Trip to Shimla, a beautiful place in India

Shimla, the place where I always dreamed to visit in my life after watching of Hindi movie “Three Idiot” is finally successful with the support of my friends from YARROWS, in Shimla. The place not only reminds me of our native land, but it gives the essence of natural beauty that we normally found in Bhutan. The beautiful sunrise and sunset with charming rays formulates our mind with peace and full of satisfaction for the day and hopes for next day to come. The variety of ever green trees and different kinds of flowers that dwell in for animals like monkeys, pandas and deer are found very close to human habitants and other species like birds and insects are found very familiar. We enjoyed the fresh air and breathe taking scenic beauties around the hill-side while we walked around the town and YARROWS Campus.

It is interesting to note some memories on our trip to Shimla as it reminds me all the time and it happens to our group most of the time while we travel around whether it is for the good cause or whatever. I would like to begin with our journey from New Delhi, as planned we went to the Inter State Bus Terminal, ISBT, in Delhi to book our ticket but somehow, we were dragged by few people from the gate to book from their counter. At first instance, we didn’t trust those people, and we left the other ways, again some other people took us to the same counter which we drew the conclusion that it must be only counter for the journey to Shimla which was obviously not.

Actually, it was the luxurious bus as we paid handsome amount in trust and faith. We traveled with the hopes and aspirations that they will reach us to our destination with safe and sound but that was only the hope and their promises. The bus was actually going to some other destination, and it was in the middle of the way, the conductor suddenly asked us to de-board from the bus when we reached the place called Ambala. Though we felt ourselves cheated by those people but we kept our hopes high and booked for another bus which was going to Shimla by Chandigarh.

It was long journey and we had a tough time travelling with local people were packed in the bus with hot and humid summer weather. However, we reached in Shimla by 11:30PM, Indian standard time, where our friends took us to their luxurious guest house in the Campus of YARROWS. Though we were tired, we felt homely in the foreign architectural house for the home of Audit Officers being rendered for learning Lawyers like us. The surroundings are filled with diversely growing flowers in the beautiful dimly lights and pin drop silence around the Campus made our mind refreshed and peace. 

Next day, our friends took us for sight scenes around, and first and foremost, they took us to the Monastery of Nyenmapa founded by H.H. Talung Tsetrul Rimpoche where we were coincided with 10^th day of 8^th month in our Bhutanese calendar which we considered to be the auspicious day. We made offerings to each and every Lhakhangs and prayed for every sentient being to be free from all kinds of sufferings in this Samsara and accumulate virtue like those of enlightened beings. 

After that our friends took us through the lift over the rock that connects us to the open space shopping malls where we have to walk all the way around. We had delicious lunch in Chinese restaurant. We snapped photos with background of old British style houses, Church, Monastery and natural beauty for our long remembering purposes.     

Though it was short trip, we had a fun and our mind got fully refreshed because in Delhi, we are tired of all those metropolitan culture with sound pollutions, air pollutions, water pollutions and etc. Our trip was successful because of your full support and warmth hospitality, your kindness and great help will always remain in our heart forever, thanking you so much, our dearest friend, Dorji Wangdi and Kinzang Wangchuk from Royal Audit Authority of Bhutan.  

Memories of Blessed Rainy Day Celebrated in India, 2013

The Thrue-baap (blessed Rainy day) according to Bhutanese culture and tradition, it is a remarkable and very auspicious day to cherish the bygone monsoon and welcome the beautiful autumn season. According to the astrologers, “all water on the earth is believed to turn holy through the blessings from Buddha Namparnangsay and if we take bath on this day, it is believed that our negative karma with mind and body will be cleansed”.

Back in Bhutan, we the Bhutanese people mark this day with many interesting programmes, starting with special Thukpa (porridge) followed by special tea and lunch but some people go for picnic, some go to monastery and most of the middle age men play archery and young ones play khuru and deygor with dances in beautiful attires. It is also our tradition that wives and other relatives come for cheer up the games with packed lunch and drinks. It is interesting to note that towards the evening we hangout for gatherings with our family, relatives and friends for dinners, drinks and dances.

Away from home, this is my first time celebrating Thrue-baap with my friends in India, and I had many interesting memories as well as some unforgettable memories. We all know that India provides many Bhutanese students to study various courses and in Delhi itself there are more than 100 students studying in various colleges. One week before, our friends from Meerut invited us to celebrate the Thrue-baap at their place together. We accepted their invitation and planned accordingly through phone calls, wechat, whatsapp and other communication facilities.

