A Buddhist View of Happiness

Review Mind, Brain and the Path to Happiness: A Guide to Buddhist Mind Training and the Neuroscience of Meditation by Dusana Dorjee New York, NY: Routledge, 2014. 154 pp. ISBN 978-0-415-62614-9 (paperback). $35.95, paperback Reviewed by Julia Stenzel The neuroscience of meditation is, at present, the most promising field within the arena of the Buddhism and science dialogue...

Oxford Handbooks Online, 2009

This article examines the neurobiological aspects of eudaimonics, the naturalistic inquiry into the constituents, and the causes of happiness. It comments on the evidence for the claim that there is a connection between Buddhism and happiness. It suggests that a promising program of eudaimonics would require an accurate description of the multiplicity of theory and tradition-specific conceptions that offer true happiness.

Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2005

Stimulated by a recent meeting between Western psychologists and the Dalai Lama on the topic of destructive emotions, we report on two issues: the achievement of enduring happiness, what Tibetan Buddhists call sukha, and the nature of afflictive and nonafflictive emotional states and traits. A Buddhist perspective on these issues is presented, along with discussion of the challenges the Buddhist view raises for empirical research and theory.

" A wonderfully comprehensive book. The authors have made it easy to understand how our minds function and how to make changes so that we can live happier, fuller lives. " —Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness " Solidly grounded in the latest neuroscientific research, and supported by a deep understanding of contemplative practice, this book is accessible, compelling, and profound—a crystallization of practical wisdom! " —Philip David Zelazo, Ph.D., Nancy M. and John E. Lindahl Professor at the Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota " This is simply the best book I have read on why and how we can shape our brains to be peaceful and happy. This is a book that will literally change your brain and your life. " —Jennifer Louden, author of The Woman's Comfort Book and The Life Organizer " Buddha's Brain is a significant contribution to understanding the interface between science and meditation in the path of transformation. Illuminating. " —Joseph Goldstein, author of A Heart Full of Peace and One Dharma " Buddha's Brain is compelling, easy to read, and quite educational. The book skillfully answers the central question of each of our lives—how to be happy—by presenting the core precepts of Buddhism integrated with a primer on how our brains function. This book will be helpful to anyone wanting to understand time-tested ways of skillful living backed up by up-to-date science. " —Frederic Luskin, Ph.D., author of Forgive for Good and director of Stanford Forgiveness Projects " I wish I had a science teacher like Rick Hanson when I went to school. Buddha's Brain is at once fun, fascinating, and profound. It not only shows us effective ways to develop real happiness in our lives, but also explains physiologically how and why they work. As he instructs us to do with positive experiences, take in all the good information this book offers and savor it. " —James Baraz, author of Awakening Joy and cofounder of Spirit Rock Meditation Center " With the mind of a scientist, the perspective of a psychologist, and the wise heart of a parent and devoted meditator, Rick Hanson has created a guide for all of us who want to learn about and apply the scintillating new research that embraces neurology, psychology, and authentic spiritual inquiry. Up-to-date discoveries combined with state-of-the-art practices make this book an engaging read. Buddha's Brain is at the top of my list! " —Richard A. Heckler, Ph.D., assistant professor at John F. Kennedy University in Pleasant Hill, CA " An illuminating guide to the emerging confluence of cutting-edge neuropsychology and ancient Buddhist wisdom filled with practical suggestions on how to gradually rewire your brain for greater happiness. Lucid, good-humored, and easily accessible. " —John J. Prendergast, Ph.D., adjunct associate professor of psychology at California Institute of Integral Studies and senior editor of The Sacred Mirror and Listening from the Heart of Silence " Buddha's Brain will show you how mental practices, informed by the contemplative traditions, can increase your capacity for experiencing happiness and peace. This book provides a scientific understanding of these methods, and clear guidance for practices that cultivate a wise and free heart. " —Tara Brach, Ph.D. author of Radical Acceptance " This book enables us to understand the whys and hows of our human operating system so we can make more informed actions that allow us to live our lives more fully, compassionately, and with greater well-being and kindness towards others and ourselves. What I find exciting about Buddha's Brain is Rick Hanson's ability to clearly delineate the root causes of suffering and explain pertinent ways we can actually change these causes and effect lasting change on all levels of our mind, body, and interpersonal relationships. His informative, relaxed, and easy-to-read style of writing made me want to pick up this book again and again and dive ever more deeply into the complexities of our human engineering. Buddha's Brain is now on my recommendation list for all my students and teachers-in-training. " —Richard C. Miller, Ph.D., founding president of Integrative Restoration Institute " Numerous writings in recent years have exacerbated the traditional rift between science and religion; however, there has been a refreshing parallel movement in the opposite direction. Neuroscientists have become increasingly interested in using first-person introspective inquiries of the mind to complement their third-person, Western scientific investigations of the brain. Buddhist contemplative practices are particularly amenable to such collaboration, inviting efforts to find neurobiological explanations for Buddhist philosophy. Stripped of religious baggage, Buddha's Brain clearly describes how modern concepts of evolutionary and cognitive neurobiology support core Buddhist teachings and practice. This book should have great appeal for those seeking a secular spiritual path, while also raising many testable hypotheses for interested neuroscientists. "

