human life.
Of all worldly possessions the most precious is said to be the legendary wish-granting jewel, which existed when human beings had abundant merit. Such jewels, however, could only fulfill wishes for contaminated happiness—they could never bestow the pure happiness that comes from a pure mind.
Furthermore, a wish-granting jewel only had the power to grant wishes in one life—it could not protect its owner in his or her future lives. Thus, ultimately even a wish-granting jewel is deceptive. The only thing that can never deceive us is the attainment of full enlightenment. So, whenever we are with other people we should be continuously mindful that their happiness and wishes are at least as important as our own.
Of course, we cannot cherish all living beings right away, but by training our mind in this attitude, beginning with our family and friends, we can gradually extend the scope of our love until it embraces all living beings. When in this way we sincerely cherish all living beings, we are no longer an ordinary person but have become a great being, like a Bodhisattva.
Whenever I associate with others,
May I view myself as the lowest of all;
And with a perfect intention, May I cherish others as supreme.
In the first verse, Langri Tangpa explains how to cherish all living beings, and in this verse he now shows us how to enhance this mind of love. The best way to do this is to familiarise ourselves with cherishing all living beings by putting our determination to cherish them into practice day and night.
If we wish to attain enlightenment, or to develop the superior Bodhichitta that comes from exchanging self with others, we must definitely adopt the view that others are more precious than ourself.
This view is based on wisdom and leads us to our final goal, whereas the view that regards ourself as more precious than others is based on self-grasping ignorance and leads us along the paths of samsara.Here Langri Tangpa is encouraging us to develop the mind of humility and to see ourself as lower and less precious than others.
One of the advantages of humility is that it enables us to learn from everyone. A proud person cannot learn from other people because he feels he already knows better than them.
On the other hand, a humble person who respects everyone and recognises that they may even be emanations of Buddha has the openness of mind to learn from everyone and every situation. Just as water cannot collect on mountain peaks, so good qualities and blessings cannot gather on the rocky peaks of pride.
If, instead, we maintain a humble, respectful attitude towards everyone, good qualities and inspiration will flow into our mind all the time, like streams flowing into a valley.
Examining my mental continuum throughout all my actions,
As soon as a delusion develops
Whereby I or others would act inappropriately, May I firmly face it and avert it.
Whereas the first two verses explain the practice of equalising self and others—cherishing ourself and all living beings equally—this verse shows us how to exchange self with others. This means that we give up our self-cherishing and come to cherish only others.
Because the main obstacles to gaining this realisation are our delusions, Langri Tangpa explains how we can overcome our delusions, and in particular our self-cherishing. Normally we divide the external world into that which we consider to be good or valuable, bad or worthless, or neither. Most of the time these discriminations are incorrect or have little meaning.
For example, our habitual way of categorising people into friends, enemies, and strangers depending on how they make us feel is both incorrect and an obstacle to developing impartial love for all beings.
Rather than holding so tightly to our discriminations of the external world, it would be far more beneficial if we learnt to discriminate between valuable and worthless states of mind. To overcome a particular delusion we need to be able to identify it correctly and distinguish it from other states of mind.
It is relatively easy to identify delusions such as anger or jealousy and to see how they are and how they are harming us. Delusions such as attachment, pride, self-grasping, and self-cherishing, however, are more difficult to recognise and can easily be confused with other states of mind.
For instance, we have many desires but not all of these are motivated by desirous attachment. We can have the wish to sleep, to eat, to meet our friends, or to meditate, without being influenced by attachment.
A desire that is attachment necessarily disturbs our mind, but since it may affect us in subtle, indirect ways we may find it difficult to recognise when it arises in our mind. In summary, through practising the Lojong instructions, Langri Tangpa and countless other practitioners of the past have attained profound realisations, including the complete realisation of exchanging self with others.
At the beginning the practitioners of these instructions were self-centred people just like us, but through perseverance they managed to eliminate their self-cherishing completely.
If we practise these instructions wholeheartedly and patiently there is no reason why we too should not attain similar realisations. We should not expect to destroy our self-cherishing immediately, but through practice it will become weaker and weaker until it ceases altogether. The complete eradication of self-cherishing is an uncommon Mahayana realisation that can only be accomplished through the practice of exchanging self with others.
Whenever I see unfortunate beings
Oppressed by evil and violent suffering,
May I cherish them as I had found
A rare and precious treasure.
