I have titled this book Genuine Happiness because the meditations herein present a path to inner fulfillment and human flourishing. This is a happiness gained not through the outer conquest of nature or the acquisition of wealth and fame, but through the conquest of our inner obscurations and the realization of the natural resources inherent in our hearts and minds.
Genuine Happiness: Meditation as the Path to Fulfillment books pdf file
As you introduce yourself to these ways of exploring and training the mind, you will delve into deeper and deeper states of awareness to open up the inner resources of consciousness. In the midst of active daily life it is easy for our minds to become scattered, and our attention becomes dysfunctional by oscillating between dullness and compulsive agitation. The first three chapters present techniques for overcoming these states by cultivating meditative quiescence or tranquility called, in Sanskrit, shamatha. The practices are designed to collect and focus the mind through the cultivation of inner stillness, stability, and clarity. This process of fine-tuning our attention moves us toward a state called, in Sanskrit, sukha, meaning genuine happiness: a state that arises only from a healthy, balanced mind.
Mindfulness of breathing was the first Buddhist meditation I began practicing, and I often recommend it to my students as the first step on the meditative path. I began learning it from books in 1970, especially the writings of the Thai monk Buddhadasa. I was leading the life of a reclusive college student at the time, spending a lot of time reading about the contemplative traditions of the world, and beginning to study the Tibetan language. A few years later, when I was living as a monk in the mountains above Dharamsala, India, I received personal instruction in the technique from two Theravada Buddhist meditation teachers who had trained in Burma and Thailand, Goenka and Kitti Subho. In 1980,1 traveled to Sri Lanka, solely to meditate, and I then had the opportunity to train for months in this practice under the renowned scholar and contemplative Balangoda Anandamaitreya. Over the years, I have also been taught variations of this practice by a number of Tibetan lamas, but I have relied primarily on my Theravada teachers for this kind of meditation. 2ff7e9595c
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