Fo Guang University Electronic Theses and Dissertations website: http://libthesis.fgu.edu.tw/cgi-bin/cdrfb3/egsweb.cgi?o=destdcdr, 2013

There are many engaged Buddhists incorporating science into Buddhism without reference to traditional value structures and there are many Buddhist scholars ignoring or rejecting the ongoing development of Buddhism by scientific research. This paper seeks to avoid these two extremes by constructing a platform upon which Buddhists and scientists can meaningfully advance one another’s understanding of happiness and well-being without neglecting important differences. Using an integrative literature review format, research from positive psychology, happiness economics, and contemplative science will be linked to Buddhist ethics, in an effort to delineate the territory and boundaries of Buddhism’s engagement to the science of happiness. Since there is no operational definition for a Buddhist concept of happiness in current scientific literature, this paper will also attempt to lay the foundation for its establishment in three ways: First, it will define happiness in correspondence to the Buddhist concept of sukha; second, it will integrate scientific research into a construct that retains the concept’s traditional integrity; and third, it will experimentally demonstrate the validity of sukha by providing evidence of its functional relevance to lived Buddhist practice. The paper will conclude with a critical analysis of the potential merits of Buddhism’s happiness hypothesis in future studies.

Commemorative Book, The 2nd International Academic Forum in Theravāda and Mahāyāna Buddhism, 2019

This article probes the Theravāda Buddhist Practice and the Access of Happiness. Firstly, happiness implies an English word is literally translated from multiple Pali terms such as "sukha" refers to the idea of happiness of the world. Happiness (sukha) has suffering (dukkha) as the opposite state. Therefore the Buddhist practice for the access of happiness is as same as the Buddhist practice for the cessation of suffering. One way to get close to the happiness is the concentration of the Dhamma (Dhammasamādhi) which signifies the five kinds of virtues that make one to be firmness in the Dhamma. In addition, happiness can also be accessed through the development of wisdom which is to intellectually understand the nature and the universal states of nature as they truly are. It is the happiness that comes from living according to the Buddhist middle path. Finally, "Access to Happiness above Happiness" implies the four steps to deal with the dukkha-sukha dichotomy of dualism, namely:-1) The ability to live with existing sufferings, 2) The pursuit of righteous happiness, 3) detachment to the happiness acquired, and finally 4) Total elimination of suffering. And this shows that the right striving always result in the accessible of the happiness above happiness, that is, higher and highest kind of happiness, until one gets to the Nibbāna eventually.

Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 2015

The cultivation of happiness is the stated goal of Tibetan Buddhism and of Western models of psychotherapy alike. Yet these two traditions differ sharply in their identification of the conditions that give rise to happiness. Since both traditions present themselves as empirical systems of investigation open to confirmation or refutation, it may prove useful for practitioners in each tradition to become familiar with each others' theories and claims regarding the causes of happiness. This paper discusses the questions asked and models proposed by Western psychologists researching happiness and how these differ from the questions asked and models proposed by the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of psychology. It also presents an overview of scientific findings related to each of these models, and suggests possible benefits of investigating the basis for underlying assumptions of theories of happiness and the effects of such assumptions on the outcomes derived from different models of psychology. Keywords Happiness Á Subjective well-being Á Positive psychology Á Buddhism The conceptual foundations of Western psychology were first laid out by Aristotle-a thinker who, in his Nicomachean Ethics, stated that ''happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.'' However, in Western psychology, the definition of ''happiness''-or, as it has increasingly come to be called in the academic literature, ''subjective well-being''has been the subject of as many theories as there have been theorists. Although there

Stimulated by a recent meeting between Western psychologists and the Dalai Lama on the topic of destructive emotions, we report on two issues: the achievement of enduring happiness, what Tibetan Buddhists call sukha, and the nature of afflictive and nonafflictive emotional states and traits. A Buddhist perspective on these issues is presented, along with discussion of the challenges the Buddhist view raises for empirical research and theory.

Zygon®, 2014

Owen Flanagan's important book The Bodhisattva's Brain presents a naturalized interpretation of Buddhist philosophy. Although the overall approach of the book is very promising, certain aspects of its presentation could benefit from further reflection. Traditional teachings about reincarnation do not contradict the doctrine of no self, as Flanagan seems to suggest; however, they are empirically rather implausible. Flanagan's proposed "tame" interpretation of karma is too thin; we can do better at fitting karma into a scientific worldview. The relationship between eudaimonist and utilitarian strands in Buddhist ethics is more complex than the book suggests. Flanagan is right to criticize incautious and imprecise claims that Buddhism will make practitioners happy. We can make progress by distinguishing between happiness in the sense of a Buddhist version of eudaimonia, and happiness in the sense of attitudinal pleasure. Doing so might result in an interpretation of Buddhist views about happiness that was simultaneously philosophically interesting, historically credible, and psychologically testable.