Pure compassion is a mind that finds the suffering of others unbearable, but it does not make us depressed. In fact, it gives us tremendous energy to work for others and to complete the spiritual path for their sake. It shatters our complacency and makes it impossible to rest content with the superficial happiness of satisfying our worldly desires, yet in its place we shall come to know a deep inner peace that cannot be disturbed by changing conditions.
It is impossible for strong delusions to arise in a mind filled with compassion. If we do not develop delusions, external circumstances alone have no power to disturb us; so when our mind is governed by compassion it is always at peace.
This is the experience of all those who have developed their compassion beyond the limited compassion normally felt for a close karmic circle into a selfless compassion for all living beings. Developing compassion and wisdom, and helping those in need whenever possible, is the true meaning of life.
By increasing our compassion we come closer to enlightenment and to the fulfillment of our deepest wishes. The indication that we have mastered the meditations on cherishing others and compassion is that whenever we meet another person, even someone who is harming us, we genuinely feel as if we had found a rare and precious treasure.
Even if someone I have helped
And of whom I had great hopes
Nevertheless harms me without any reason
May I see him as my holy Spiritual Guide.
The purpose of this verse is to teach us how to develop and improve our experience of wishing love. It is important to understand the relationship between actions and their effects. Our normal reaction when faced with a problem is to try and find someone to blame, but if we look at the situation with wisdom we shall realise that we created the cause of that problem through our negative actions.
The main cause of all our problems is necessarily a negative bodily, verbal, or mental action that we ourself created in the past; other people’s actions are only secondary conditions that enable our negative karma to ripen.
If they do not provide the conditions for our negative karma to ripen, someone or something else definitely will; for once the main cause has been established, unless we purify it through purification practice, nothing can stop the effect from occurring sooner or later. Instead of blaming others for our problems we should use our misfortunes to deepen our understanding of karma.
By training our mind to recognise the spiritual lessons in all our experiences, we can come to view everyone and everything as our Spiritual Teacher, and we can turn any and every situation to our advantage.
When others out of jealousy
Harm me or insult me,
May I take defeat upon myself And offer them the victory
This sixth verse reveals that having gained some experience of love and compassion for all living beings we now need to put this good heart into practice in our daily life. For instance, when someone out of anger or jealousy harms or insults us, with our mind abiding in love and compassion we should happily accept the harm and not retaliate. This is the meaning of accepting defeat and offering the victory to others. This practice directly protects us from discouragement and unhappiness.
Langri Tangpa’s intention in this verse is to encourage us to practise patience. We may think that if we patiently practise accepting defeat all the time, our suffering and problems will multiply and completely overwhelm us; but in fact the practice of patience always lessens our suffering because we do not add mental pain to the difficulties we are having.
Suffering, worry, depression and pain are feelings—types of mind—so, they exist inside and not outside our mind. If while experiencing adverse conditions, our mind remains calm and happy through the practice of patience, we do not have a problem.
We may have a challenging situation, and may even be sick or injured, but we are free from pain. By controlling our mind in this way we experience a cessation of our pain, worry and depression, and find true inner peace. Furthermore, by keeping a peaceful mind in difficult situations we are far more likely to find solutions and respond constructively.
Buddhist practice is very gentle. It does not require physical deprivation and hardship but is mainly concerned with the internal task of controlling and transforming the mind. In summary, if we wish to help others effectively, we need to be able to accept our problems without getting angry or discouraged. Helping others is not always easy—it often involves considerable hardship and inconvenience, and going against the wishes of our self-cherishing mind.
Unless we are able to accept this, our commitment to benefit others will be half-hearted and unstable. However, once we develop the ability to accept our own problems patiently we shall have the strength of mind to practise taking on the suffering of others and giving them happiness.Gradually we shall develop the inner realisation of accepting defeat and offering the victory.
In short, may I directly and indirectly
Offer help and happiness to all my mothers,
And secretly take upon myself All their harm and suffering.
In this verse Bodhisattva Langri Tangpa explains the practices of taking by means of compassion and giving by means of love as a conclusion to the preceding verses. ‘In short’ in the verse therefore means ‘in conclusion’. When we first meditate on taking and giving we cannot actually take on the suffering of others nor give them our happiness, but by imagining that we are doing so now we are training our mind to be able to do so in the future.
The word ‘directly’ refers to actually taking on the suffering of others through our imagination. When we start our practice of taking and giving, we do not need to think too much about how it is possible to relieve others' suffering through the power of mind alone.
