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What is happiness?

Diogenes

Member
I tend to look in thier eyes. "The eyes are the windows of the soul." A smile can be duplicitous, but the eyes tell the whole tale.
 

Diogenes

Member
I would say that I was quite serious and quite romantic in the most chivalrous sense. "To me it is quite clear that those are giants, and I am about to engage them in deadly combat." (Don Quixote)
 

Francine

Well-Known Member
Tao=the way not as "nothingness".

Tao = the way water flows.

Water nourishes everything. When when it roars down the mountain it carries everything away without a thought. Water doesn't ponder what is necessary. It simply flows, trickles, pours, or sits. It doesn't find enjoyment in nature nor try to go into seclusion. It seeks its own level, in the swamps or in town. Water is simply all around.
 

Somkid

Well-Known Member
Free from attachment, desire and illusion I am happy in my own way but I don't don't think many people can understand the practical side of this only the theoretical side.
 

Francine

Well-Known Member
Free from attachment, desire and illusion I am happy in my own way but I don't don't think many people can understand the practical side of this only the theoretical side.

TTC 71

Not-knowing is true knowledge.
Presuming to know is a disease.
First realize that you are sick;
then you can move toward health.

The Master is her own physician.
She has healed herself of all knowing.
Thus she is truly whole.
 

Somkid

Well-Known Member
TTC 71

Not-knowing is true knowledge.
Presuming to know is a disease.
First realize that you are sick;
then you can move toward health.

The Master is her own physician.
She has healed herself of all knowing.
Thus she is truly whole.

It is most refreshing to see someone that truly understands where I am coming from, thank you once again.
 

Francine

Well-Known Member
It is most refreshing to see someone that truly understands where I am coming from, thank you once again.

This is a strange forum. I came in here and bumped up against two Mormons, a Catholic, and a Muslim, and then I turned to the Taoism forum to hang with my homies and the place seemed empty, so I started posting stuff as an idle gesture, nothing from nothing, and now I'm getting folks coming out of the woodwork. Effortless action. At any rate, happy new year, I'm going to bed early.
 

Somkid

Well-Known Member
I'm a Chan Buddhist which is mixed with Tao most people don't get it including many other Buddhists, I like to refer to it as Buddhism light.
 

Francine

Well-Known Member
I'm a Chan Buddhist which is mixed with Tao most people don't get it including many other Buddhists, I like to refer to it as Buddhism light.

I think elements of my Taoism is mixed with Zen Buddhism, because I have a profound disrespect toward words, and like to play with them as though they were a child's straw dog.
 

Vasilisa Jade

Formerly Saint Tigeress
When we think of happiness, what do we think about? What is the true nature of happiness, and is it something we want, have, need, don't need, etc...

Can we really ask ourselves... "Am I happy?"

When I think of happy I'm running butt-naked through the rain in the middle of the night with my friends!! That's happy!! It turns to fun when you gotta sneak.

I don't think it is healthy to "need," happiness. Happiness comes all on its own. We want it, but it is not a constant no matter how much you try to make it that way. What is the most important is how one handles the unhappy times.
 

Francine

Well-Known Member
Happiness comes all on its own. We want it, but it is not a constant no matter how much you try to make it that way. What is the most important is how one handles the unhappy times.

I'm a melancholy person. I run cool most of the time. Moments of happiness are like those rare instances of beauty that stand out in your mind, a rainbow against a dark thundercloud, a setting sun turning all the clouds and trees pink. To seek happiness all the time is like eating nothing but cotton candy, and watching nothing but the circus 24/7.
 

Vasilisa Jade

Formerly Saint Tigeress
To seek happiness all the time is like eating nothing but cotton candy, and watching nothing but the circus 24/7.

I knew a girl in high school like that. It was really sad actually. The people close to her knew that deep down she was faking it most of the time. I don't know why she did that. But she did all through High School and I think finally laid off once she got into college.
 

zenzero

Its only a Label
Friends,
Here find that Melissa G talks about HAPPINESS? But am sure the Op meant was about a permanent Happiness. As had discussed one way is do not be attached with either THIS or THAT, Happiness/Sadness etc. The other is whatever you face take everything as happiness even its a period of crisis take that happily and slowly happiness will settle in you.
Real happiness has nothing to do with the happenings OUTSIDE of the self. If the self is happy, at all times it becomes a force/wave and spreads and comes back to us with greater force.
Happiness here is bliss but then that is what one is born with and those who live in the garden of Eden cannot be anything else but Happy.
Love & rgds
 

Francine

Well-Known Member
Real happiness has nothing to do with the happenings OUTSIDE of the self. If the self is happy, at all times it becomes a force/wave and spreads and comes back to us with greater force.

The vulgar are clever, self-assured;
I alone, depressed.
Patient as the sea,
Adrift, seemingly aimless.


