The Same Old Zen

Happiness is something of a four-letter word in Buddhist circles, and with good reason.  The second noble truth tells us that, "Suffering is caused by desire," and the desire to be happy certainly hurts more people than it helps.    And yet, after 5 years of diligent practice, I'm definitely happier than I was before I became Buddhist.   My mind is clearer.  I make better, more thoughtful decisions.  And I'm kinder to my family and friends.  How is that possible?  More specifically, how did ending my quest for joy result in my being happier with life?   As I think back, I realize that prior to Buddhism my life-satisfaction was very conditional in nature.  I was joyful when I went to work  if the day went exactly as I'd planned.  I was happy with my friends and family  if they behaved exactly as I thought they should.  Of course, people and jobs never go exactly as we wish, so what little happiness I experienced back then was extremely short-lived.

Recently, I read a book by professor Nassim Taleb called Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder.   In the book, Taleb argues that there are three types of systems in the world. There are fragile systems that break under stress, robust systems that are strong enough to resist stress, and antifragile systems which actually become stronger under stress.   He spends a majority of the book describing what antifragile, economic systems look like, and encouraging readers to become antifragile in their personal lives. It's an interesting read from the standpoint of economics, however, it also gave me a lot to think about from the standpoint of spirituality.  After all, what is spirituality if not the study of stress/ suffering and how to cope with it? What is Zen, if not the art of antifragility? When one looks out into the world, it's obvious that most people live as fragile beings.  That is to say, in the face of suffering they recoil for fear that they

I can't imagine what it would be like; being told the exact moment of my death.  But the people of Hawaii experienced that first-hand one month ago when the following text appeared on their cell phones: "Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill." Thankfully, they found out later that the message was sent in error. But it begs the question, what would I do if I only had a short time left to live? It's strange to think about. Death is one of those things that we just don't talk about in polite company. In fact, I remember being admonished as a child when I told my classmates that my grand mother had recently died. "You're supposed to say that she passed away," my fifth grade teacher reminded me before offering her condolences. We do everything we can to escape the reality of death. We distract ourselves with long to-do lists. We try to outsmart it with super foods , and an