Unexpected Freedom

Contemplating Happinessdesire isn’t it?’ Even a fully enlightened Buddha cannot saywhat nibbana is. It is not possible to say what this state ofenlightenment, liberation, or total inner freedom thatBuddhas have reached is like, because all words and conceptsabout the experience are merely pointers to somethinginconceivable and inexpressible. However, when asked whatnibbana was like, one of the ways the Buddha described itwas as ultimate happiness. What we want more thananything else is to experience this happiness.Valuing FriendshipA fully enlightened human being will tell you that it is nottrue that happiness only arises when we get what we want.When happiness arises, in whatever manner, we areencouraged to look at what it is that we are experiencing andcalling ‘happiness’, and how we relate to it. An example is thehappiness of the first line of that stanza – ‘Happiness arisesfrom the timely company of friends.’Over the last few weeks I have often reflected howfortunate our community here is to have so many goodfriends, and how beneficial, how truly wonderful it is to havesuch friends. This year we decided to have a party. On theafternoon of Christmas Eve there was a children’s party, andin the evening we had our own little party. We all sat roundthe fire and, miraculously enough, good friends of themonastery turned up with bottles of punch – non-alcoholicof course! So we spent the whole evening together – justbeing together as a community. We weren’t delving deepinto the great mysteries of life, but were simply enjoying eachothers’ company. There is a pleasure in being with people youfeel you can trust and a pleasure in being remembered bypeople that you have shared something with.183