Reddit mentions of Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness: Walking the Buddha's Path

For those of you questioning TMI in light of recent events, I would encourage you to take a broader perspective about the practice.

In my personal experience of 11 years of practice of the Eightfold Path, my results are that I am calmer, less stressed, happier, less knee-jerk reactive, and more at peace. Most of the time, I feel entirely at peace. I believe that my immediate family, although not practitioners, have benefited from my improvement over the past decade. It has been worth the effort!

I have only picked up TMI recently and it has already helped me with some meditation blocks that I wanted to work through. TMI seems to be a good meditation manual and particularly useful to those (like me) who do not have regular access to a good meditation teacher.

However, in traditional Buddhist terms and IMHO, TMI is incomplete in terms of Buddhist awakening. TMI covers 2 factors from the 8 in the Eightfold Path. Practicing one or two of these without the support of the other factors COULD be a path to nowhere for some people; others may find that TMI alone works well for them.

My recommendation to anyone questioning TMI is to continue to practice its meditation techniques but also consider incorporating the rest of the Eightfold Path into your practice and see for yourself whether it is worth the effort. Some sources for the Eightfold Path.

• Bhikkhu Bodhi: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/waytoend.html
  
• Eightfold path ‘class’ taught by Gil Fronsdal on AudioDharma: https://www.audiodharma.org/series/1/talk/3840/
  
• Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0861711769
  
  This is offered only in the spirit of being helpful and I in no way mean to criticize TMI.

To be honest, I think you'll find the combination difficult as one promotes individualism and vengeance whereas the other eschews non-self and friendship to all despite the recipients perceived flaws.(Kindness is never wasted on the "undeserving".)

But since you sound interested in learning with little history involved, I recommend you read Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness by Henepola Gunaratana ($4 used on Amazon). It's got a great section on compassion. Do you have the bravery to love your enemy? Can you see that the fetter of greed for sensual desire causes suffering?

I believe training yourself according to the eightfold path is the act of Buddhism. No matter what else you incorporate, the four noble truths and the eightfold path are foundational.

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/waytoend.html#ch5

https://www.amazon.com/Eight-Mindful-Steps-Happiness-Walking/dp/0861711769

Begin with virtue/ethics.

There's a book that actually changed my life after reading it and I think it would be a good read for you. It's a book about Buddhism, but before you dismiss it for religious reasons or anything it's not like that. It teaches you to understand that you can decide how you react to things... Anyway it's a really great read and really helped me change my outlook on life. I hope it can do the same for you.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0861711769?pc_redir=1412272708&robot_redir=1

Can't claim to be much of a Buddhist scholar, so I can't answer your question directly but:

I'm not sure what you've read/how you got started but I'm 24, diagnosed (major recurrent) about six months, probably "depressed" since middle school and Mindfulness in plain English (Free!: http://www.urbandharma.org/pdf/mindfulness_in_plain_english.pdf) and Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness: Walking the Buddha's Path (http://www.amazon.com/Eight-Mindful-Steps-Happiness-Walking/dp/0861711769) have been invaluable to me. I've read a lot of what was online and a few other books, but those two books stuck out for me. Also, I'm not sure how this goes over in this subreddit, but depending on the severity of what you're dealing with you may want to seek advice from a qualified professional about medication. I realize this sounds lame and believe me I basically avoided it for ten years but I can honestly say I haven't felt this way since I was a kid, and my family says its like having their son/brother back. I was the walking dead, or rather, reclusive, hiding but breathing dead until I got on anti-depressants and started trying to practice what I've learned from mindfulness/buddhism; I don't care what it is that's working or how, I just know I don't think about killing myself every minute and I don't hide myself in bed/find myself failing at the basic requirements of functioning life.

