ARTICLE

FindCenter AddIcon

Zen and the Beat Way

By Alan Watts

Well, in the same way, all sorts of things that we believe to be real--time, past and future, for instance--exist only conventionally. A person who lives for the future, who (like most of us) makes his happiness dependent upon what is coming in the future, is living within an illusion. - Alan Watts

Read on archive.nytimes.com

FindCenter Post-Image

Ask the Teachers: Is Happiness Really the Central Goal of Buddhist Practice?

Question: Buddhist teachers, including the Dalai Lama, often speak of happiness as a goal (if not the goal) of Buddhist practice. I don’t begrudge anyone happiness, but making it so central to spiritual life feels self-serving. Am I misunderstanding what’s meant by “happiness”?

FindCenter AddIcon
FindCenter Post-Image

Lasting Happiness

It’s surprisingly easy to achieve lasting happiness — we just have to understand our own basic nature. The hard part, says Mingyur Rinpoche, is getting over our bad habit of seeking happiness in transient experiences.

FindCenter AddIcon

EXPLORE TOPIC

Relationship with Time