Bringing Wisdom to Life. Anita Carter

and also apply the correct antidote behaviour in the present.

      For example, the Buddhist meditation to develop loving kindness called 'metta' meditation is one example of how we can prompt and cultivate positive wholesome consciousness and behaviour. The wholesome consciousness of metta or loving-kindness is a natural antidote to unwholesome consciousness such as, resentment, aversion, jealously and hate. As our love strengthens, the unwholesome states become progressively weaker and easier to give up.

      This is the function of the "Letting Go" part of our Happiness Map. We give up and let go our unwholesome habits and behaviours. Gradually through practice we can recognise our negative (unwholesome) mental states at both the gross and subtle levels, then we can let go of them instead of maintaining and strengthening them through our negative behaviour.

      We don't have to stay annoyed with someone who did something we didn't like. So, if you see yourself starting to get stuck in any unwholesome thinking, tell yourself to “let it go”. You actually say that as an instruction for your mind to follow. Tell the unwholesome state to stop. Actually, it’s not you, it's not a "self" or something precious or important; it's just one possible state that can arise for a period of time. Because it produces unhappiness and clouds your view, give it up.

      We can get quite good at dropping the unwholesome minds if we act quickly - cut them as soon as you first see them, before they become established in your mind. Learn to apply the correct natural antidote.

      The second part of the Dhammapada, Chapter 1 quote reads:

       "Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief: they are all mind-wrought. If with a pure mind a person speaks or acts, happiness follows him like his never-departing shadow." 2.

      We train our minds to produce the wholesome mental states such as confidence, mindfulness, friendliness, generosity, alertness, forgiveness, patience, fear of unwholesomeness, joy, equanimity, lightness of mind, adaptability of mind and loving kindness. According to the Buddhist texts there are 25 possible wholesome states of consciousness we can develop. (See Appendix)

      Wholesome mental states are a secure base for our happiness. They can be developed and strengthened to become robust, resilient, and flexible. They can bend with the wind rather than stress and break, they are intelligent and calm, and they are our real inner strengths to deal with the difficulties of life.

      Over time through practice our virtue platform becomes stronger and our ability to handle misfortune without becoming upset increases.

      We decide to be a kinder person, we decide to relate with others we know, and meet with generosity and lightness of heart. We choose to become friendlier, offer others more warmth and more love. We consider others’ needs and offer our help when it would be beneficial. We start to view other people we know as if they were our guests.

      Training our mind to be wholesome is the way a true platform for our happiness in this life is built. According to Buddhism, the wholesome minds and actions built in this life become powerful causes to have good rebirths in our future lives.

      So, the bottom line for all Buddhist practice in all Buddhist traditions is this - developing wholesome minds and actions is a true foundation of our long-term well-being and happiness.

      We are all going to get old age, sickness and death this life - that's our body's inescapable future destination. However, it is possible to maintain our wholesome minds as we get older. It is possible to maintain bright, intelligent, happy minds even as our body wears out. It is very common for people's minds to deteriorate along with their bodies’ deterioration as they get older but essentially it is because their minds are not trained to be wholesome.

      Let us briefly look at a few other components of our Happiness Map / Virtue Platform.

      From Buddhist understanding and experience, when morality has been strongly practiced and developed, it creates integrity and wholeness of mind, that allows us to see things with clarity and depth helping us discern their true nature.

      In Buddhism there are no commandments or similar authoritarian rules of behaviour. This is because at the very heart of Buddhism is the principle that the individual is solely responsible for his or her own welfare, happiness or unhappiness, which arise just as a result of the persons own actions.

      Buddhist morality does not accept that our life and wellbeing are the outcome of the will of a supreme or higher being. The basis of a person choosing to maintain moral behaviour, therefore, is not because it's a commandment of the religion but because there is a clear understanding and comprehension that morality is our first and best defense against creating more suffering for ourselves in the future.

      The Buddha advises us to train our minds and actions so that we keep five precepts.

      The five precepts are: To not kill living beings To not steal To not commit sexual misconduct To not lie To not take intoxicants that cloud the mind.

      The reason why the five particular negative actions that the precepts stop us from committing are highlighted is that the Buddha recognised that some negative actions are more powerful than others. They are more powerful in the sense that they produce more powerful kammic results.

      He identified that the five negative actions of killing, stealing, lying, sexual misconduct and taking intoxicants produce the most potent negative kamma or most concentrated negative kamma for ourselves to inherit in our future.

      Buddhism teaches that in ultimate reality most of the suffering we had experienced in our life came from us breaking the five precepts in past times.

      If we take time to consider and reflect on this it is obvious many of the problems that afflict people individually and in society at large arise from individuals not keeping these five precepts.

      Buddhists see keeping precepts as Occupational Health and Safety for our life. These precepts are just like that - they are the minimum standards of safe action of our body, speech and mind so we do not come to danger in this life or future lives. Precepts are our most powerful forms of personal protection since from the ultimate reality viewpoint they keep us safe and healthy.

      This is a part of a platform or foundation of peaceful, content, happy minds and wholesome mental states. The practice of morality produces powerful good kamma as it is the opposite of the five actions which produce the most powerful negative kamma.

      This type of good kamma is experienced by the doer as pure, peaceful virtuous minds and peaceful living conditions which are both needed by us to develop on the Buddhist path. There is no such thing as a truly virtuous person who kills other beings, or steals from others.

      It is also a foundation of coming to see things as they really are. The peace and purity that comes as a result of keeping precepts enables our mind to develop right concentration in meditation which is a prerequisite to developing wisdom.

      We do not become paranoid about the precepts. We have all broken precepts time and time again in our past, but we decide from now on we have the intention to keep them. We learn how to keep them well and we train ourselves to guard them whatever we are doing.

      If we do break a precept we don't react to that with guilt or regret. We just note "I have more training to do!" We re-affirm that we intend to keep that precept from now on.

      Mindfulness is the only way to keep precepts.

      We can only keep precepts really well by being mindful of what we are doing in the present. We come into the present- we stop thinking that we will keep the precepts at some future time. We look at our situation now. We focus on what we are doing with our body, we consider for a moment before we speak or act and we watch the thoughts that are arising.

      In this way we can guard ourselves and take control of our actions, our speech and thoughts to not kill, to not lie, not steal, not commit sexual misconduct and not take intoxicants. It is in the present time that the kamma is being made. If we do not recognise what is happening in the present, we cannot change anything.

      In Buddhism we talk about deep levels of happiness