Use code SUMMERPRACTICE for a 25% discount on all On Demand Courses through August 31.

Pathways to Happiness

With Zohar Lavie recorded on November 10, 2019.

Found our teachings useful? Help us continue our work and support your teachers with a donation. Here’s how.

Being human includes feeling great and feeling pain; given the changing nature of experience what kind of happiness is possible for us? Can we cultivate freedom, happiness and contentment that are less reliant on things ‘going our way’? The attitudes of goodwill, care and friendliness are some of our greatest allies in practice, and also in life. They are inherent within Dharma practice, but are also ways of relating to experience that we can emphasise and cultivate intentionally.

During this session we explore how the ways we relate to experience impact what we perceive, and the possibilities of nourishing attitudes that support the wellbeing of all.

Listen to the audio version below, or click here to download the mp3.

Discussion

Leave a Reply

Discover more from the Dharma Library

  • Working with difficult emotions.

    Feelings have the power to motivate one toward wise action when facing a challenge. They can also cause intense suffering, drive and distort behavior, and lead to regret. Being able to work with emotions, both intense and subtle, is a skill that can be developed through mindfulness meditation. We explore the Unified Mindfulness technique of…

    Read More

  • Clarity, Presence and Love: Both on and off the Cushion

    How to meet the world’s joys and crises, alongside our deepening practice? Learn from the examples of Buddhist teachers and activists who engage with the world and create change from the presence, clarity and love of a dedicated dharma practice. Portraits of people and organisations:Dr A. T. Ariyaratne (1931 – 2024) and the Sarvodaya movementJoe…

    Read More

  • Scott Tusa

    Living From a Sense of Call and Response

    Deep listening goes beyond merely using our ears; it encompasses engaging our eyes, hearts, and bodies as well. As practitioners of meditation, we can also learn to listen with mindful awareness. In this session, we will explore how call and response, a musical concept, also applies to meditation and our daily interactions. Join us, and…

    Read More

  • Suffering and the end of suffering.

    The ancient and radical teachings of the Buddha point to the possibility to be a free, loving and happy human being in the midst of our everyday lives. Oftentimes our stress, dissatisfaction or suffering come not necessarily from the actual things or events themselves, but from our relationship to them. A different way of looking…

    Read More

  • Zohar Lavie

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Zohar Lavie – Week of December 13, 2021

    This week’s theme is: A Bright Presence.

    Making an effort isn’t always easy; yet, how we show up really matters. Dharma teachings can help to enliven our sense of enthusiasm and energy on the path of practice. This week we’ll dive into different ways of engaging with our life, on the meditation seat and off. From soft delight to sustained dedication, let’s wake up fully with life — in life, and for life.

    Read More

  • Justine Dawson

    The Appropriate Response

    When a monk asked the 10th Century Zen master Yunmen, “What are the teachings of a whole lifetime?” Yunmen replied, “An appropriate response.”  What is this appropriate response and how do we know we’ve got it right? Beyond linear formulas, Dharma teachings point to a natural intelligence that guides us in a spontaneous responsiveness to life….

    Read More

  • Dave Smith

    Genuine Happiness: An Alternative Perspective

    So much of what we hear and learn about within Dharma practice places an arguably unnecessary emphasis on suffering (dukkha). While the acceptance of suffering (dukkha) is an important and essential aspect of the path, it is by no means the end of the story. In one of the Buddha’s oldest descriptions of what it…

    Read More