Mindful Happiness

Anthony Quintiliani, Ph.D, LADC

  • Home
  • Dr. Anthony Quintiliani
    • About
  • Mindful Happiness
  • Mindful Expressions Meditation CD
  • Contact

August 5, 2014 By Admin

Advanced Buddhist Thought on Joy and Suffering

Buddhist Thought on Joy and Suffering

mindfulhappiness

1) You actually DO have some control over your emotional destiny.

2) The core “conceptual” view of reality is that your inner emotional experience – especially negative afflictive emotional states related to people, places and things you REACT to – are perceived as totally true.

3) In a non-conceptual (non-dual) view, these emotional experiences may be based on some conventional realities and NOT based on ultimate realities.  It is the SELF that is the experiencer of these conditions.

4) Gasoline and fire do not mix well – so do not make afflictive emotional states more severe and long-lasting by REACTING to your REACTIONS.  This is simply secondary suffering.  Stay out of the past – be present.

5) At the same time realize that thoughts are simply thoughts, and emotions are simply emotions – the automatic random firing of brain cells in response to some phenomenon inside or outside of you.

6) All the life experiences noted above are impermanent, and they have NO independent origination, that is they do not last and they do not come into existence by themselves.  They are always “caused” by something else.  So, your afflictive emotional states will not last, and they may be based on less-than-accurate perception of causes and effects.  WHO is reacting about what?  Keep the reaction going and end up suffering more.

7) In the enlightened wisdom view, “suchness” exists – in that everything is impermanent, dependent upon other causes, and empty of a fixed or permanent existence.  Do your pleasant and unpleasant emotions last forever?  NO!  Can you make them stronger? YES!  They do end.

8) The next time you suffer, think about impermanence, dependent arising, suchness, and ultimate emptiness of all things – then get up and keep going, emotionally.  Remember there is more fluid and space in your mind-body system than hard matter.  We are more empty than not.

Hopkins, J. (2008). (Ed.). Tsong Kha-Pa’s Final Exposition of Wisdom. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, pp. 56-58.

By Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, VermontChiYinYang_EleanorRLiebmanCenter

Author of Mindful Happiness

CLICK HERE to Order!

Mindful Happiness cover designs.indd

MindfulHappiness_JoyandSuffering

Filed Under: Featured, Joy and Suffering Tagged With: BUDDHIST THOUGHT, JOY AND SUFFERING, MINDFUL HAPPINESS

Twitter

Mindful Happiness -Currently in Production

Mindful Happiness Posts

More Characteristics of Happiness – Happiness #4 Here I will continue my posts about the common characteristics of happiness.  Here is the list. Keep an Open Mind – Maintaining an open mind opens up doorways to interesting things in the world, some of which may help you to become happier. Also, open-mindedness reduces inner tension […]

 Poem on Nature    – Haiku-Like As I sat peacefully by the westward window of my sunroom at my retreat center, I noticed!  I noticed the restless, natural movement of a tormented sky trying to calm itself.   Here is my poem. “The Sky, the Lake and the Mountains” Sitting at our home, alone – […]

Stress In America – How to Deal with it Effectively The American Psychological Association just released the results of its annual stress survey for 2014.  This comprehensive study of stress in America has some serious implications for our health and happiness.  Although self-reported stress levels in many categories are lower than in 2013, the overall […]

More RESPECT Needed for People Being Served Recently, I read a post by William White, the well-known Recovery advocate.  The post dealt with the troublesome area of language used to describe, refer to people suffering from various conditions – addictions being only one.  While some may respond to his post by thinking it is simply […]

Mindfulness-Based Therapy for Trauma In line with the thousands of studies now available supporting the use of mindfulness-based interventions in depression, anxiety, chronic pain and addictions (via emotion regulation and interoception), this post will review recommended mindfulness interventions for trauma and PTSD. The post will note information from two recent books on this topic. Also recognize […]

Gurdjieff’s The Fourth Way to Consciousness: Background A core teachings is that there are three ways of being: the fakir (master of the physical body); the monk (master of faith and feeling); and, the yogi (master of mind development).  A key goal is to KNOW yourself at the deepest levels.  To KNOW is to be, […]

Your  Regular  Practice:   Impact  on  Yourself  From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont Compassion Training:  Here is a quick self-assessment process to see if your regular compassion practice has had positive effects on you.  Review the questions below and decide  what  your  answers are. I hope you have noted pleasant […]

