For no small matter is at stake here. The question concerns the very way that human life is to be lived.

—Plato, The Republic, Book I

          “Come and See.” What is the essential truth of human happiness? It is this: both happiness and unhappiness arise from your present mindstate. So now gently place your attention/awareness upon selfless life force prana spirit wind that rides the natural breath in the belly. Train your mind!

          Our happiness lies not in the future; nor in the past. Past is gone. Future has not yet arisen. Everything happens only now, in this timeless present moment. We cannot become happy later. But we can be happy now—this eternal present moment here and now.

          Please consider this great primordial wisdom teaching: within the vast empty ‘basic space’ of our incessant stream of thoughts and feelings abides blissful clarity and perfect peace. Upon each breath in this luminous natural space of mind-nature abides authentic happiness. And it accumulates with each mindful breath—not toward some grand future happiness mind state, but happiness here and now. It’s always already present within, this ultimate happiness that subsumes our relative conventional happiness and human flourishing. It’s present even when we forget. Remembering this great truth, more or less moment to moment, is our awakening to Happiness Itself—selfless, harmless happiness that cannot be lost. But don’t believe this. It’s utterly beyond belief. Buddha told, “Ehi Passika: Come and see for yourself”.

          Therefore, the essential question of human happiness is this: if happiness is the selfless, present natural state of your mind, how shall we accomplish a continuity of such positive mind state moments while simultaneously surrendering the worrisome negative mind states?

          Clearly, the “wild horse of the mind”—our self-ego-I—requires a bit of training in order that we may choose positive states and surrender negative states. After all, human emotional pathology is pathology of a self. No self, no problem. How then shall we accomplish this selfless cognitive state of pure primordial Presence—Hamlet’s “consummation devoutly to be wished”?

          How indeed. We gently train the mind in its selfless natural peace. We learn a bit of basic mindfulness—Buddha’s ”mindfulness of breathing”. For 10,000 years, in both the West and the East, human beings have learned to rest in this already present indwelling bright Presence, our essential wakefulness. All of the wisdom masters of the three times—past, present, future—have taught this open secret of selfless human happiness. Thus is human happiness inherently an awareness management skill set! Far too simple to believe—before we actually practice it.

          Perhaps the most ludicrous fiction of human self-ego-I is the certainty that the cause of our ever-present dissatisfaction with our arising and appearing realities is always some external person, out-group or outer condition. Surely the causes of our suffering cannot be within us. The cause of our adversity is always outside, in someone or something else; never the result of our own egoic thought, intention and action (karma). That bad habit is known as ‘primal ignorance’.

          The true demon of our continuous dissatisfaction with the inevitable adversity of being here in space and time is the demon of ego-created failure of recognition of our indwellingbodhicitta—our always enlightened heart-mind love-wisdom mind that is the thought, intention and action for benefit of living beings. Understanding this primal ignorance (avidya, marigpa, hamartia-sin) we take full responsibility, each moment, for our present mind state, ego projections and the inexorable “karma”—both good and bad—that it bestows upon us.

          We accomplish such an enlightened mind state by: 1) inner subjective mindful breathing, and 2) outer objective skepticism as to our own well defended web of concepts and beliefs.

          We cannot control the past, nor the future, nor the actions of others, nor the near continuous adversity that besets us being here in time. But we can control our reactions and responses to what happens to us, and within us now. We can, with a bit of mindfulness practice control the reactionary, impulsive ‘wild horse of the mind’. We can train our obsessive “monkey mind” to choose selfless, kind, compassionate thought, intention and action for the benefit of beings, which of course benefits ourselves. Thus do we take control of our karma. What we manifest is what we receive. Clearly, such mindfulness has everything to do with our happiness.

          Have we not by now, at long last learned that we cannot trust the bogus, reactionary negative thoughts and ego-projections of our all too often frantic mind? Unless it’s kind compassionate action for the benefit of beings—bodhicitta, the primary cause of human happiness— it’s likely just narcissistic ego self-stimulation. Is it not? So we lovingly make our ego an ally.

All the happiness in this world comes through compassionate service for the benefit of others; and all the suffering comes from serving oneself.

—Shantideva

          Thus do the wise aspire to help human, and other beings. And, wonder of wonders, such conduct makes us happy. We accomplish our own happiness, not so much through acquiring material things and relationship benefits for ourselves, but by helping to lessen the suffering of others—family, strangers, animals—and to help to bring others to their own happiness; even those who, in our self-centered judgment, will not help themselves; or may even harm us or others. Real jerks need love too. So we learn to give it. No big news here. We already know this.

          It is this aspiration, then engaged action/conduct that is the primary cause of a happy mind state. Mindful breathing makes it present to us right here and now, and motivates such selfless kind compassionate feeling, intention, then engaged action. “Mindfulness of breathing is the foundation of peace and all higher knowledge.” [Gautama Shakyamuni, the Buddha]

Even if for the moment you cannot actually help a sentient being in an external way, meditate on love and compassion until compassion is knit inseparably into the very fabric of your mind.

—Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

          Buddha’s Mindfulness Sutra, “The Practice of Full Awareness of Breathing” with its four “foundations of mindfulness”—body, feeling, mind, and phenomena appearing to mind—gives us “letting it be as it is”, prior to self. Such self-surrender, letting go of narcissistic self-ego-I leads to “complete unsurpassed enlightenment”—liberation from suffering—harmless Happiness Itself. That is “full bodhi” realization of our indwelling love-wisdom mind. Begin now with simple placement of your attention/awareness upon mindful breath in the belly.