THE BUDDHIST WAY TO HAPPINESS

Dear Friends,

THE BUDDHIST WAY 

TO HAPPINESS

 

Inward Path is pleased to inform that our resident meditation teacher Visu Teoh will give a Dhamma talk entitled “The Buddhist Way to Happiness,” at the Mahindarama Buddhist Temple in Kampar Road at 8.00pm this Sunday (April 28). All are welcome.

What are some of the aspects of this Buddhist way? Bro Visu gives some pointers:

Acceptance of the First Noble Truth of Suffering. Not denying the suffering and pretending that life is simply wonderful and everything is fine. But seeing that we can, despite the suffering, still be happy and spread happiness by living a meaningful life – a life that is filled with the noble and beautiful values of lovingkindness, compassion, understanding, honesty, integrity, patience, tolerance, generosity, courage, confidence, contentment, diligence, and so on.

We create a lot of happiness and reduce the suffering by cultivating wholesome and healthy states of mind and reducing unwholesome and suffering causing states of mind. As the Buddha has pointed out that the root causes of suffering are greed, hatred, and delusion, the Buddhist way to happiness is not to increase these unwholesome mental factors but to see how we can cultivate more contentment and appreciation for what we have, how we can give and share; how we can be patient and tolerant and not get angry so easily but practise more lovingkindness, understanding and compassion; how we can see through the delusion of self and not regard the five aggregates (of material form, feeling, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness) as self but instead develop wholesome five aggregates which we will also finally bring to a cessation in Nibbana where all suffering ceases.

Do come to the talk to hear Visu elaborate on this Buddhist Way to Happiness. We assure you that your time will be well spent, for the Dhamma is the medicine par excellence for the mind and heart.

***

ONE DAY METTA 

(LOVINGKINDNESS) 

RETREAT @

MAHINDARAMA TEMPLE 

LED BY VISU

Visu will lead a one-day Metta Retreat athe Mahindarama Buddhist Temple in Kampar Road from 8.00am to 6.00pm on Saturday, May 18. More information can be obtained and application made at the Mahindarama website at www.mahindaramatemple.com or phone Sister Siew Choo at 016-4581136.

Metta is a wonderful practice and it is great way to spend the day radiating lovingkindness to all beings including oneself, loved ones, and friends. Visu will give precise instructions and guidance on how to practise metta both in formal meditation and casually as we go about our everyday life activities. Metta reduces anger while promoting a happy frame of mind and improving our relationships with others.

***

WEEKLY THURSDAY 

(8.00PM — 10.00PM) 

MEDITATION SESSION 

@ HOUSE of INWARD JOURNEY

Visu will continue to lead his Thursday weekly meditation session at House of Inward Journey till he leaves for Europe on June 20. The last session will be on Thursday, June 13. Please avail yourselves of the remaining session before Visu leaves for his yearly teaching stint in Europe. For more information you may phone Visu directly at 016-4112395 or Sunanda Lim at 012-4302893.

***

Visu’s teaching schedule 

in Europe this year 

(2013)

 

• June 28, 29: Meditation workshop for patients at Hochgrat Klinik, Stiefenhofen, Germany.

• July 5,6,7: Metta weekend retreat at Pauenhof Meditation Centre, Sonsbeck, Germany (website: http://www.pauenhof.de/blog/; email organiser Michael Hellbach at tushita@tushita.com).

• July 12, 13: Meditation workshop for therapists at Hochgrat Klinic, Stiefenhofen, Germany.

• July 26 to Aug 3: Metta Retreat, Passaddhi Meditation Centre, Ireland (www.passaddhi.com; email organiser Marjo Oosterhoff at info@passaddhi.com).

• Aug 3 to Aug 11: Vipassana Retreat, Passaddhi Meditation Centre, Ireland (www.passaddhi.com; email organiser Marjo Oosterhoff at info@passaddhi.com).

• Aug 16 to Aug 25: Metta Retreat, Czech Republic (email organiser Libor Sulak at liborsulak@centrum.cz).

• Aug 31, Sept 1: Metta retreat in Rotterdam (email Simin Abravesh at abravesh5@gmail.com).

• Sept 6 to 15: Metta Retreat at Pauenhof Meditation Centre, Sonsbeck, Germany (website: http://www.pauenhof.de/blog/; email organiser Michael Hellbach at tushita@tushita.com).

• Sept 21, 22: Metta and vipassana weekend retreat in Nijmegen (website: http://www.vipassananijmegen.nl; email Robbert Thijssen at drlaser12@hotmail.com). 

• Oct 18, 19: Meditation workshop at Adula Klinik, Obertsdorf, Germany. 

• Oct 25 to 27: Metta and vipassana retreat at private house, near Obertsdorf, Germany.

***

Planting Seeds: The Power of Mindfulness

Planting Seeds: 

The Power of Mindfulness

by 

Peace IsTheWay

Dying To Be Me

 

  

Searching all directions

with one’s awareness,

one finds no one dearer

 than oneself.

In the same way,

others are fiercely dear 

to themselves.

So one should not hurt others

if one loves oneself. 

~ The Buddha, Udana ~

 

 _/\_

Is Loving Yourself Okay?

by Bodhipaksa

Loving yourself has a bad press in the West. We often associate it with being self-centered and not caring about others. In fact, we have a tendency to want to put ourselves down to avoid being thought of as self-centered. 

But in the Buddhist tradition, which has produced countless outstandingly generous and selfless individuals, there is an emphasis on developing love for yourself as an indispensable prerequisite for loving others.

_/\_

The Practice of 
Loving-Kindness (Metta)

As Taught by the Buddha in the Pali Canon

compiled and translated by Ñanamoli Thera 

Right at the start, the meditation of loving-kindness should be developed towards oneself repeatedly in this way: 

"May I be happy and free from suffering" or 

"May I keep myself free from 

hostility and trouble and live happily" 

(though this will never produce the full absorption of contemplation). 

It is by cultivating the thought "May I be happy" with oneself as example, that one begins to be interested in the welfare and happiness of other living beings, and to feel in some sense their happiness as if it were one's own: 

"Just as I want happiness and fear pain, 

just as I want to live and not to die, 

so do other beings." 

_/\_

Facets of Metta

by Sharon Salzberg

Contemplating the goodness within ourselves is a classical meditation, done to bring light, joy, and rapture to the mind. In contemporary times this practice might be considered rather embarrassing, because so often the emphasis is on all the unfortunate things we have done, all the disturbing mistakes we have made. Yet this classical reflection is not a way of increasing conceit. It is rather a commitment to our own happiness, seeing our happiness as the basis for intimacy with all of life. It fills us with joy and love for ourselves and a great deal of self-respect.

Significantly, when we do metta practice, we begin by directing metta toward ourselves. This is the essential foundation for being able to offer genuine love to others. When we truly love ourselves, we want to take care of others, because that is what is most enriching, or nourishing, for us. When we have a genuine inner life, we are intimate with ourselves and intimate with others. The insight into our inner world allows us to connect to everything around us, so that we can see quite clearly the oneness of all that lives. We see that all beings want to be happy, and that this impulse unites us. We can recognize the rightness and beauty of our common urge towards happiness, and realize intimacy in this shared urge.