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Peace, Freedom, and Mindful Consumption: Building the Conditions of Happiness
Today, happiness exists only upon a background of suffering: without knowing suffering, happiness cannot reveal itself. At Plum Village, the practice consists in continually cultivating the “conditions” of happiness, both inner and outer, at every moment of daily life. Among these inner conditions:
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Inner peace: the absence of conflict between
a. the elements of the body – earth, fire, water, metal, plant (Chinese medicine) or earth, water, fire, air (the four Mahābhūta) – which we maintain through the art of eating, drinking, working, resting, and, if necessary, through acupuncture.
b. contradictory sensations and perceptions, which we harmonize by looking deeply into the nature of our desires.
c. inner violence (anger, desire to punish), transformed into tenderness and compassion through meditation. -
Freedom: liberation from obsessions with the past and projections into the future through mindfulness, which allows us to dwell in the present moment and to recognize the treasures already available within us (peace, freedom) and around us (the “paradise of forms and colors”: blue sky, vegetation, beloved faces).
Externally, consumption plays a key role:
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The Fifth Mindfulness Training – mindful consumption – is to protect our body and mind from “poisons” (violent television, alarming newspapers, harmful conversations) by distinguishing:
• edible food (mouth)
• sensory impressions (eye, ear, nose, body, mind)
• deep volition (desires, which can be poison or happiness)
• consciousness-knowledge (nourished at every moment)
Practicing mindfulness in daily life – brushing our teeth, walking, breathing consciously – is to cultivate peace and freedom, to recognize and safeguard the conditions of happiness in every action.