Meditation Teacher's Guide To Happiness

How is a meditation teacher's perspective on happiness different from the average person's?

Happiness is a challenging subject. We don't tend to talk about it too much in the meditation tradition. We talk more about contentment. And contentment is different, in that happiness usually requires particular conditions. You're happy if the sun is shining. You're happy if you have your ice cream cone. A warm puppy is happiness. But then when you don't have the warm puppy, or the ice cream cone, or the whatever, you're not happy. So contentment is more of a state of equanimity. Where, if it's a rainy day, you're content. If it's a nice day, you're content. It's more being at ease with whatever's happening.

What can the rest of the world learn from a meditation teacher about happiness?

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche says something I think is quite delightful, which is if you want to be happy think about others. If you want to be miserable, think about yourself and be self absorbed. So, from the point of view of meditation, one learns how to let go of the self absorption and to pay attention more to the world that we're in.

Why is a meditation teacher's perspective on happiness different from the average person's?

Well I discovered that the more I worked with my own mind there are fewer demands I place upon the world being a certain way. And the less judgmental I've become over time the happier I am. Because what I've discovered was that happiness is a state of mind and unhappiness is a state of mind and its really up to us which of the ones we're going to experience.

Are people who meditate happy all the time?

Nonsense. I mean it's a long process, at least in my tradition, I mean most of our people are in the world. They have jobs, they have families, they have significant others -- therefore they will experience pain. Because that's the way it is. But they can be cheerful about it rather than miserable about it.

What is the goal of meditation?

The goal of meditation is to wake up to your own true nature. And on the way to that, as a side effect almost, one does develop a certain quality of being at peace with your mind. It's not that the mind is necessarily peaceful, but that we can be at peace with the mind.