Buddhist Spectrum

Pursuit of happiness - Buddhist way

Lionel Wijesiri

Perhaps more than any other religion, Buddhism is associated with happiness. A central tenet of Buddhism is that we are not helpless victims of unchangeable emotions. In the words of Buddha, “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world.”

It means everything comes from the mind, and if we train our mind properly, happiness will be the result.

It seems like quite a claim – that mental training can make you happy, no matter what happens to you. But it’s a claim that’s backed up, not only by two and a half thousand years of Buddhist tradition, but a growing body of research.

It’s an idea that’s in line with current thinking in psychology. In fact, this simple philosophy – that changing the way we think can change the way we feel – underpins the very practice of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), an approach widely used in clinical psychology and counselling, as well as stress management programs.

CBT can help a patient to make sense of overwhelming problems by breaking them down into smaller parts. This makes it easier to see how they are connected and how they affect him. These parts are: thoughts, emotions, physical feelings and actions

Each of these areas can affect the others. How the patient think about a problem can affect how he feels physically and emotionally. It can also alter what he does about it. There are helpful and unhelpful ways of reacting to most situations, depending on how you think about them.

CBT emerged in the 1970s, and according to Dr Sarah Edelman, who wrote a book on the subject entitled Change Your Thinking, it was originally developed to help people recover from problems such as depression, anxiety disorders, anger and self-sabotaging behaviours. But its principles are just as relevant for managing the upsetting emotions that arise and disrupt everyday life. However, while psychologists stress actively challenging negative thoughts and replacing them with more optimistic ones, Buddhists focus more on detaching yourself from all thoughts to create a state of stillness conducive to ultimate self-understanding, or enlightenment.

Meditation

What is it about Buddhism, exactly, that helps you feel happy whatever the circumstances?

For Buddhists, the key method of achieving the true happiness is through meditation – which usually involves fixing our attention on a body part, the breath or any object – to arrive at a state where we are not distracted by our thoughts.

And psychologists agree wholeheartedly that quite aside from any spiritual connotations, meditation is a very powerful tool for mental relaxation. Research has shown that practising meditation regularly – and being more ‘mindful’, that is, focused on the present moment – has beneficial effects for a range of conditions.

These include stress, anxiety, depression, poor sleep and coping with chronic pain. Most methods suggest meditating for about 20 minutes twice a day, although many people will find it useful to start with five to 10 minutes twice a day and to build from there.

In Buddhism, meditation is a method to make the mind relaxed and peaceful. Tranquillity gives rise to clarity from which understanding and wisdom grow. This wisdom allows us to observe that negative emotions such as anger and desire cause all of our problems.

Buddhism offers us antidotes to free ourselves from their harmful influence. For instance, to overcome anger, Buddhists cultivate the practice of patience and tolerance. To counteract desire – say for wealth, status or a lover – one reflects upon the impermanent and transitory nature of life and everything in it. Similarly, positive behaviours such as acting in a kind and loving way, or as Buddhists say, practising ‘loving-kindness’, give rise to joyful experiences and we should therefore try to cultivate them.

Meditation in the lab

Dr Richard Davidson, a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in the US, and his team, have examined the brain activity of eight long-time expert Buddhist practitioners, including monks, while they meditated on unconditional compassion, generating loving empathic thoughts toward all beings.

As a control, 10 student volunteers with no previous meditation experience were also tested after one week of training.

“Our research is related to what Buddhists call neuro-plasticity,” explains Dr Antoine Lutz, the project’s principal investigator. “We wanted to test whether the training of the mind as cultivated using Buddhist meditative techniques can alter brain functions such as attention and emotions. Comparing these two groups was a way to see whether there’s a relationship between mind training and brain activity.”

As both groups meditated on compassion, the scientists recorded gamma waves in the subjects’ brains using an electroencephalogram. Gamma waves are some of the highest-frequency and most important electrical brain impulses, due to their association with perception and consciousness. Intriguingly, the electrodes detected much greater gamma wave activity in the experienced meditators, and found that this was much better organised and coordinated than in the brains of the novice meditators.

The novice meditators showed only a slight increase in gamma wave activity while meditating, but some of the experienced meditators produced gamma wave activity more powerful than has ever been reported. And those who had spent the most years meditating had the highest level of all. The extreme gamma wave activity detected in this group has also been associated with weaving together far-flung brain circuits, suggesting higher mental activity and heightened awareness of those mental states most likely to bring happiness.

“The spectacular difference between the two groups suggests that mental training as cultivated in this contemplative tradition can radically alter brain functions,” confirms Lutz.

“This is further supported by the group difference in the initial electrical baseline,” he continues, “which also suggests these changes persist in a way that infuses daily life with certain qualities cultivated by meditation.”So certainly this collaborating research with the Buddhist tradition informs our understanding on the possible mechanisms involved in mind training, and possibly wellbeing and happiness.”

