To Be Happy

I've been practicing Buddhism for well over half my life now, and I'm still pressed when I try to boil down the teaching to something simple and understandable. Would it be mindfulness? compassion? wisdom? I don't know. If I had to explain what I'm doing to someone, where would I even start?

Over time I've been playing with the idea that if I wanted a starting point to explain my practice to someone else, and what it is about Zen Buddhsm that 'turns me on', it could be the phrase "All beings want to be happy". It sounds very simplistic, and obvious - but aren't axioms supposed to be like that?

I want to be happy. Whenever I do something - anything - my motivation can always be traced back to the fact that I want to be happy. Why do I get out of bed and go to work? Because I like what I do and I need the money. Why do I need the money? Because I want to eat and be able to take care of people who depend on me, and to not be a burden on others. Why do I want that? Because if I didn't have it, I wouldn't be satisfied. It would bug me. I wouldn't be happy.

Similarly, I can trace anything I do back to that motivation. Why do I eat too much at a restaurant? Because I think that the food will make me happy. Why do I buy the latest whiz-bang-everything cell phone? Because it's cool, and cool makes me happy (or at least, I think it will).

So what it boils down to is that my motivation in life is to be happy, and I think that's true for all of us. I can't say that that's true for sure, but I kind of suspect it is. I think all beings want to be happy. Even when we do stupid things, like hurt each other, we do it because we think that, ultimately, it will make us happy.

I think that when we are first unleashed on the world, we figure the things that are going to make us happy are the obvious ones: food, sex, sleep, hot baths, chocolate - all that sort of stuff. However, as we grow and mature we learn that sensory pleasure (although very nice!) can't really bring us happiness. So, I think it's natural to next turn to worldly success. We want to be powerful, or successful, or accomplished - call it what you will. We want to prove to ourselves and to others that we have what it takes to do well in this world. I think that's a good and worthwhile goal (as long as we're not being mean to others), but in the end it's not enough on it's own either. So then we learn that there is such a thing as other people, and making them happy is one of the best ways to make ourselves happy. To paraphrase an old TV character "it's nice to be nice". It really is, but it's not enough.

Eventually we realize that we are our own worst enemy when it comes to happiness (and our own best friend too). Our happiness is up to us, it's all about what we do in our mind. I read a book once and a person who had never been on a Buddhist retreat was getting ready for his first one. He spoke to an experience Buddhist friend and told him he was getting ready for his first retreat and the friend said something like "Good luck. The first three days are going to be like being locked in a phone booth with a maniac". It's our minds that make the noise. It's our minds that make us happy or not.

So how would I explain it all? I guess I would start off by saying that 'all beings want to be happy' and that, in the end, whether we actually are happy is up to us, and what we do with our minds. At least, this is what the Buddha taught and, so far in my life, it seems to me that he was right.