Afterword: Life Is Nature, and the Three Foundations of Happiness
Human happiness rests on three foundations, the natural environment, our fellow human beings and the activities of life, and mettā is what connects them.
Key points
- Life is nature, the nature of material and mental phenomena. It is never still; thought arises and passes away continuously and swiftly.
- Human happiness rests on three foundations, the natural environment, our fellow human beings, and the activities of life.
- Many people are unhappy with others because they lack mettā and lack connection, so gaps open up between them.
- Mettā is the connector. Connection comes not from adjusting outward material things but from training the mind.
- Mettā-cetovimutti is the ground for developing wisdom that penetrates the noble truths, and so for freedom from defilement and suffering.
This is an English translation of the Thai original. Where they differ, the Thai text is authoritative: อ่านต้นฉบับภาษาไทย
In truth, life already has its own system, called the activities of life.
”Life is nature”:
the nature of material and mental phenomena…
Material phenomena (rūpa-dhamma)
are the mahābhūta-rūpa (great elements), namely earth, water, fire and wind,
and upādāya-rūpa (derived matter), matter that exists in dependence on the great elements.
Mental phenomena (nāma-dhamma)
are vedanākkhandha (the aggregate of feeling): feeling happy, unhappy or neutral;
saññākkhandha (the aggregate of perception): remembering and recognizing;
saṅkhārakkhandha (the aggregate of mental formations): mental fashioning, both meritorious and unmeritorious;
viññāṇakkhandha (the aggregate of consciousness, the mind): knowing, such as seeing, hearing and so on.
All mental phenomena arise and pass away together.
Life is never still, neither its material nor its mental side.
The process of thought arises and passes away in continuous succession, all the time, very fast:
in a single snap of the fingers it arises and passes away a trillion times.
The foundations of human happiness are three:
- The natural environment
- Fellow human beings
- The activities of life
Foundation 1: the natural environment
In truth, living peacefully with nature is the first and most basic happiness of human beings. But today we are estranged from nature. We have built all kinds of things and moved away from nature, made our own rules, come to rely on countless conveniences, and humanity has grown weaker…
If a disaster struck and there were no internet, no phone signal, none of our conveniences, and we had to go and live in the forest for months,
if the systems we have built collapsed, a great many people would die, because the first foundation of happiness, the basic foundation of human life, has already collapsed.
The question is: how do we keep from being estranged from nature?
What attitude of mind should we hold when we are with nature?…this is a question each of you must answer for yourself.
Foundation 2: fellow human beings
Many people have begun to feel unhappy living with their fellow human beings,
unhappy with their fathers and mothers, their grandparents, their colleagues.
This is because they lack mettā (loving-kindness), lack connection, and so gaps open up.
The second foundation of happiness has collapsed too.
Foundation 3: the activities of life
Some people find no happiness in their work, their studies, the activities of life;
doing them brings stress, worry and suffering.
The third foundation of happiness has collapsed too.
Ask yourself: how many foundations of happiness do you still have left?
So we must come and train in mettā, and develop mettā for ourselves and for all beings, to remove the estrangement, remove the gaps, and create connection: connection with nature, connection with our fellow human beings, and connection with the activities of life, so that we are happy at every step.
Mettā is the connector that lets human beings reach oneness.
Connection is not achieved by adjusting outward material things; it is achieved by training the minds of all human beings.
The time has come for us to develop mettā so that it truly arises, to protect the foundations of happiness in life before it is too late.
We talk about mettā, so why is there no mettā in our hearts?
We spread mettā, so why is there no mettā in our hearts?
We want people to love one another, so why does mettā not arise in our own hearts?
May all beings, whether fearful or secure,
be happy in body, happy in mind, and safe.
May all beings, seen or unseen,
be happy in body, happy in mind, and safe.
May all beings, far or near,
be happy in body, happy in mind, and safe.
May all beings, born or seeking birth,
be happy in body, happy in mind, and safe.
Beings who are secure means the arahants (the fully awakened);
all others are beings who are fearful.
Beings who are born means the arahants;
all others are beings still seeking birth.
May all beings, long, short or middling in body,
be happy in body, happy in mind, and safe.
May all beings, large, small or middling in body,
be happy in body, happy in mind, and safe.
May all beings, stout, thin or middling in body,
be happy in body, happy in mind, and safe.
Do not abandon mettā.
Resolve to train it until it truly arises in your stream of life,
and you will have mettā to nourish your heart,
for happiness every single day.
May you all be firm in the Triple Gem, and be able to bring mettā meditation into your stream of life, with mettā guiding you, so that your conduct, your mind and your outlook truly go with mettā.
On the day you can truly do this, it can be said that you have reached the Dhamma of the Victorious One, and the Dhamma, which is mettā, will protect you. Mettā-cetovimutti (liberation of mind through mettā) is the ground for developing wisdom and insight that penetrates the noble truths, and you will be freed from defilement and the mass of suffering.
May the Triple Gem protect the stream of your lives, keep you from danger, and bring you to the supreme happiness, the end of defilement and the mass of suffering, swiftly.
Dhammasomthob
Related chants
Read and chant along in the Bhavanaram chanting book (Thai script).
Source: เจาะลึกเมตตา สู่ภาวนาที่ยั่งยืน (Mettā in Depth: Toward a Lasting Practice) by Dhammasomthob, First printing, October 2022, for free distribution, ISBN 978-616-8325-04-9, pp. 180–187.