On 20^th September, my friends in Delhi gathered in my place to make preparations and to move from Delhi to Meerut together but in due course of time, we are able to start our journey bit late by 5:30 PM.  Our friends hired two cabs, each carrying 6 passengers, which we believe it is not good number to travel together. Anyhow, we started our journey with full of joy and smiling faces made the journey interesting. We took the way through crowds, crossing numbers of junctions, where full of traffic jams made the journey slow. Moreover, I’m pretty sure that our driver made some blunders as I thought that he took some wrong ways.

Trust me, it is not an exaggeration, we were landed in strange place where I feel both people and the place were totally strange. It was hot, humid, dusty messy and noisy. To me the people I meet was like a Yamraj (the king of death) that we portray during our Tshechu festivals. They were government officials and I knew they were performing their duty but at the same time they were intelligent in robbing through use of wrong powers and wrong interpretations of laws. I felt immensely bitter when my two friends were kept in middle of those cops and torturing with pushing, pulling and harsh words. Our act must be unlawful, and I know the innocent of law has no excuse, but every human being have their fundamental rights. I need not have to mention the due process of law, fair trial and investigations of police because these cops did not intent to be abide by the laws and I can proudly note that they had clear intention to confiscate our drinks for their own consumptions. We had no intention of violating the laws by carrying our drinks from Delhi to Utter Pradesh but it was our personal consumption. At times, I found myself inconsolable with those people and especially with our driver but I still gave a second thought that we are in India. It was unfortunate to mention, may be by 8:30PM, our taxi was suddenly stopped by some polices with their sticks in their hands and took out our drinks that we were carrying for our celebration in Meerut. I was surprised when only two of my friends were interrogated thoroughly and we were not allowed to speak a word. However, after an hour or more of interrogations, my friends were released but our drinks worth of Nu. 8000/- had been confiscated by police.

However, we reached in Meerut by 11:00PM, and our friends were so kind enough that they were passionately waiting for us with sweet words of consoles and tea with biscuits followed by delicious welcome dinner which I felt so warmth from my inner heart for their especial treatment as they took us for walks around the premises for fresh air though my mind was poisoned and polluted by those cops on the way.

It was on 21^st September, he real Thrue-baap begins from 6:00 AM with special Thukpa served at their best in one of our friend’s house where we had an opportunity to meet with many new friends and I recognized most of my friends from Delhi were curious to introduce each other but still we began ourselves interacting among the new friends. We enjoyed playing khuru, though we lost our match. Right after the lunch there was a football tournament, which indeed is my best game made me sick for some times as I was playing football after a yearlong break.

Above all, the most interesting part of the event for me was the interaction session and cultural show performed by beautiful young budding dancers and other singers. The group dances were one of the most interesting part of the event because I felt as if we were in Bhutan celebrating the Thrue-baap with our close relatives. I would like to conclude my short note herewith my heartfelt gratitude and sincere thanks to President, Vice President and all members of Bhutan Students Association in Meerut for organizing such event and wonderful hospitality for my team from Delhi.

Tashi Delek!

Studying Law in Faculty of Law under University of Delhi, India

India, “the Bharat” officially known as Republic of India, is the seventh largest country by area, and second most populous country, and the most populous democratic country in the world. Since, its independence in 1947, India has maintained cordial relations with most of the countries in the world and Bhutan is one of the close tied friendship build prior to their independence among other countries. The capital city Delhi has developed far better compared to my first visit to India in 2007 as the capital city is all connected with metro stations and mode of transportation has became easier. The advance of telecommunications and internet facilities are cheaper but international phone calls are still same as it was used to be in 2007. 

Towards the north of Delhi, is situated a premier university of the country known as the University of Delhi and is known for its high standards in teaching and research and attracts eminent scholars to its faculties. The university was established in 1922 as a unitary, teaching and residential university by an Act of the then Central Legislative Assembly. There are more than 104 colleges in the university campus and Faculty of Law is one of the best law college in the country.

Back in Bhutan, I was working with Office of the Attorney General, Thimphu, as an Assistant Attorney after completion of my PGDNL course from Royal Institute of Management in Simtokha. As, I work in the fields of legal services and prosecution before the courts my profession demands to pursue LL.B which is mandatory as per the service rules and according to Judicial Service Act. Thus, we approached to Royal Civil Service Commission of Bhutan (RCSC) to facilitate us in terms of funding and other necessary actions on this issue.