In particular for some reason the existential non-answers to Buddhism and the ability to deal with nonstop chatter of the mind were pivotal in helping me gain some control of my life. Cultivating loving-kindness also helped me, seemingly ironically, let go of a lot of stuff. I would say more than any other thing try to maintain a positive perspective and open mind. Unfortunately a lot of the core simplicity evident in some teachings is inherently antithetical to western social consciousness; we cultivate sarcasm and cynicism that naturally mocks universal concepts like love, peace, tranquility. That the teachings are often delivered in pesudo-scientific sounding "alternative medicine" or "eastern philosophy" packages with their concomitant disparaging subtext compounds this conditioned aversion. It may be going too far to say that unraveling these notions is a step towards a "deeper meaning," but perhaps not.

I have really appreciated Bhante Gunaratana's Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness and Mindfulness in Plain English. They are good choices if you want to go straight to how to apply Buddhism to your life.

Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness by Ven. Henepola Gunaratana: A clear guide to bringing the eightfold path into your daily life.

Theravada is relatively secular. With basically any sect, you may have to interpret ideas like karma and rebirth the way you will.

Here's some stuff to check out:

Secular Buddhist Podcast

Secular Buddhist Association

The ID Project

Also, as a side note, I really recommend the book "8 Mindful Steps to Happiness" as a wonderful introduction to the Buddhist path from a Therevadin perspective.

Suffering from depression for many years, I recently started changing my mind. I have read a few books, Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth, and Bhante Henepola Gunaratan's Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness. Reading these books helped me understand what was happening in my head.

Depression is something that you may never get over and is something you should accept. Once you stop fighting it (by accepting it) you can focus that energy somewhere else. Happiness is not what you should seek. When trying to find happiness, you will fail. When I was depressed, I would constantly say (out loud or to myself) "I just want to be happy," but now I realize my definition of happiness and what I wanted were different. Happiness has a different meaning and connotation than what I really was hoping to achieve. Happiness to me means experiencing pleasure, (mostly through the 5 senses and social acceptance). This is short lasting and it seems the more we have the more we want. Peace is what I really wanted. I wanted my mind to stop thinking all the time. I wanted calm and quiet and the absence of pain and sadness.

It was not something that came naturally or easy to me. I had so many years of thinking the same way, it felt 'not like me'. But that is good. When your depressed, thinking like you is bad. So, I began trying to be aware of what I was thinking. Anytime a negative thought would pop up I would say to myself, "Is that true? Is this necessary? Why do I feel this way? Is this feeling beneficial?" The only problem with the questions is that you have to answer them and not let Depression answer them.

I would try to talk to a counselor, it really helped me. I didn't think sitting talking to a stranger would be so beneficial, but somehow it did some good. Also, I found staying way from TV to be best. The books I suggested really helped me and I hope you maybe go to a book store and just glance through them. Depression causes you to not see clearly, and makes you doubt that what people suggest will help. Don't let Depression control you, try to take small steps to control the depression.

Hope this was helpful in some way. Sorry so long. If want to ask anything I will be around.

This is not ego death, this is just depression. With ego death there is no thing to feel bad.

http://www.amazon.com/Eight-Mindful-Steps-Happiness-Walking/dp/0861711769/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1309543473&sr=8-1

I recommend that book. It will be the best 12 bucks you ever spend.

> My closest friend just became a Zen Buddhist

Watch out for new-convert enthusiasm (people get a little bit overexcited sometimes)...this might be what's going on.

If you want to lure her closer to Catholicism by way of Zen, the book I recommend to people whose Christian friends are attempting to wander off in the direction of Zen (to haul them back on course) is Christian Meditation (Finley).

> She says that I should just live in the present and not worry about sinful behavior.

I would be like "girl, what about the Eightfold Path?" because Buddhists do have some notion of "you should live a virtuous life and not just have fun all the time" (granted everything I know about this came from reading https://www.amazon.com/Eight-Mindful-Steps-Happiness-Walking/dp/0861711769 a while ago.)

I would rather see her become Catholic but if she's going to do Zen Buddhism in the meantime, she oughta at least do it right. It is more ascetic than she makes it sound (and also less concerned with "what YOU are doing makes ME sad.")

