“It is essential that Buddhist life is measured by the way it is lived and not by the extent to which laws and regulations are obeyed,” according to the honorable monk Ajahn Nayasaro. On 28 May 2010, he was guest at GROUP T on the invitation of H.E. Pisan Manawapat, Ambassador of Thailand in Belgium. Ajahn Jayasaro gave an illuminating lecture on a topic that touches and captivates every human being: happiness.
Ajahn Jayasaro gave an illuminating lectureat Group T on happiness
Ajahn Jayasaro is of English origin but has been living in Thailand for quite some time. As a young man, he was introduced to Buddhism by reading the standard work “The Way of Zen” by Allan Watts. This made such an impression on him that, at 17 years of age, he went to India for a year. After that, in England, he came into contact with a group of Buddhist monks, got to know their way of life and in 1978, decided to leave for northern Thailand. There he became student of one of the most important masters of meditation: Ajahn Cha. Although the life of a Buddhist monk is very hard, he knew immediately that this was what he had always been looking for. Ajahn Cha guided him to his inauguration as a monk and subsequently he stayed at various forest monasteries in Thailand. After having been the abbot of the forest monastery Wat Pa Nanacha for some time, he retreated to the foot of the Kow Yai mountain. He now teaches meditation there and has written several books on Buddhism in Thai, the language that has in the meantime become his second mother tongue.
Enlightenment
According to Ajahn Jayasaho, the ultimate goal of a Buddhist is to arrive at a state of enlightenment, of full understanding, a state that Buddha had attained during his life. A Buddhist believes that we all have the capacity to achieve this enlightenment and thus can clear our minds of fear, pain and anything negative. However, it is not limited to faith alone: a Buddhist also effectively wants to achieve this, just as a scientist tests a hypothesis. “The Buddha wants us to question ourselves and the way we live, to bring to fruition what is pure and beautiful.”
Continuing his lecture, Ajahn Jayasaro elaborated on the “Four noble truths” that constitute the foundation for all Buddhist students. A key word in these truths is 'dukkha.' Our Western languages do not have an equivalent for this word and it is usually translated by approximation as 'suffering.' This translation is misleading, however. Here, we come across an essential given, namely, that 'understanding' relies heavily on language. Since Western languages do not have words for certain concepts and subtle differences, it is not easy for us to grasp the core of Buddhist teachings which are closely related to Eastern languages. From his English background, Ajahn Sayaharo put us in the right direction: “The expression 'life's not easy' is a better description of what is meant by 'dukkha.'” According to a Buddhist, our lives lack true happiness as unenlightened people. Because we 'know' there is such a thing as true happiness, we feel the lack of it. Buddhist training is a way to achieve this happiness. “For the Buddha, it is necessary to accomplish an equilibrium in your relation with the external and the internal world: the material world, social aspects, one's emotions and, finally, wisdom.” For Ajahn Sayaharo, it is not enough to take one element, for instance meditation, no matter how valuable it may be. An example of this, according to him, is when meditation is used for, among other purposes, therapy. Buddhism, after all, is a holistic system.
Experiences
People experience a sense of incompleteness, a lack of happiness. “It is strange that everybody wants to be happy, but that education systems worldwide in school and family do not have the achievement of happiness as their primary goal.” Happiness is far from the experience of pleasure, of satisfaction. Not that Buddhism is puritan and seeks to create feelings of guilt. “As regards pleasant, agreeable experiences, human beings do not have an internal mechanism or principle that tells them that that experience is enough. As a result, they always strive for more, the stimulus must be increased to maintain the same experience of pleasure, there will always be an experience missing and, in the worst case, the result will be jealousy or theft.” For Ajahn Jayasaro, Buddhist teachings offer a way out here. They teach you how to analyze and question a pleasurable situation or an agreeable object in order to verify whether it leads to true happiness.
Another way to true happiness is to give to your fellow human being. “Giving to others is a foundation of Buddhist teachings because it allows you to examine how much you are attached to the material. It is also the proof that there is meaning to life.”
Mental peace
On our way to happiness, we are often hindered by our impulses, our desires. “Just like animals, we have impulses. But unlike animals, we have the ability to distance ourselves from them and to learn how to deal with these impulses. As a result, negative feelings are reduced and mental peace is accomplished.” In fact, to Ajahn Jayasaro, this reflection constitutes meditation. “The Thai word for this is 'Otton': continually exercising patience or being at peace with the unpleasant. If you can do this, you reinforce your inner strength.” The extent to which language can be a hindrance to truly grasping the subtleties in life views is shown from the fact that Thai has two words for desire. “The word Tanha one could describe as the desire that issues from mistaken understanding, the not knowing, while Shanda ensues from knowledge, the desire to help.” Buddhism describes itself as lifelong learning in the search for understanding ourselves and others. By coming to a better understanding, Buddhists experience more refined forms of happiness which they can share with others. Being happy is closely related to the clarity of our vision. Meditation plays an important role in this: these are moments in which you shield yourself from external stimuli and during which you experience what it is like to be alone with yourself with no distractions. “We all know the news from all over the world, but we are unaware of the news in ourselves. It is very important to get in touch with yourself, that gives you a new perspective, a new dimension. Maybe it is better, therefore, to speak of well-being rather than happiness.”
Technology
At the end of his lecture, Ajahn Sayaharo took a great deal of time to answer questions from the audience. In addition to questions about the life of a Buddhist monk, a member of the audience asked whether technology could contribute to happiness. According to Ajahn Jayasaro we must ask ourselves by which values we want to live and, more specifically, try to find out what is 'enough' for us, what we want to use the technology for and how much of the world we want to devote to our consumption. A Buddhist has not an a priori negative disposition towards technological advancement. Where useful, he uses it. For instance, modern technology brought along YouTube which enabled Ajahn Jayasaro's to share quite a few of his lectures and to reach a multitude of listeners with his message.
Jan Jaspers
