Genuine Happiness

As you inhale, breathe smoothly and deeply down to the bottom of your abdomen. Like filling a pot with water, feel your abdomen slowly fill and expand, then breathe into your diaphragm, and finally into the upper chest. Then release the breath fully, without forcing it out. Do this three times, keeping your awareness present in the body, especially

In each of these practices, we start the session by establishing a suitable bodily posture, and cultivating three qualities as we "settle the body in its natural state": relaxation, stillness, and vigilance.

Generally speaking, our awareness is normally attracted toward physical sensory experiences and mental concepts. With meditation we learn to withdraw our mind inward; we don't let it chase after sensory objects.

Buddhism uses both approaches. Pinpointing the nature of frustration, dissatisfaction, anxiety, irritation, and the like pertains to the first of the Four Noble Truths: the reality of suffering. Here the Buddha said, "This is the reality of suffering. Recognize it!" Don't remain in denial; move toward understanding.

The Buddha suggested that our deepest desire for genuine happiness is based not on successfully adjusting outer circumstances, but on something that arises from within, free of the effects of good fortune and adversity. Therefore in Buddhist practice, in our quest for genuine happiness, we cultivate what is sometimes called renunciation, though the

state of mind in which awarenessis not afflicted by memories and thoughts of the past, nor is it afflicted by thoughts of the future, anticipations, fears, and hopes. Rather, our mind remains in a natural and neutral state.

Genuine happiness, on the other hand, is not stimulus-driven. Aristotle called such happiness eudaimonia, and he equated it with the human good, with the mind working in accordance with virtue, especially the best and most complete virtue.

The first three chapters present techniques for overcoming these states by cultivating meditative quiescence or tranquility called, in Sanskrit, shanlatha. The practices are designed to collect and focus the mind through the cultivation of inner stillness, stability, and clarity.

Each practice lasts twenty-four minutes, a period called, in Sanskrit, a ghatika, which is often said to be the ideal duration for a meditation session when one first begins to practice.