True happiness

True happiness, in Buddhism, is broadly defined as a mind-state. The Buddha says: “Happiness is in the mind which is released from worldly bondage. The happiness of sensual lust and the happiness of heavenly bliss are not equal to a sixteenth part of the happiness of craving’s end.”

One of the chapters of the Dhammapada is titled, “Happiness” in which some of the Buddha’s teachings about happiness are listed.

In this chapter the Buddha describes elements of a happy life: 1. Living without hate among the hateful. 2. Living without domination of the passions among those who are dominated by the passions. 3. Living without yearning for sensual pleasures among those who yearn for sensual pleasures. 4. Living without being impeded by the Three Poisons of craving, anger and ignorance which are seen as hindrances to spiritual progress. 5. Giving up thoughts of winning or losing. 6. Overcoming the Five Aggregates (a sense of objects, emotional attachment to those objects, categorization of those objects, mental states arising from contact with those objects, a dualistic view of a perceiver and that which is perceived) 6. Subjugating the passions. 7. Not being in the company of the foolish but being with the wise. 8. Attaining the final happiness which is Nirvana, sometimes referred to as Bliss.

It means that we need to “endure the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” without complaining, that we have to stay disciplined in the midst of the undisciplined, that we have to stop being so competitive all the time, that we can’t give in to anger and delusion, that we have to look at the process by which we stay deluded, that we need to find wise spiritual friends to guide us, and that there is something transcendent to which we can aspire.

Of course, the way in which we can do all these things was outlined by the Buddha.

He called it the Noble Eightfold Path. But while the Noble Eightfold Path is the path that leads to the ultimate happiness, Nirvana, the ultimate Bliss, it is also the path of the ultimate happiness. Besides being a path, the Noble Eightfold Path is also a state...a state of mind, a state of happiness, something which is universal, ongoing, consistent, enduring. It’s the practice of happiness in our daily existence.

Lion’s roar

Bhikkhu Nanamoli

Among the hordes of animals that roam the wild, whether the jungle, the mountains or the plain, the lion is universally recognized to be their chief. The living embodiment of self-possessed power, he is the most regal in manner and deportment, the mightiest, the foremost with respect to speed, courage and dominion.

The expression of the lion’s supremacy is its roar - a roar which reduces to silence the cries, howls, bellows, shrieks, barks and growls of lesser creatures. When the lion steps forth from his den and sounds his roar, all the other animals stop and listen. On such an occasion none dares even to sound its own cry, let alone to come into the open and challenge the fearless, unsurpassable roar of the golden-maned king of beasts.

The Buddha’s discourses, as found in the ancient Pali canon, frequently draw their imagery from the rich and varied animal life of the luxuriant Indian jungle. It is thus not surprising that when the Buddha has occasion to refer to himself, he chooses to represent himself as the stately lion and to describe his proclamation of the Dhamma, bold and thunderous, as a veritable lion’s roar in the spiritual domain.

Majjhima Nikaya, the collection of Middle Length Discourses, contains two suttas which bear this metaphor in their title. These two - No 11 and No 12 in the collection - are called respectively the Shorter Discourse on the Lion’s Roar and the Great Discourse on the Lion’s Roar.

The variation in their titles, signalled by the Pali words cula, “minor,” and maha, “great,” evidently refers at one level to their different lengths, the one being four pages in the Pali, the other sixteen.

At another level, these different designations may allude to the relative weight of the subject matter with which they deal, the “great” discourse being a rare revelation by the Buddha of his exalted spiritual endowments and all-encompassing knowledge, which entitle him to “roar his lion’s roar” in the assemblies of human beings and gods. Still, both suttas, as their controlling image suggests, are of paramount importance.

Each delivers in its own way an eloquent and inspiring testimony to the uniquely emancipating nature of the Buddha’s Teaching and the peerless stature of the Teacher among the spiritual guides of humanity.

The Pali Commentaries explain that there are two kinds of lion’s roar: that of the Buddha himself and that of his disciples. The former is sounded when the Buddha extols his own attainments or proclaims the potency of the doctrine he has realized; the latter, when accomplished disciples testify to their own achievement of the final goal, the fruit of arahantship.

Viewed in the light of this distinction, the Shorter Discourse on the Lion’s Roar exhibits a hybrid character, being a sutta spoken by the Buddha to instruct his disciples how they should affirm, in discussions with others who hold different convictions, the singular greatness of the Teaching.

In section 2, the Buddha opens the discourse by disclosing the content of this roar. He tells his monks that they can boldly declare that “only here” (idh’eva) - i.e., in the Dispensation of the Enlightened One - is it possible to find true recluses of the first, second, third and fourth degrees. The expression “recluse” (samana) here refers elliptically to the four grades of noble disciples who have reached the stages of realization at which final deliverance from suffering is irrevocably assured: the stream-enterer, the once-returner, the non-returner and the arahant.

The “doctrines of others” (parappavada), the Buddha says, are devoid of true recluses, of those who stand on these elevated planes. In order to understand this statement properly, it is important to distinguish exactly what the words imply and what they do not imply.

