Darling, do I understand you enough?

From time to time, sit close to the one you love, hold his or her hand, and ask, “Darling, do I understand you enough? Or am I making you suffer? Please tell me so that I can learn to love you properly. I don’t want to make you suffer, and if I do so because of my ignorance, please tell me so that I can love you better, so that you can be happy.” If you say this in a voice that communicates your real openness to understand, the other person may cry. That is a good sign, because it means the door of understanding is opening and everything will be possible again.

Thich Nhat Hanh, in "Peace Is Every Step"

Enlightenment - The Story

https://www.facebook.com/TrueBuddhistTeachings/videos/1840607702857341/

One day, seated beneath the Bodhi tree (the tree of awakening) Siddhartha became deeply absorbed in meditation, and reflected on his experience of life, determined to penetrate its truth. He finally achieved Enlightenment and became the Buddha.

10 things science (and Buddhism) says will make you happy

February 19, 2012 

 Bodhipaksa

I’m a science geek as well as a Buddhist geek, and recently when I was leading a retreat on how to bring more joy into our lives I found myself making a lot of references to an article published in Yes magazine, which touched on ten things that have been shown by science to make us happier. It seemed natural to draw upon the article because so much of the research that was described resonated with Buddhist teachings.

So I thought it would be interesting to take the main points of the article and flesh them out with a little Buddhism.

1. Be generous
“Make altruism and giving part of your life, and be purposeful about it,” Yes magazine says. “Researcher Elizabeth Dunn found that those who spend money on others reported much greater happiness than those who spend it on themselves.”

Ven. Henepola Gunaratana - Mindfulness in plain English

From the Buddhist point of view, we human beings live in a very peculiar fashion. We view impermanent things as permanent, though everything is changing all around us. The process of change is constant and eternal.

Dare to practise

HAPPINESS FOR THE LAY PERSON

By Venerable Balacitta

The Buddha once described (in AN 4:62) 4 different kinds of happiness that can be attained by a lay person. These are based on:

1. Wealth obtained by righteous means
2. Enjoyment of such wealth
3. Freedom from debt
4. Blamelessness