The Subtle Presence of Happiness

These photos may or may not capture the subtle sense of happiness that pervades our days here in Bodhgaya. But we assure you, we are living within that joy each moment we are here. Even if you cannot be here in Bodhgaya and breathe this same air of joyful practice, perhaps you can share in some of the spirit through these words of Gyalwang Karmapa, from a teaching given last month in Delhi:

We can learn to appreciate our lives more by considering the fact of our impending death, but we can also come to value our live more by contemplating the preciousness of our mere existence. This is another of the four thoughts that turn the mind to Dharma, in which we recognize that it is extremely precious just to have a human body, and that it is rare to have this opportunity to simply be a human being. There is a tremendous amount of happiness and well-being embedded within this very fact. But we often miss this subtle presence of happiness, and think that life should be all about getting things we don't have, things that are new to us, and adding more on top of what we have already acquired, without considering that what we already have is a situation of bountiful happiness and well-being.