Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill

by Matthieu Ricard

The search for happiness is not about looking at life through rose-colored glasses or blinding oneself to the pain and imperfections of the world. Nor is happiness a state of exaltation to be perpetuated at all costs; it is the purging of mental toxins, such as hatred and obsession, that literally poison the mind. It is also about learning how to put things in perspective and reduce the gap between appearances and reality.

“the construction of the self as a never-ending task.”

We are very much like birds that have lived too long in a cage to which we return even when we get the chance to fly away. We have grown so accustomed to our faults that we can barely imagine what life would be like without them. The prospect of change makes us dizzy.

all insecurities and inner fears (which are often connected to excessive self-centeredness),

to work for the good of others and extract the essence from our human condition.

Dza Mura Tulku,

we must not allow anxiety and despondency to conquer our mind.

When we are completely self-absorbed, we are vulnerable and fall easy prey to confusion, impotence, and anxiety.

clearly your own aspiration to well-being is the first step toward feeling genuine empathy for others’ suffering.

the mask through which (per) the actor’s voice resounds (sonat). While the actor is aware of wearing a mask, we often forget to distinguish between the role we play in society and an honest appreciation of our state of being. We are generally

Nothing is right outside because nothing is right inside.

Check out this quote.

The inability to manage our thoughts proves to be the principal cause of suffering. Learning to tone down the ceaseless racket of disturbing thoughts is a decisive stage on the road to inner peace.

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“One with compassion is kind even when angry; one without compassion will kill even as he smiles.”

we become expert at freeing ourselves of all afflictive mental states as they take form, the actual content of the past events that might have triggered them becomes quite irrelevant.

“Take care of the minutes, for the hours will take care of themselves,”

the ego exists merely as mental imputation.

Not even psychoanalysis typically involves the decades Buddhists consider required to cultivate sukha.9

It is rare that happiness alights just so on the desire that called for it. MARCEL PROUST

“Desire embellishes the objects on which it rests its wings of fire,” wrote Anatole France.

the person who can maintain perfect inner freedom feels all these sensations in the simplicity of the present moment, with the delight of a mind free of attachment and expectation.

Forgiveness is intimately linked to the possibility of human transformation.

Fear of abandonment and a sense of insecurity are closely linked to the lack of inner freedom.

Renunciation also conveys the delicious taste of simplicity and profound well-being.

What would it be like to experience that state of mind more often, to feel that the illusory barriers set up by the self have dissolved and that our sense of communion with the other reflects the essential interdependence of all beings?

thought of the day...

Humility is a forgotten value in today’s world.

truthful

It is pointless trying to persuade the woodsman with a perfect knowledge of the forest to take the path leading to a cliff.

:)