Concentration Vs Mindfulness? Many people new to meditation often confuse the differences between mindfulness or accepted bare attention to whatever arises in the moment and concentration or strong penetrating awareness on one thing without distraction.  Concentration is a more intensely focused and engaged form of mindful attention.  Concentration is sustained, powerfully focused, one-pointed attentional awareness. […]

Emptiness – Meditation Practice The Brahma-Viharas (higher abodes) include four powerful meditation practices ( Loving Kindness/Maitri or Metta; Compassion/Karuna; Sympathetic Joy/Mudita; and, Equanimity/Upekkha) that involve boundless radiation outwardly all the way into the infinite universe. These boundless or infinite space meditations, working with deep absorption and projecting kindness outwardly, may lead to positive changes. Experienced […]

“The Other Shore” to Happiness and Enlightenment Thich Nhat Hanh’s book, The Other Shore: A New Translation of The Heart Sutra…Berkeley, CA: Palm Leaves Press brings us on an inner journey toward a happier, more peaceful and enlightened life. Wisdom implies that we understand that life is made up of mental formations, no-self (more clarifications later), […]

Quintiliani’s Whole Person Recovery Planning To me the “whole person recovery planning” includes biological, psychological, social, spiritual, and self components and changes. To simplify – it is not simple or quick – I will simply list the core components of this comprehensive form of recovery process.  I may add more details to this process in […]

Meditating in the Gap of Nothingness The Buddha taught about your four best friends, that is how the body changes physiology when you sit, stand, walk/move and every time you are lying down. Modern Western neuroscience now supports this statement of 2500+ years ago. Thich Nhat Hanh added the importance of your breath, walking meditation, […]

Loving Kindness – An Alternative Version The writings of Thich Nhat Hanh offer a different version of Loving Kindness Meditation or Metta (Pali). This version may be influenced by Buddhaghosa in Visuddhimagga (or The Path to Purification,  fifth century system of The Buddha’s teachings). The reality of no-self, or a static, permanent and inherent self is a core […]

  Mindfulness – Self-Kindness Practice Befriending the self is one of the most difficult things for Americans to do.  It is probably true that self-kindness is difficult for most people; however, the current rampant criticism (I am right! You are wrong!) and extreme greed manifesting in the United States tends to produce two opposite extremes: […]

Mindful Movement as Part of Practice Mindful movement is an accepted part of regular practice. Such practices as walking meditation, more vigorous yoga asanas, qi gong, and tail chi are all part of this respected mindfulness tradition. Here I will introduce you to a very simple pre-meditation movement sequence.  Hope you practice it very soon. […]

Beyond MBSR – Quick Start Skills Self-calming for counselors and other helpers is one of the most important survival practices to master.  Self-calming consists a set of basic mindfulness skills, all of which must be practiced regularly to achieve desired emotion-regulation effects. The utility of these skills is well established in clinical research, and not […]

Gratitude Along with Sadness and Fear – It Is Life The famous Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh gently advises us to appreciate the many things that we may take for granted.  For example, when he does walking meditation he believes and feels that the the earth below his feet is, itself, a miracle of reality. […]

A Dark Night with Saint John of the Cross The writings of Saint John of the Cross offer a special viewpoint about the suffering of souls, suffering souls on their way to unity with the divine.  What follows stands in contrast to the Buddha’s views in The Dhammapada about ultimate happiness without any form of union […]

Failure and Success: After We Fail, We Succeed Humans tend to get very discouraged when things do not go our way. This may be especially true for younger people, who have grown up attached to their instant gratification digital devices. Below I will list several highly successful people, but I will also note their many […]

Relational Suffering and Buddhist Practice Recently I experienced a deep, sudden, afflictive emotional experience. This sudden and profound sense of loss was due to temporary heartbreak; the temporary heartbreak dealt with rejection from a younger woman I found to be interesting and attractive (inside and outside). My “lost” person seemed to possess all the attachment […]

Mindful Categories

Mindful Happiness Pages

  • About
  • Contact
  • Dr. Anthony Quintiliani
  • Mindful Expressions Meditation CD
  • Mindful Happiness
  • Site Map

Copyright © 2023 · Mindful Happiness