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The Relationship Between Manas and Consciousness
Practice is to “generate” joy, happiness, and peace through the three energies of mindfulness, concentration, and insight: in every step, every breath, whether sweeping the floor or brushing your teeth, if you maintain these three energies, joy, happiness, and peace will naturally be present. A practitioner knows how to make use of every action to generate mindfulness, concentration, and insight, and from there, peace and happiness overflow; if these three energies are not present, even if you practice for a long time, it is difficult to transform suffering.
The Four Noble Truths consist of four realities: (1) Suffering, (2) The Cause – the cause of suffering is the lack of mindfulness, concentration, and insight, (3) The Cessation – the absence of suffering, which is happiness, (4) The Path – the path of happiness. The path is not a means to happiness; the path itself is happiness: “There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.” Each step, each word, each thought, and each action must carry the essence of peace and happiness, being both the path and the destination in this very moment.