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True Happiness through Mindfulness and Interbeing
True happiness is not separate from suffering but is “made of the very substance of suffering,” interbeing just as “garbage becomes compost for flowers to bloom; flowers will also become garbage.” When we draw a “clear dividing line” between the two, we “create a fundamental misunderstanding.” The notion that “the five ideas of happiness such as money, fame, sensual pleasure…” are happiness is only “a trap” if we do not “take care of and use” suffering in order to transform it into happiness.
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Mindfulness is a living energy, not an abstract idea:
- “Mindfulness is the Buddha himself” and is “the source of luminous energy” that illuminates each breath.
- When we “breathe in, breathe out with mindfulness,” we directly experience peace, transforming the five aggregates (form, feeling, perception, mental formations, consciousness) from “internal warfare” into “internal harmony.”
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The five sources of energy (the five spiritual powers) – faith, diligence, mindfulness, concentration, insight – are “precious seeds lying deep in the store consciousness”; activating these five “machines” within ourselves helps us to be “solid and at ease.”
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The Dharma needs to be directly “experimented with” (Sanditthika, Akalika, Ehipassika, Opanayika):
- Do not rely on any “notion,” even “Buddhism” or “any -ism” – that is yet another trap.
- The Sangha is “an essential vehicle” for “practicing the precepts together,” supporting us to overcome the “trap” of the five sensual desires and our habits, building “safety” and “roots” in our lives.
Music about “true happiness” is given as a practice exercise: each person “presents” about the content and then “sings for the whole community,” using folk songs or simple compositions to share, contributing to the nourishment of “solidity and ease” in daily life.