Our Intention Is To Be Happier
But how?

Doing spiritual practices to be happier is good. But first we need to be clear about the obstacles to realising the happiness that is already present, but goes unnoticed. If our intention to be happy overrides our clarity, then these obstructions will remain, obscuring recognition of genuine happiness. To be genuinely happy, we have first to clear the obstacles, the klesha.

Klesha is a Sanskrit word for the mental states that cloud the mind – such as anxiety, fear, anger, jealousy, desire, depression, afflictions, defilements, destructive emotions, disturbing emotions, negative emotions, mind poisons – and manifest in unwholesome actions. These are, in fact, the root of our problems, and all derive from the three basic poisons of ignorance, attachment, and aversion, the main root being ignorance of our true nature.

Happiness is not realised by gaining anything: we arrive there by losing attachment to everything. We become happier by getting rid of our attitude – our stored-up preconceived ideas that create reactions which we then maintain, through ignorance. These reactions come from forgetting, or not applying, the six perfections: these are not an imposition on us or a set of rules to obey. They are our natural manner of expressing wisdom. We are happier by expressing compassion – happiness in caring. When I sharpen a tool, I am happy that it cuts better, and the tools sounds happier as well!

We are happier when we let go.

The six perfections – giving of oneself, morality, patience, diligence, concentration and wisdom insight – are the six elements of compassion. Compassion is realised through acknowledging empty awareness within all beings. Empty awareness is our absolute nature which is naturally and unconditionally happy, as it does not rely on conditions in order to be happy. Happiness is uncontaminated pure awareness.

When we become empty of any attitude, we are in happiness. We are in love.

As we progress (if we progress 😉 ) the knife-edged path we walk gets sharper and sharper, and so we have to become more and more careful of our conduct. Assimilating the teachings takes time, and we gradually upgrade and begin to see more clearly. Meditation in the method to achieve this, and our conduct is the continuity of the meditation. This is being mindful. Gradually, we reach empty awareness of non-meditation, non-duality. We read between the lines to reach higher levels.