OK - just threw that in there due to your comment about talking to girls and negative thoughts.

You should certainly consider meditation, and give it an honest shot. Even when divorced from the religious teaching of the Buddha, many forms of meditation have proven stress-relieving effects, and (anecdotally) can help with cognition, patience, and compassion. For a primer I recommend Mindfulness in Plain English, a wonderful book that is available for free here. I think you'll find the first chapter very helpful in answering your question "why meditate?" As for how long, I fully intend to meditate daily for the rest of my life. Once you really get going and start to see the benefits, I can't imagine you'd one day say "alright, my work here is done."

Bhante Gunaratana also has a very helpful, detailed book about applying the Noble Eightfold Path to daily life: Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness. Here's an article about it by the Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, but I'm not sure how accessible it will be to a beginner.

OK, I see. So the point of your practice will be to help others as much as yourself? Look into metta (loving kindness) meditation; it can help you with your ability to forgive and also make compassionate thought and action more "automatic." Keep in mind from the beginning, though, that nothing you do will "improve others." You can only change your attitude to other people. Of course, if you're more compassionate, positive, and forgiving, it may very well rub off on them. And even if it doesn't, you'll be happy. It's a no-lose scenario.

I hope this has helped.

I'd add Bhante Gunaratana's 8 Mindful Steps to Happiness to this recommendation.

Not quite as concise, but one of the best "plain English" outlines of the Eightfold Path I've had the pleasure of reading. I regularly revisit it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0861711769/

Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness: Walking the Buddha's Path

Written by the author of "Mindfulness In Plain English" ( a life long Buddhist monk ) this book is basically "The Noble Eightfold Path In Plain English" and focuses on how ordinary people can apply the Eightfold Path in daily life.

One of his other books. Eight mindful steps to happiness. Very good.

Recommended book, "the art of meditation" by Matthieu Ricard ( https://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Meditation-Matthieu-Ricard/dp/0857892746 ) and if you like it and if you want to go deeper: Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana https://www.amazon.com/Eight-Mindful-Steps-Happiness-Walking/dp/0861711769/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1487182070&sr=8-3&keywords=bhante+gunaratana
and then directly the Pali Sutta(the teachings by Buddha himself) : https://suttacentral.net you may even reads it now but you maybe a bit confused if you don't read more easier text before :)

Good question -- here's one book you might find useful in getting an understanding of what the Buddha's teachings focus on:
http://www.amazon.com/Eight-Mindful-Steps-Happiness-Walking/dp/0861711769

Eight Mindful Steps To Happiness

My favourite is this one which is available online for free:
http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/noble8path6.pdf

Also check out https://www.amazon.com/Eight-Mindful-Steps-Happiness-Walking/dp/0861711769

Eight Mindful Steps by Bhante Gunaratana is about that.

Early on, this was helpful to me
in laying out a companion to my meditation practice.

Not so much incompatible i just prefer the truths of science to some of the mysticism that Buddhism holds like the belief that once you reach enlightenment or nirvana you are one with everything and completely at peace, there is nothing but absolute bliss. I find that hard to believe along with the cycle of reincarnation where you basically repeat the same mistakes for eternity until you reach Nirvana which is again making this life seem like a hell instead of a wonderful thing that you should cherish.

You could certainly combine the two to follow the morals and ethics of the Buddhist religion but saying your a Buddhist implies you believe in the above mentioned things. Which i don't believe so i stick with calling myself an Atheist though i do connect and accept most of what the 4 noble truths and the 8 fold path preach. I just don't feel i should call myself a Buddhist if i am not fully committed to the religion.

Is that clear? i know there are reasons i left out like it takes some serious dedication to become always conscious of your thoughts and keep them in control. Its not an easy religion to take on but if you are seriously interested I suggest reading this book. it was recommended to me by a Buddhist friend when i became interested. It was a good read to help me understand what the religion was about. It's a short book, though you might need to reread some parts to fully understand some of the concepts but it basically lays out Buddhas path to enlightenment in an easily understood manner.