The words do not mean that other religions are destitute of persons of saintly stature. Such religions may well engender individuals who have attained to a high degree of spiritual purity - beings of noble character, lofty virtue, deep contemplative experience, and rich endowment with love and compassion.

These religions, however, would not be capable of giving rise to ariyan individuals, those equipped with the penetrative wisdom that can cut through the bonds that fetter living beings to samsara, the round of repeated birth and death. For such wisdom can only be engendered on a basis of right view - the view of the three characteristics of all conditioned phenomena, of dependent arising, and of the Four Noble Truths - and that view is promulgated exclusively in the fold of the Buddha’s Dispensation.

Admittedly, this claim poses an unmistakable challenge to eclectic and universalist approaches to understanding the diversity of humankind’s religious beliefs, but it in no way implies a lack of tolerance or good will.

During the time of the Buddha himself, in the Ganges Valley, there thrived a whole panoply of religious teachings, all of which proposed, with a dazzling diversity of doctrines and practices, to show seekers of truth the path to liberating knowledge and to spiritual perfection.

In his frequent meetings with uncommitted inquirers and with convinced followers of other creeds, the Buddha displayed the most complete tolerance and gracious cordiality.

But though he was always ready to allow each individual to form his or her own convictions without the least constraint or coercion, he clearly did not subscribe to the universalist thesis that all religions teach essentially the same message, nor did he allow that the attainment of final release from suffering, Nibbana, was accessible to those who stood outside the fold of his own Dispensation.

While this position may seem narrow and parochial to many today, when reaction against the presumptions of dogmatic religion has become so prevalent, it is not maintained by the Buddha as a hidebound dogma or from motives of self-exalting pride, but from a clear and accurate discernment of the precise conditions required for the attainment of deliverance.

To be continued

Studies in Buddhism

Stanley E Abeynayake

The book Studies in Buddhism has been written in English by no less than a Catholic erudite dignitary Dr W L A Don Peter, an unsurpassed educationist, scholar of no mean repute, an excellent author in both Sinhala and English not to mention of his worthy contribution to national newspapers as a freelance journalist.

He needs no introduction for he was once the Rector, St Joseph's College, Colombo, the foremost Catholic collegiate school in the island, Director of Studies, Aquinas College of Higher Studies, Colombo etc.

In compiling this compendium, he intended in particular that the treatise in dealing with the Dhamma would be of immense use to Christian students endeavouring to gain insights into important artifacts of Buddhism. He was also of the opinion that it would enrich the knowledge of all those who are interested in the subject. The ten chapters cover themes that arouse the minds of all average readers with curiosity on such philosophical, metaphysical and controversial issues with a comparative critical approach.

First the reader is introduced into Dhammapada in Chapter I. The Dhammapada for us is a concise encyclopedia of the teachings of the Buddha. It has deeply influenced the lives of humanity for as its name indicates is a collection of the words of the Dhamma or Truth. The learned writer Rev Fr Don Peter has delved into lofty aspects of the Middle Path that emphasizes the requisite to avoid extremism in all activities of our lives. The other titles deal with celibacy in Buddhism, the clergy or priesthood of the Buddhist church, an exposition on the Buddhist statue.

Thereafter the Rev Father adheres to the critical approach on comparative matters pertaining to Buddhism and Christianity namely the religious practices of the Buddha and Saint Francis, the sculpture of Buddhist statues or images as found in Sri Lanka, Buddhist and Christian religious missionary movements, the Buddhist and Benedictine monasteries and monastic life, the code of conduct for life and last but not the least the controversial issue, a discussion and arriving at a compromise between Buddhism and Christian clergy.

This highly informative book has been very beautifully and meticulously translated into Sinhala by an efficient translator of the calibre of Wimalasena Withanapathirana of Welgama, Tittapattara, near Hanwella. Painstakingly he has performed his task. It is to his great credit that he has very successfully translated works of such world renowned authors such as Bertrand Russell, John Stewart Mill, Ven. Srawasthi Dhammika, Australian Buddhist monk, Jack Dominion, John Walters, a collection of short stories, Kaleel Gibran, W T G Leslie Fernando - "Being close to them" - among some eminent personalities.

Wimalasena Withanapathirana's style is lucid, self-explanatory - a balm to the mind of the average reader in grasping philosophical matters written in a critical manner.

He is an adept in translating into Sinhala from English and vice versa for he functioned with acceptance as an officer of District Courts both in the capacity of Interpreter Mudliyar and Registrar.

In his inimitable way Wimalasena Withanapathirana has not failed to mention his mentor W T A Leslie Fernando of Negombo, retired High Court Judge with a sense of gratitude because he guided him on correct perspectives in this stupendous translation work.

The text is published nicely by S Godage Brothers, Colombo 10 on glossy paper also with a biographical sketch of Rev Fr Dr W L A Don Peter. It is moderately priced at Rs 300.