Tricycle | Awake in the World

Happiness is awakening to the question "Who is happy, who is unhappy, who lives, and who dies?" True happiness is uncaused, arising from the very nature of being itself. We seek happiness only when we are asleep to our true nature—dreaming that enlightenment is over there, somewhere else. But we are all, already, what we are seeking. Buddhas seeking to be Buddhas. Ha! How ridiculous.—Adyashanti, San Francisco Bay area teacher who draws upon Zen and Advaita Vedanta We're always trying to free ourselves from misery but we go about it the wrong way. There are a lot of small sweetnesses in life that we ignore because they're so fleeting. It's very important to look at what lifts our spirits and brings us happiness—to cherish those moments and cultivate appreciation. Happiness comes from being receptive to whatever arises rather than frantically trying to escape what's unpleasant. —Pema Chödron, from True Happiness, a Sounds True CD set More »