In life we have many things that brings us happiness like, our family, our baby, our job, our spouse, our career, our skills, our “whatever” you what to call it, it brings us happiness. But what if that object is gone? What if it dies? What if it is taken away from us? What if we lose our job, our spouse, our “whatever”? Then that, which made us happy, was impermanent happiness. Some people say, I can’t wait for Friday, or “TGIF!!”, or I can’t wait for my vacation, or I can’t wait to see so and so, because that will make me happy.
All of these things are fine, but if that is the thing that is going to make you happy, then happiness is really not there, its actually dependant happiness. Don’t get me wrong, be happy for these things, because you are human and we get happy and we get sad over things, its natural. But we cannot depend on these things to appear or happen in our lives in order to make us feel content.
True happiness starts within, it’s in the inside of you. Some people when they are stressed out they close their eyes and try to remember past memories of what makes them happy, like a vacation, a loved one, a time when they felt great happiness, and then suddenly, they start to feel happiness at that precise moment, but when something bad arises that happiness is gone out the window, because it was not true happiness, it has a weak and false foundation. Some people even rely on future ideas or plans to make them happy, like their future home they are planning to buy, or their hopes of going to heaven, but in reality these ideas and plans are not real, its just a thought that you are attached to. Past memories are now just a memory, they do not exist anymore, it only exists in your mind. Future ideas and plans do not exist they are just existing in your mind.
Jesus said the Kingdom of God is within. Buddha said Live in your heart. Seek the highest consciousness. So what is this thing that lives within us? What’s inside that overrides all our earthly objects? It’s the True Self, the Buddha Nature, the Holy Spirit, the Light, The Divine, The Creator of the Universe, whatever you want to call it. This lives within us. Its like we are pregnant and we don’t even know it. This “pureness” needs to be awakened from its heavy sleep. This nature was experienced when you were born. We slowly lost it when we entered adulthood. We started to hear and see, whatever the world offers. We adapted to whatever personality that our parents had. We joined groups and picked up all its teachings, opinions and ideas. Our true nature slowly closed its eyes and went to sleep, because we didn’t depend on it anymore. We choose the things on the outside to teach us. But it’s not our fought, because we didn’t know. No one taught us this. We accepted everything like it’s the truth, without asking questions. Whether it be religion, politics, education, history etc.. We accepted it as is.
In the Old Testament, in Genesis 3:22-23-24,
22 Then the LORD God said, ‘See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever’— 23therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. 24He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.
OK, some of you would say, how is this verse from the bible going to relate to the topic?
Well, when I was meditating, I was thinking about this verse, because I know there is more hidden truth behind it. And then it hit, me! Here are the symbolism behind it:
1) Good and Evil = True Self and False Self
2) Tree of Life = The Dharma (Perfection of Wisdom); And the fruits of the tree are Love, Peace, Compassion, Joy, Patience, Kindness etc..
3) Garden of Eden = The Heart, The Inner World, Nirvana, Heaven, The Kingdom of God, Inside of Us
Therefore, using these symbols, I thought of a simple interpretation:
Human beings has now gained knowledge of what is the True Self and False Self, (Light and Darkness). Other words, human beings have discovered their potential of doing good actions or bad actions. Human beings experienced the True Self, when they were babies. Now as they grow up and gain knowledge on their own, they start to develop their own traits and characteristics. They will be free beings, they will not be controlled they will have “free will,” so they can choose to do whatever they want. They can choose to follow the True Self, or their new self, which is their False Self (ego). This True Self, this Wisdom (Dharma), will be hidden within him or her, (the tree of life) it will be blocked from them according to the accumulation of attachment they have gained in the course of their life. The attachments they collect will be obstacles to them; therefore they will now need to work to discover how to awaken this True Self again (to till the ground from which he was taken.) The word “till” means “work.” This True Self is awakened through meditation and reflection. When we get into deep meditation, our mind starts to quiet down. Thoughts start to diminish and you start to taste the True Self, it is like a peaceful bliss. This experience is like we are entering our mother’s womb again, its like nirvana, its like heaven, and its total peace. When you finish your meditation, the True Self doesn’t disappear. It goes with you wherever you go, in fact its you, its your True Self, its not separate. You are putting to rest the old tired, troublesome False Self. In Christianity, they call this the Old Man, the Flesh, the Sinful Nature.
I do not know, nor does anybody know, why we have to put up with these two natures. Why do we have to struggle with this? No one knows. The only thing I know, that these natures are here, it is true, we need to face it, we need to liberate from it. The Four Noble Truths point this out very clearly. We are habit-forming creatures, we are learning machines, and we need to reprogram this machine and take out all garbage and replace it with Wisdom, the Dharma, The Word, The Truth.
So what makes us happy? The things we have accumulated in our life, in our past lives? If it is not here tomorrow, is our happiness gone? We know the answer to that. So, let us look within. Let us reach out our hand and pluck the beautiful fruits that hang off the tree of life, the Dharma and eat and be merry. The fruits are peace, love, joy, happiness, patience, kindness, self-control etc.. This tree is inside of you, eat the fruits and smile, you do not need to depend on anything. Cherish and appreciate the things you have, but do not attach to it. When we leave this world, when we die, we do not take anything with us. We entered this world naked and we will leave naked.
Dhammapada – Anger
”Let go of anger.
Let go of pride.
When you are bound by nothing
You go beyond sorrow.”
You can also say this verse like this:
”Let go of anger, lust, pride, hatred, selfishness, judgment.
Let go of ALL ATTACHMENTS.
When you are bound by nothing, you go beyond.
Gone, gone, gone over, gone fully over.
Awakened!
So be it!”
Letting go of all attachments removes all suffering.
Yours truly, your Internet Friend!
Take care and be well. Namaste! 
