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Plurality of world visions
On happiness: the message of
Ajahn Jayasaro
“It is essential that Buddhist life is measured by the way it is lived and not by the extent to which laws and
regulations are obeyed,” according to the honorable monk Ajahn Jayasaro. On 28 May 2010, he was guest
at GROUP T on the invitation of H.E. Pisan Manawapat, Ambassador of Thailand in Belgium. Ajahn Jayasaro
gave an illuminating lecture on a topic that touches and captivates every human being: happiness.
Ajahn Jayasaro is of English origin but has
been living in Thailand for quite some
time. As a young man, he was introduced
to Buddhism by reading the standard work
“The Way of Zen” by Allan Watts. This made such an
impression on him that, at 17 years of age, he went
to India for a year. After that, in England, he came
into contact with a group of Buddhist monks, got to
know their way of life and in 1978, decided to leave
for northern Thailand. There he became student of
one of the most important masters of meditation:
Ajahn Cha. Although the life of a Buddhist monk is
very hard, he knew immediately that this was what
he had always been looking for. Ajahn Cha guided
him to his inauguration as a monk and subsequently
he stayed at various forest monasteries in Thailand.
After having been the abbot of the forest monastery
Wat Pa Nanacha for some time, he retreated to
the foot of the Kow Yai mountain. He now teaches
meditation there and has written several books on
Buddhism in Thai, the language that has in the meantime
become his second mother tongue.
Enlightenment
According to Ajahn Jayasaho, the ultimate goal of a
Buddhist is to arrive at a state of enlightenment, of
full understanding, a state that Buddha had attained
during his life. A Buddhist believes that we all have
the capacity to achieve this enlightenment and thus
can clear our minds of fear, pain and anything negative.
However, it is not limited to faith alone: a Buddhist
also effectively wants to achieve this, just as a
scientist tests a hypothesis. “The Buddha wants us to
question ourselves and the way we live, to bring to
fruition what is pure and beautiful.”
Continuing his lecture, Ajahn Jayasaro elaborated
on the “Four noble truths” that constitute the
foundation for all Buddhist students. A key word in
these truths is ‘dukkha.’ Our Western languages do
not have an equivalent for this word and it is usually
translated by approximation as ‘suffering.’ This
translation is misleading, however. Here, we come
across an essential given, namely, that ‘understanding’
relies heavily on language. Since Western languages
do not have words for certain concepts and
subtle differences, it is not easy for us to grasp the
core of Buddhist teachings which are closely related
to Eastern languages. From his English background,
Ajahn Jayasaro put us in the right direction: “The
expression ‘life’s not easy’ is a better description of
what is meant by ‘dukkha.’” According to a Buddhist,
our lives lack true happiness as unenlightened people.
Because we ‘know’ there is such a thing as true
happiness, we feel the lack of it. Buddhist training
is a way to achieve this happiness. “For the Buddha,
it is necessary to accomplish an equilibrium in your
relation with the external and the internal world:
the material world, social aspects, one’s emotions
and, finally, wisdom.” For Ajahn Jayasaro, it is not
enough to take one element, for instance meditation,
no matter how valuable it may be. An example
of this, according to him, is when meditation is used
for, among other purposes, therapy. Buddhism, after
all, is a holistic system.
Experiences
People experience a sense of incompleteness, a lack
of happiness. “It is strange that everybody wants to
be happy, but that education systems worldwide in
school and family do not have the achievement of
happiness as their primary goal.” Happiness is far
from the experience of pleasure, of satisfaction. Not
that Buddhism is puritan and seeks to create feelings
of guilt. “As regards pleasant, agreeable experiences,
human beings do not have an internal mechanism
or principle that tells them that that experience is
enough. As a result, they always strive for more, the
stimulus must be increased to maintain the same
experience of pleasure, there will always be an experience
missing and, in the worst case, the result will
be jealousy or theft.” For Ajahn Jayasaro, Buddhist
teachings offer a way out here. They teach you how
to analyze and question a pleasurable situation or an
agreeable object in order to verify whether it leads
to true happiness.
Another way to true happiness is to give to your fellow
human being. “Giving to others is a foundation
of Buddhist teachings because it allows you to examine
how much you are attached to the material. It is
also the proof that there is meaning to life.”
Mental peace
On our way to happiness, we are often hindered by
our impulses, our desires. “Just like animals, we have
impulses. But unlike animals, we have the ability to
distance ourselves from them and to learn how to deal
with these impulses. As a result, negative feelings are
reduced and mental peace is accomplished.” In fact, to
Ajahn Jayasaro, this reflection constitutes meditation.
“The Thai word for this is ‘Otton’: continually exercising
patience or being at peace with the unpleasant.
If you can do this, you reinforce your inner strength.”
The extent to which language can be a hindrance to
truly grasping the subtleties in life views is shown from
the fact that Thai has two words for desire. “The word
Tanha one could describe as the desire that issues
from mistaken understanding, the not knowing, while
Shanda ensues from knowledge, the desire to help.”
Buddhism describes itself as lifelong learning in the
search for understanding ourselves and others. By coming
to a better understanding, Buddhists experience
more refined forms of happiness which they can share
with others. Being happy is closely related to the clarity
of our vision. Meditation plays an important role in
this: these are moments in which you shield yourself
from external stimuli and during which you experience
what it is like to be alone with yourself with no
distractions. “We all know the news from all over the
world, but we are unaware of the news in ourselves.
It is very important to get in touch with yourself, that
gives you a new perspective, a new dimension. Maybe
it is better, therefore, to speak of well-being rather
than happiness.”
Technology
Ajahn Jayasaro was given a guided tour by
Director General Guido Vercammen.
At the end of his lecture, Ajahn Sayaharo took a
great deal of time to answer questions from the
audience. In addition to questions about the life of
a Buddhist monk, a member of the audience asked
whether technology could contribute to happiness.
According to Ajahn Jayasaro we must ask ourselves
by which values we want to live and, more specifically,
try to find out what is ‘enough’ for us, what
we want to use the technology for and how much
of the world we want to devote to our consumption.
A Buddhist has not an a priori negative disposition
towards technological advancement. Where useful,
he uses it. For instance, modern technology brought
along YouTube which enabled Ajahn Jayasaro’s to
share quite a few of his lectures and to reach a multitude
of listeners with his message.
Jan Jaspers
jg. 20, nr. 1, 15 december 2010
GROUP T
19