English Literature – Articles ☆ # 07: Effortless practices for Happiness and Stress Management ☆ Shri Jagat Singh Bisht ☆

“There are these two kinds of happiness. Worldly happiness and spiritual happiness. Of these two kinds of happiness, spiritual happiness is foremost.”

Buddha

Spirituality means loving kindness and compassion for all sentient beings. A spiritual being harms no living being, performs wholesome deeds, and avoids unwholesome actions.

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Spirituality brings peace of mind, balances life, and generates compassion. You become a true human being, loving, and caring for those around you. You begin looking inward and develop empathy toward all beings of nature.

There is a growing body of evidence indicating that spiritual practices are associated with better health and wellbeing. Spiritual strength can help you overcome hardships.

Spirituality provides right view and right understanding of life. It gives spiritual insight into right speech, right action, and right livelihood. Inner wisdom steers us in the right direction. If you desire everlasting health and happiness, cultivate wisdom.

Nurturing and developing your spirituality may be just as important as eating a healthy diet, exercising, and building strong relationships. Taking the time to reconnect with what you find meaningful in life and returning to life’s big questions can enhance your own sense of connection with something larger than yourself.

All the religions of the world have spirituality at their core. Spirituality means loving kindness and compassion for all sentient beings. A spiritual being harms no living being, performs wholesome deeds, and avoids unwholesome actions.

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. According to Dalai Lama, “Practicing compassion, caring for others, and sharing their problems, lays the foundation for a meaningful life, not only at the level of the individual, family, or community, but also for humanity as a whole.”

Spirituality may be expressed by working for a noble and worthy cause – taking care of the environment, conservation of wildlife, rescuing child labour, educating girl child, feeding hungry ones, and healing those who are suffering from misery and illness. The aim of spirituality is taking fellow human beings from misery to happiness and creating an environment of world peace and harmony.

CULTIVATING GOODWILL

The principal focus of the teachings of Shantideva is on cultivating a mind wishing to benefit other sentient beings. With an increase in our own sense of peace and happiness, we will naturally be better able to contribute to the peace and happiness of others.

Presented in the form of a personal meditation, but offered in friendship to whoever may be interested, the following verses from Shantideva prove extremely useful and beneficial to the mind:

“All the joy the world contains,

Has come through wishing happiness for others.

All the misery the world contains,

Has come through wanting pleasure for oneself.”

“May beings everywhere who suffer,

Torment in their minds and bodies,

Have, by virtue of my merit,

Joy and happiness in boundless measure.”

“May every being ailing with disease,

Be freed at once from every malady,

May very sickness that afflicts the living,

Be wholly and forever absent from the world.”

EXERCISE

Generating goodwill for the entire cosmos

Set aside thirty minutes of time for yourself any time of the day.

Observe silence – no talking, no gestures, no written communication. All devices completely shut.

Let those around you know that you would be observing silence for the next thirty minutes and that you should not be disturbed.

Silence brings peace of mind and quietens the mind.

Take a few deep breaths and relax.

Once you have settled down, bring this thought to your mind: May all be happy, peaceful, and free.

Send good vibes for all those around you and for all those who are far away.

Generate feelings of compassion for all living beings.

May all beings – on land, water, and air – be healthy, free of any ailments, and liberated from all bondages and pain.

Feel deep from your heart and wish health, happiness, and peace for the entire universe and all beings.

May all be happy!

You will feel relaxed, stress-free, and joyful.

This is known as metta bhavana – wishing good for all. You inculcate feelings of goodness, kindness, and compassion within yourself. Gradually your behaviour begins to change. You are not rude and angry. You become gentle and kind.

BE MINDFUL

Ajahn Chah has put it beautifully, “Try to be mindful, and let things take their natural course. Then your mind will become still in any surroundings, like a clear forest pool. All kinds of wonderful, rare animals will come to drink at the pool, and you will clearly see the nature of all things. You will see many strange and wonderful things come and go, but you will be still. This is the happiness of the Buddha.”

FOUR SUBLIME STATES

The four sublime states of mind are:

-Loving kindness,

-Compassion,

-Sympathetic Joy,

-Equanimity.

These four states are sublime because they are the right attitude, the ideal way of conduct towards living beings. They provide the answer to all situations arising from social contact.

The four sublime states remove all tensions. They make peace in social conflict, and they heal wounds that are suffered in the struggle of existence. Let us strive to dwell in these sublime states.

PURIFY YOUR MIND

One must take the first step toward spirituality sometime, somewhere.

The Dhammapada is an ideal place for taking the early, tiny steps. It is one of the most widely read books on spirituality. Its concise, crystalline verses are a thing of beauty and deep meaning. It is said in the Dhammapada:

“Abstain from all unwholesome deeds,

Perform wholesome ones,

Purify your mind.

This is the teaching of the Enlightened Ones.”

What are unwholesome deeds and what are the wholesome ones? Any action that harms others, that disturbs their peace and harmony is a sinful action, an unwholesome action. Any action that helps others, that contributes to their peace and harmony, is a pious action, a wholesome action.

Here are some more verses from the Dhammapada:

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought:

It is founded on our thoughts,

It is made up of our thoughts.

“If with an impure mind

you speak or act,

then suffering follows you,

as the cartwheel follows the foot of the draft animal.

“If with a pure mind

you speak or act,

then happiness follows you,

as a shadow that never departs.

“As rain breaks through an ill-thatched house,

Passion will break through an unreflecting mind.

“As rain does not break through a well-thatched house,

Passion will not break through a well reflecting mind.

“Burning now, burning hereafter,

the wrong doer suffers doubly.

Happy now, happy hereafter,

the virtuous person doubly rejoices.

“Watching his speech,

well restrained in mind,

let a man never commit any wrong with his body!

Let a man but keep these three roads of action clear, and he will achieve the way.”

Read some more verses from the Dhammapada, or any other scriptures you like, in a relaxed environment. Read the words again and again. Read between the lines. More is left unsaid than what is expressed in words by the sages. Stop, and think deeply, and apply them one by one to your life. Spirituality is values in action. Your life begins to transform.

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“Bhikkhus, there are these three purities. What three? Bodily purity, verbal purity, and mental purity.

” And what is bodily purity? Here, someone abstains from the destruction of life, from taking what is not given, and from sexual misconduct. This is called bodily impurity.

 “And what is verbal purity? Here, someone abstains from false speech, from divisive speech, from harsh speech, and from idle chatter. This is called verbal purity.

 “And what is mental purity? Here, someone is without longing, without ill will, and holds right view. This is called mental purity.

“These, bhikkhus, are the three purities.”

The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha/ Bhikkhu Bodhi

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“Those who mistake the unessential to be essential,

and the essential to be unessential,

dwelling in wrong thoughts,

never arrive at the essential.”

Dhammapada