8. “When practicing to get out of the world, how does one avoid slipping into unhappiness with the world?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Escape] [Suffering] [Happiness] // [Saṃsāra] [Not-self] [Divine Abidings] [Unattractiveness] [Equanimity] [Gladdening the mind] [Concentration] [Knowledge and vision]
Sutta: MN 10.10: Contemplating the body as if it were a sack of grains.
Suttas: AN 6.10, AN 10.2: Causal chains yielding gladness (pāmojja) with different starting points.
5. “I work as a psychotherapist and it seems to be useful to have a more or less stable self, a more or less stable ego, to be able to transcend the ego.” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Western psychology ] [Self-identity view] [Liberation] // [Mark Epstein] [Virtue] [Happiness] [Conditionality] [Language] [Ajahn Chah] [Conventions]
Reference: “The Wisdom of the Ego” in Head and Heart Together by Ajahn Ṭhānissaro.
Sutta: SN 1.25: “Skillful, knowing the world’s parlance, he uses such terms as mere expressions.”
4. “When you talked about the little girl crying, was she really crying because she was miserable?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Suffering] [Happiness]
Story: A little girl cries because she got what she wanted. [Desire]
1. “When was the idea of merit [being like a celestial currency] incorporated into Buddhism?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro, Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Sundarā. [Merit] [History/Early Buddhism] // [Generosity] [Happiness]
Sutta: Iti 22: “Don’t belittle merit.”
Sutta: AN 7.52: Degrees of meritorious offerings.
3. Quote: “Oh, what joy to know that there is no happiness in the world!” — Caption beneath a painting of a dancing monk at Suan Mokh Monastery. Quoted by Ajahn Amaro. [Happiness] [Artistic expression] [Wat Suan Mokkh] // [Ajahn Buddhadāsa]
5. Story: The parents of a four-year-old wish their child to attain Nibbāna in this life. Told by Ajahn Kaccāna. [Parents] [Nibbāna] [Desire]
Response by Ajahn Amaro. [Happiness]
1. Comment: This reading about the bliss of Nibbāna (The Island by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, p. 105; MN 75.12) reminds me of the monk who had previously been a king who went about saying ‘Oh, what bliss!’ [Nibbāna] [Happiness] [Great disciples] [Royalty]
Sutta: Ud 2.10.
Response by Ajahn Amaro.
5. “How do we distinguish the nuances of happiness and suffering?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Happiness] [Suffering] // [Language]
Reflection: Any language is always a problem.
Quote: “The language of Dhamma is the language of feeling.” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Dhamma] [Feeling]
2. “You mentioned that one of the links [in AN 10.2] is pleasure. What is this in Pāli?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Happiness] [Translation]
3. “You mentioned the class of actions that are neither bright nor dark as the path leading to Nibbāna. But isn’t the work one does on the path good?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno, Ajahn Karuṇadhammo and Ajahn Kaccāna. [Kamma] [Nibbāna] [Skillful qualities] // [Happiness] [Liberation] [Clinging]
Sutta: MN 57.7: Four kinds of kamma.
Sutta: MN 75.19: Nibbāna is the highest bliss.
Sutta: AN 6.63.33: Kamma, its origin, and its cessation. [Four Noble Truths]
Sutta: MN 117: The Great Forty.
5. “How important is it to develop wholesome actions (the second of the four kinds of action in MN 57.7) to progress with the fourth [kind of action]?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Kamma] [Skillful qualities] // [Merit] [Translation] [Happiness] [Concentration]
Sutta: Iti 22: Do not be afraid of puñña.
6. “In Mahāvagga 8.15, Visaka’s intentions in giving to the Saṅgha are to realize Dhamma rather than go to heaven. Does this mean it’s more in line with neither dark nor bright kamma [as described in MN 57.11]?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Great disciples] [Generosity] [Happiness] [Deva] [Kamma] // [Skillful qualities] [Culture/West]
2. “Are unworldly feelings to be treated the same? (referring to MN 18.8, ‘nothing is found there to delight in.’) Some of them appear in the cessation cycle, for example joy. They’re pleasant spiritual feelings.” Answered by Ajahn Amaro. [Feeling] [Happiness] [Skillful qualities] // [Jhāna] [Formless attainments] [Conditionality] [Ajahn Chah]
5. “How does pīti relate to the fulfillment of desire?” Answered by Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno. [Rapture ] [Benefit/gratification] [Happiness] // [Unification] [Jhāna] [Craving] [Relinquishment] [Addiction]
1. “After more than 50 years, is the practice getting easier?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Long-term practice ] [Ajahn Pasanno] // [Mindfulness] [Happiness]
1. “What does letting go feel like?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Relinquishment] // [Clinging] [Happiness]