With support from Royal Government of Bhutan and Government of India, I got an admission in one of the reputed Law College under University of Delhi, the Faculty of Law not only famous for its legal education in India but most of the SAARC countries in south Asia. In Faculty of Law, there are three different colleges; Campus Law Centre, Law centre I and Law Centre II, and each college has more than 10,000 students.
During the admission, we opted to study in Campus Law Centre, as the college is within the north Campus premises which makes easier for us as the classes normally starts from 8:30AM to 2:30 PM. In terms of infrastructure, our college comprised of only three huge buildings which accommodates for all classrooms, law library and auditorium but it has nurtured many eminent lawyers not only in India but for other Asian countries and in Bhutan most of Supreme Court Justice and High Court Justice are the alumni from this Faculty.

Every semester we have to study five subjects which in total 30 subjects, while completing three years course. Besides our syllabus, we need to participate in legal research, moot courts, legal ads, discussion forums, internships, attachments and eminent person’s lectures being held every Wednesday. Although, we don’t have to write assignments for each subjects but our examinations being centralized by University Examination Board which makes us very tough to score good marks in each subjects. The highest scoring record so far I heard was 65% marks, thus the university maintains its standards. 

Being Happy in the Modern World

The great Vajrayana Master, Guru Rinpoche said, “time does not change, but the mind concept of human beings change with the passage of time”. It is true that in this modern world human beings are always attracted by worldly materials that are created by desirable human conduct with development of scientific knowledge and research. I am pessimistic on this part, because our ultimate goal of attaining the pure bliss of happiness is not from the enjoyment of impermanent phenomenal created by materialistic human beings. This will eventually lead us to the worse situations resulting to miserable condition in our life and beyond that. There will be always happy and peace in our mind and around us, if we know the source of the ultimate happiness by virtue of being good human being. The good human being is not behaving good to other persons alone, but good human being knows, how to tackle once own life in the difficult times, one should know the concept of middle path. This includes about the balancing of our life with moral values, social duties, religious perspectives and legality in our day to day life.

When I talk on balancing of our life through moral responsibilities, it is only achieved through being taken care with existing natural science and obedient to natural rules that are not prescribed in any documents. But it does not mean there aren’t rules existed, one should obey the rules though it is un-codified in nature and it is duty bound to human beings to uphold the natural existence of this law for the purpose of attaining the happiness. The system of knowing the values and moral principles are concerning between good and bad behavior, right and wrong in the human conduct is defined in English Oxford Dictionary, (2011) 12^th edition, Oxford University Press. So, through the correction of moral attitude by means of being morally responsible person in the society is one of major source for happiness.

It is evident from some of the developed countries in Europe and Middle East that they agreed upon the moral values respect the moral responsibilities but not able to settle socially while it ultimately results into chaos in the society some times. The codified laws, un-codified laws, rules and regulations and other means of governing the human conduct in the country has to be socially accepted and uphold by moral responsible will contribute to the ultimate source of happiness. It is important to note that the society is the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community which brings considerations of usage and custom of the community to balance these norms to achieve happiness. 

The religious concept of attaining happiness is very complex with different perceptions in   different religions of the world. In this world the great scientists have discovered particles of atom and even launched rockets in the moon and other planets, but they could not discover the human being’s mind, and this was discovered only by Lord Buddha. Lord Buddha said, “Commit not a single unwholesome action, cultivate the wealth of virtue, tame once own mind. This is the ultimate teachings of Buddha”. Thus, it has the fundamental background above all for the taming of our mind and is very important of all in order to achieve happiness in this life. Buddha’s teachings are all about the enlightenment of beings by elimination of earthly desires and of the idea of the self. The materialistic mind develops when strong perception of “I” increases, than followed by mine and it leads to distractions to our mind and there wouldn’t be happiness. If a person can’t create happiness to one self, then it is impossible to create happiness of this world. In the ultimate source of Boddhichita, every sentient being has an equal right to happiness and one should think in broader sense beyond human existence in the world.

  

In the geometrical advance in science, technology and industry have brought many changes in the modern world, no matter the size of the country, can afford to lead and isolated life. The development of international and national legal systems extended from the preservation of peace to regulate the various activities in and around the world, like space expeditions, ocean floor explorations, protection of human rights, global environment and management of financial system and etc. This is indeed the legal approach through law and order to implement and uphold moral happiness, social happiness, cultural happiness and etc. to every society in the world.  

Happiness

Today, the main topic is happiness. All of us, from the smallest ant to the largest whale, in all our activities are striving for happiness. That is very clear. I will tell you about happiness based on my knowledge of Buddhism, but also from my personal experience. But I won’t be able to give you a method that you can use from tomorrow on by which you’ll be happy forever as a sort of Christmas gift.

