Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

by Joseph Goldstein

In both meditation and life, wise effort creates energy. We often think that we need energy to make effort. But the opposite can be just as true. Think of the times when you feel tired and sluggish and then go out for some exercise. Usually, you come back feeling alert and energized: effort creates energy.

There is a Tibetan prayer and aspiration that expresses this understanding: “May you have happiness and the causes of happiness. May you be free of suffering and the causes of suffering.”

Thich Nhat Hanh, the well-known Vietnamese Buddhist master, poet, and peace activist, expressed it very simply: “Buddhism is a clever way to enjoy life. Happiness is available. Please help yourselves to it.”

“The path of the Dhamma is to be simple, not a simpleton.” He didn’t have any self-image problems; he was doing what was appropriate for that time and place.

The famous thirteenth-century Japanese Zen master Dogen expressed it this way in the Genjo Koan: “What is the way of the Buddha? It is to study the self. What is the study of the self? It is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be Enlightened by all things.”