August 11, 2546 B.E.
Stillness and Quietness Lead to Maximum Happiness.
Today is the 29th day of this Rains-Retreat. As you know, each Rains-Retreat lasts only three months. We have already passed a third of this Rains-Retreat which is the season for attaining the Dhamma. It is the season for everyone to attain the Dhamma.The Dhamma here means the Inner Triple Gem or the Dhammakaya that dwells inside each person on earth regardless of his race or creed, whether or not he knows about the Dhammakaya, and whether or not he believes in His existence. The attainment of the Dhammakaya will bless one with wish fulfillment because the ultimate wish of all beings is true happiness. People seek material wealth, people, animals, and things thinking that these things will make them happy. Happiness or unhappiness comes from one’s mind.
One’s mind is the vessel needed to contain happiness. Unfortunately, human beings have no idea what true happiness is like, what it feels like, where it can be found, and how to find it. People search constantly for happiness because human life is fraught with much unhappiness. People are sick of unhappiness. They wish to remove it. They wish for happiness. And so they go on searching for it. Some think that they can find it in things. Some think that they can find it by thinking. Some think that they can find it by practicing self-mortification. Etc. But they have yet to find or know true happiness.
Formerly, the Lord Buddha had been an ordinary person who had known unhappiness lifetime after lifetime just like other human beings. The only difference was that He had wanted so badly to be emancipated from such suffering. And throughout the countless existences, He had tried to search for the way that would lead him to emancipation. Eventually, in His final rebirth, He decided to abdicate the throne and took up the religious life in order to go in search of true happiness. After six years of practicing extreme self-mortification, He was still nowhere near finding it.
Finally, on the day that His Perfections were able to send forth their blessings, which fell on the 15th day of the 6th waxing moon, He sat down under the Bodhi Tree and vowed that He would not get up until He could attain true happiness. It did not matter if His flesh and blood should dry upleaving just skin and bones, He would continue with His meditation practiceuntil He could find what He had been searching for. And He did! The Lord Buddha said that, Natthi santiparan sukhan, there is no happiness except for the mind which is absolutely still and quiet. The still and quiet mind is the source of maximum happiness, hence, the source of wish fulfillment.
To keep one’s mind still and quiet, one must stop thinking, saying, and doing things. One must cease to be restless by not moving, not thinking, not saying, and not doing anything at all. When one’s mind is still and quiet,the happiness gained will continue to increase. Maximum happiness is attained once all defilements can be extinguished. And with the removal of defilements, Nibbana will appear.
