True Joy

The Buddha said there are only two things that manifest in the mind: the arising of suffering and the ending of suffering. A pretty miserable programme if you don’t see it from the right perspective of non-grasping. Where’s the joy and happiness in that?

Well, there is joy and happiness, but it’s not the joy and happiness that comes from a deluded view.

True joy and happiness come from the freedom of knowing that whatever arises in the heart is not worth clinging to.

Whatever you cling to will make you fearful that you’ll lose it; you cling to the desire not to lose something you like and then, you cling to the desire to get it back.

And there it is: dukkha

This reflection by Ajahn Sundara is from the book, Awakening Presence, (pdf) p. 50.