The people of the world all have a purpose;
I alone appear stubborn and uncouth.
I alone differ from the other people,
And value drawing sustenance from the Mother. (TTC 20)
 

idea

Question Everything
Do you mind if I barge in? It is peaceful here...
I think happiness is letting go of everything, not wanting anything, or needing anything, just being content with what is around you and not feeling the need to change any of it... if that makes sense... happy is being content? Sometimes I think I am supposed to be progressing, learning more, getting better at things, pushing myself.. but happy is just being content with what is. Part of it also is how we see others, if you can be with another, not controlling, or putting on a show in front of them, or trying to get anything out of them, just being there with them...

closest descript I could find of this way of being...
sorry to cut-n-paste, I read this - it sounded happy to me. link

One summer our family drove to our friend Bob Amott's cabin on the Snake River in Idaho for our vacation. On the way we sang together for what seemed like hours: "Barges" and "Mrs. O'Leary" and the Jell-O commercial and a couple of dozen other rounds, faster and louder and more creatively with every mile that passed. Nobody got tired. What stopped our singing was someone's saying, "Anybody remember the time when . . . ?" Invariably Matthew's recollections were the funniest because he could remember every detail of everything that had ever happened to him and could mimic all the people in the story. The windows were down because the station wagon wasn't air-conditioned, and all the children had their feet out to feel the breeze around their ankles and through their toes. I could tell that Susan had freed her mind of the lists of doings that preoccupied her at home, and I thought, "This is exactly how it's supposed to be."

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]What does it take to achieve such emotional intimacy? The fundamental ingredient is an awakening of each individual to the others and a willing effort to respond without any personal agenda in exactly the way that seems most right, considerate, and helpful. Susan had opened herself to a lively gratitude for the closeness we were all feeling for one another—even though, to her embarrassment, we had left the flowerbed by our front stairs still unplanted. I had tossed overboard my worries about the work deadline I would not meet, as if they were baggage too heavy for the trip. Andrea was not thinking about Cassie's having broken her water-color box that very morning; diffident and cautious though she was, she accepted and appreciated her rambunctious little sister without any reservation. And when Tim leaned his head on Emily's shoulder and later draped his legs across her lap—invasions of her space that had thrown her into a tizzy on other occasions—she did not find him the least bit annoying, but instead became his older and wiser sponsor and read him stories when the others slept. No one expressed appreciation out loud—indeed, I may have been the only one thinking how happy and perfect was this day—but for each of us the others mattered more than defending our individual rights and ensuring our personal comfort. The profound sense of connection we felt one to another that summer's day would not have been possible except for the capacity in each of us to sense one another's inward yearnings, fears, and love....[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The part of our nature that is sensitive to the reality of others makes possible both our deepest sorrows and our deepest joys. It is by this capacity that we are able to attune ourselves one to another, soul to soul, and bond together in friendship, love, and loyalty, (that we find happiness). ...[/FONT]
 

d.

_______
my opinion; you need to let go of 'happiness' and 'unhappiness'. take a step back, or go beyond. and don't spend so much time on discussion forums. ;)
 

zenzero

Its only a Label
Friend idea,
Just read your post and like to say that you have described happiness in the best manner through your experience.
That is fine.
What is important to understand is that when you are talking of happiness then the other pole or 8UNhappiness* too is created by default. Both are true and REAL. For a buddha it is to be in the middle not on either side of the pendulum. Life is like the swing of a pendulum between happiness and unhappiness and buddhas though they go through the motions in totality but do not identify themselves with either. They always remain in the middle when the pendulum is neither in the zone of happiness or unhappiness. That is BALANCE. That is when your karma does not have any carry forward as you are not accepting any results or rather not attached to either results be it good or bad.
That is what may be called a state of permanent bliss or happiness.
Love & rgds
 

zenzero

Its only a Label
Friend Francine,
Using your quote have just tried some analysis; maybe it is incorrect but if you wish to respond positively, will be appreciated. There is no attempt at demeaning your statement or you as a person. Have great regards for you as a individual of great maturity who is truly Searching for answeres, and in that light am making this attempt as a freind to be able to resolve in finding some answeres and in growing in understanding. This also does not mean that have all the answeres or am trying to influence someone else; just an attempt to be friendly.
Love & rgds
I think elements of my Taoism is mixed with Zen Buddhism, because I have a profound disrespect toward words, and like to play with them as though they were a child's straw dog.

Your statement reflects few points which like to mirror for which words are necessary.
1.[a] *think* thinking is always happens in pictures which are described in words.
Thinking - means the mind is active and both Tao and Zen is all about no-mind or no-
thoughts to reach the silence.
[c] thinking - also reflects that one is not sure BUT now know for sure that Zen is what happend
when Buddhism and Tao merged and so Zen reflects the best of both.
2. [a] disrespect - it reflects a negative attitude of the mind and one has to reach beyond the both
polarities of respect and disrespect to be a buddha.
disrespect - there is nothing disrespectful about anything. whatever IS is part of the whole
and so has to be respected / accepted.
3. [a] words - To start with an understanding 8words* may be usful for most but eventually has to
be discarded or ratjher they drop of on its own accord like dry leaves from plants.
4. [a] play - This shows your maturity as life itself is a play and not to be taken seriously.
play - Buddhas have risen above playing and non-playing. Nothing is serious or non-serious
THAY JUST ARE as they are.
5. [a] child - shows superiorty complex that one is already an adult
child - One has to be child like to be in the kingdom of god - Jesus. As it means innocence.
 
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