Instead we should simply practise taking and giving with a good motivation, understanding it to be a supreme method for increasing our merit and concentration. This practice also purifies our non-virtues and delusions, especially our self-cherishing, and makes our love and compassion very strong.
Through gradual training, our meditation on taking and giving will become so powerful that we shall develop the ability to take on the suffering of others and give them hapiness. We can reflect that since beginningless time we have had countless lives and countless bodies, but that we have wasted them in all meaningless activities. Now we have the opportunity to derive the greatest meaning from our present body by using it to engage in the path of compassion and wisdom.
Furthermore, through all these method practices,
Together with a mind undefiled by stains of conceptions of the eight extremes
And that sees all phenomena as illusory,
May I be released from the bondage of mistaken appearance and conception.
The first line indicates that the ultimate Bodhichitta is not an isolated realization but depends upon all the method realisations explained in the first seven verses. For a realization of ultimate truth to be ultimate Bodhichitta, we need the realisations of cherishing others, great compassion, and so forth. Moreover, for our study and meditation on emptiness to have a deep impact on our mind, it must be motivated at least by renunciation, the wish to attain liberation from samsara by abandoning our delusions.
If we are motivated only by philosophical curiosity the best we can hope to achieve is a superficial, intellectual understanding of emptiness; we shall never achieve a deep and liberating experience. All our problems arise because we do not realise the ultimate truth. The reason we remain in samsara is that we continue to engage in contaminated actions because of our delusions, which stem from self-grasping ignorance. Ignorance is the source of all our negativity and problems, and the only way to eradicate it is to realize emptiness.
Emptiness is not esay to understand, but it is important that we make the effort. Ultimately our efforts will be reawarded by the permanent cessation of all suffering and the everlasting bliss of full enlightenment.
Since 'Eight Verses of Training the Mind' come from the wisdom of a fully enlightenend being, it is reliable and of tremendous value. By putting these instructions into practice we shall experience ultimate happiness, purify all our negative karma and obstacles, and eliminate the ignorant minds of self-cherishing and self-grasping, the principal cause of suffering.
According to Judaism
Who is rich? He who is happy with his lot. - Pirkei Avos 4:1
We create the world in which we live to a great extent. While many events are beyond our control… we still have the ability to control our attitudes toward a given situation to a large degree. Hence the emotional consequences of events is largely up to us… Happiness can be learned… Our thoughts control our emotions, and we have the ability to control our thoughts to a great degree… We ourselves choose to think those thoughts which promote our happiness or those with which we make ourselves miserable.
“A truly happy person does not allow his happiness to be dependent on any external factor over which he may not have control.” (Chochmah Umussar, vol.2, pp.331-2)
Base your happiness on your own attitudes, and you can be its master. If you tell yourself that you can only be happy if others do or say what you wish, your happiness is under the control of those people. You can never have a guarantee how others will behave. Even when they do behave as you wish, you are likely to feel uneasy about how they might behave in the future.
What you tell yourself about a given situation is the way that situation will affect you. Your attitude towards any event or situation is not based on its objective reality but on your own subjective evaluation of that event or situation.
Many people feel that the way they automatically view events and situations is the way those events really are. But the truth is that events, occurrences, and situations on the completely objective level just are.
It is the viewer who evaluates them as either positive, negative, or neutral. Once you have a strong awareness and internalization of this concept, you will have the ability to change your negative attitudes to more positive ones.
Rabbi Yeruchem Levovitz of the Mir made an observation that should be read very carefully. The point he raises is so important for a mastery of happiness that it should be reviewed a number of times: When a person is born, he finds the world in a certain organized fashion. As he grows up, he tries to adjust himself to the assumptions that are accepted in the world. He views each event that occurs with the same perspective as the other people of his generation. Theses perspectives originated in the past and have been handed down from parents to children. These assumptions are taken for granted to such an extent that most people react to the accepted perspective of the world as if they were laws of the universe that cannot be changed. They are accepted as reality and are not challenged. Only a small minority of people obtain the necessary wisdom to look at the world with complete objectivity. They take a critical look at each and every thing and try to understand everything as it really is instead of accepting the general prevalent outlook. Those who try to investigate the origin of every perspective will perceive everything in a much different light than is commonly accepted. (Daas Chochmah Umussar, vol. 1, pp. 75-6)
In Summary we can conclude that whatever may be the religion existing in this world, everyone teaches the same in summary, but the method of expression may be different. Every one on this world wants to be happy either knowingly or unknowingly and strive to have that happiness.
