Seeking Peace and Happiness through Meditation

There is nothing wrong with being happy or having peace, and Meditation is most certainly a method which can bring both of these things to us.
But the pursuit of peace or happiness through  Meditation (Samadhi) should not be the goal.. such would be an obstacle. Of course when one achieves a meditative state one has peace and happy feeling automatically but one should not seek it. If you seek it then you are not meditating. Meditation, as my chosen Master Ajahn Chah explained, is not about “getting” or acquiring things; (ie “happiness/peace”), rather, it is about “getting rid of things”.. (burdens, such as ‘desire” [to have peace/happiness] ). This is why the word “Non-Attachment” is so often used in teaching the Dhamma.

This is one of the primary mistakes which westerners make when attempting to get involved in meditation – they do it for hedonistic reasons with the self cherishing thought in mind.. in Asia too. This is in opposite direction to the path leading to enlightenment and the end of dhukkha (Nirodha).
If you understand what I am saying you will see how subtle this point is and easy a mistake to make it is to chase after happiness with meditation as a tool.

It’s just about “letting go”, that’s all.. If we can do this, the rest will happen anyway without having to seek or want it.
get it?
Of course, the meditative states do not enlighten us without the light of Panya being present too.. Sila is a base foundation for clear meditation with no worries or regrets obscuring our minds and hearts.. if we have Sila then we wont have any guilty feelings and a clear conscience will enable us to meditate with ease.
But Sila are not the prerequisite for enlightenment.. The Buddha named Panya as the most important and highest factor of the three (Sila Samadhi and Panya)* – we need all three to enlighten they go hand in hand. But the non grasping non clinging (Upadhana) factor of “letting go” is the key to opening the meditative state so that the light of Panya may arise. Panya however only arises because we have cultivated a conscious effort (great inner effort in maintaining our focus, stillness and awareness). It is this effort which catalyzes the miracle of transformation.

Panya is the most elusive and subtle aspect of the three qualities , and the arisal of the intuitive Insight and Wisdom that is Panya is unexplainable. It is only understood through deep insight meditation and tapped into with the inner light of understanding attained in deep non-analytical thought, which is attained through the various stages of Jhana in conjunction with concerted effort to maintain one’s awareness and focus without any attachment  to (inner or outer)  objects or other mental, emotional or sensory phenomena (which causes wandering from the object of focus).

* Sila Samadhi and Panya = Sila (Moral Precepts) Samadhi (Concentration) Panya (Wisdom/Insight)

All the aspects of manifest practise of the Eightfold Path can be classified into one of these three aspects;

Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood belongs to Sila

Right Effort, Right Concentration, and Right Mindfulness belong to Samadhi

Right Views and Right Thought belongs to Panya

In many western websites and schools of meditation i see published and advertised, i see that the image of luxurious wellness and happiness with exotic imagery is promoted with flourishing abundance. Although this may have a positive effect as far as drawing people to the Dhamma, or the practise of meditation is concerned, i find that it is a deceptive manner of portraying Meditation and the path to Enlightenment. This seems to be a mark of the present age that either truth is used to promote untruth or even untruth is applied to sell the truth. The latter of these tow may be perhaps the “lesser evil”. Neither of these methods are of course evil; i am only using the catchphrase to make my point, but i am certain of one thing – that in the traditional school of thought applied by Thai Forest Kammathana tradition in the lineage of Ajahn Mun and Chah, that such a method of promoting the Dhamma would not be supported, although it would also not be frowned upn (because frowning upon the behaviour of others is also not conducive to the practise of letting go of preconcieved assumptions). I therefore neither frown upon nor approve of such methods, but do feel it necessary to explain and make understood the existence of this matter, in order that the serious practitioner may make use of these observations in his personal application of Dhamma practise.

Links;

Ordination as a Buddhist Monk
MCurry

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