An excerpt from a teaching called How Buddhism Differs from Other Religions by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo
If all we want is happiness, how do we do it? It’s a little, but there’s a real trick to it, but you can create happiness. Here’s how it’s done. First of all, all sentient beings are equal. And in our nature, we are not only the same, we are one. From the point of view of Buddhahood, if the Buddha were to look out at everyone, and look from the mind of awakening, in the state of enlightenment, it would not be possible to see where one of us ends, and the other begins, because our true nature is pure, pristine, primordial light. It’s not visible light in the way that we understand light, because when you see light then you are standing away from it. You would call it undifferentiated, nonconceptual illumination – radiance. That is our nature. So when we defile that nature in our relationships with others, and cause harm to others, we suffer. If we could do the opposite, and try to benefit others, we would create happiness.
It doesn’t seem to be the truth because we think, “Gimme, gimme, gimme.” This is what America has taught us. This is what our culture says to us. “Gimme a car. I’ll be happy. Give me a boyfriend, I’ll be happy. Give me another boyfriend, I’ll be twice as happy.” That’s what we’re taught. We’re taught that gimme, gimme, gimme is the way to happiness. It’s kind of the modern mantra, isn’t it? “Gimme, gimme, gimme hung.” We try very hard, and it doesn’t work that way.
What we find out is that in our oneness, we must uphold one another. We must not only practice kindness towards one another, but practice recognition. So, let’s say in my desire to be happy, I decide the only thing that’s going to work for me is a new car. In my materialistic American psyche that’s what I’ve decided. I saw this new car on TV, and I’ve got to have it. Whatever I do to get money for that car, even if it’s honest, even if I go to my credit union, and borrow, make my payments, and I do everything right, it’s ordinary. It’s just regular. It’s the stuff that you move around when you move an apple from here to there. It’s nothing but ordinary, worldly gobbledygook.
So you go to your credit union, and you get the dollars, and you get the car, and then what happens? You’re happy for a little while, and then the car gets old. The baby throws up in it. The dog shits in it. You spill milk in it. You drive it, and it gets old, or you smash it up. Or now that you’ve bought it and gone to the credit union and cleaned all your money out, you don’t have money for gas! This is not the way to create happiness. Even though the car might cheer you up for a little while, it is not going to change your life. It is not going to do what you hope it’s going to do. And it’s the same with the big ticket items – the house. And the non-buyable items like relationships, and marriages, and boyfriends, and girlfriends and all that stuff. All are like band aids in samsara – quick fixes. When you’re unhappy and you grab for something like that, your intuition tells you you’re going to feel better, but the real solution is counterintuitive.
© Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo
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