First, I will talk about what happiness is. Happiness is a mental state, a pleasant feeling of well-being and serenity. It is a state, in which we don’t feel regret for what happened in the past and aren’t worried about future nor do we have disturbing emotions like anger or jealousy. Our mind rests in its natural state and is relaxed. We all have an experience of this. Children’s minds for example are very straightforward. When they do something wrong, they are scared of their parents and won’t relax until their parents forgive them. They will feel remorse and be very unhappy. Likewise, we are unhappy and feel regret when we make mistakes. This is a basis for unhappiness. Therefore it is important to let go of the past and in future try not to do anything that we might regret later.

Also, if we are worried and feel insecure about our future, we can’t be happy. This often results from trying to do something beyond our knowledge, education and circumstances. If we plan our actions according to our circumstances and capabilities, there is no need to worry. But many of us try to achieve something that is beyond our experience, our expertise, our means etc. Then, of course, we feel insecure whether we can reach our goals. When I teach at the monastic university and I am well prepared and I know the text well, then I teach with a lot of interest and with self-confidence. But if I haven’t prepared, naturally, I worry how the class is going to go and if I can explain correctly.

When our mind is in the present and judges on whatever it perceives like this: ‘This is good, this is bad, I like that, I don’t like that, this is my friend, this is my enemy’ etc., then all sorts of emotions like anger and jealousy can arise. This is of course problematic for the mind.

The mind is most relaxed when it doesn’t feel regret over the past, has no unrealistic hopes for the future and isn’t entangled in negative emotions at present. This is what we call happiness. We need to understand that.

But often we think it is not possible to be in such a state in our society. So what does that mean? That we will never be happy or that we have to leave our life? I say, that there is a way to be happy in the society we live in. That is my main point here.

There are two ways of dealing with difficulties. One is to distract us from them. The other is to face them, to examine them, to ask ourselves questions about these problems so that we can deal with them and eventually overcome them.

Distraction means that when we face stress or problems, we watch a movie, go for a walk, talk to friends, meditate etc. In this moment the problems really vanish, because we cover them up. But the causes of the problems haven’t been resolved, so they can easily arise again at any time. There are some methods like music therapy or yoga, where we can feel their impact quickly.Relaxing during meditationand calming the mind down in a quiet atmosphere without any distractions is just taking a rest from all the frantic activities. It is like resting after having worked out. But after resting, the mind carries on as usual and any kind of problem comes up again. So again, meditation in itself is not a direct remedy for problematic situations. We don’t face directly the problems and the causes and conditions from which they arise. What we need is a method to deal with the circumstances that cause us problems without having to hide from them. We need a method that works right at that moment.

I have discussed and exchanged experiences with a lot of psychologists, doctors and scientists during my travels and came up with some methods, which are not necessarily Buddhist, but are based on our shared human nature. They are a kind of human Dharma.

These methods are:
1) The wish to benefit others – the foundation for happiness
2) Against negativity – train in seeing the positive aspects
3) Against jealousy – train in rejoicing
4) Against anger – train in patience

1) The wish to benefit others
Some people think that benefitting others is directly contradictory to benefitting oneself, that we need to give up something for the sake of others. But that’s wrong. When we are kind towards others, we create healthy relationships, which in return are good for us, too. That is also clear when we think of our experience. Most of us have a partner. So, have a look at when the partnership is at its happiest – is it when we have each other’s well being in mind, or just our own? If we only seek our expectations being fulfilled, any relationship is difficult. When we have expectations such as “My parents should talk to me only in this way.” or “My partner should wear this kind of clothes.”, we base our relationship on certain requirements which hinder a mutually beneficial bond.

Naturally, we are always the happiest when we think of others and are mutually interested in one another. It is important, therefore, to understand how others think, but we also know that this mental attitude doesn’t easily arise by itself. Understanding needs to be cultivated. Anger, jealousy and the intention to harm others seem to arise more easily. We need to keep in mind that all beings strive for happiness and want to avert suffering. Depending on how much value we give to this basic condition, we will develop the wish to benefit others. If we understand that others are just like us, we will treat them better, have more respect, behave more altruistically, be more straightforward and honest. That is for sure. It is important not to discriminate amongst people based on their social status, culture or religion, but to view everyone as equal based on common humanity. If some peoplemake us angry or jealous, we tend to forget that they are like us in their quest for happiness and their aversion to suffering. We lose our respect for them and contemplate ways of harming them. This is clearly a painful, unhappy state of mind. Happiness is based on respect for others, being able to bond with them and maybe even regarding them as more valuable than ourselves. This is not just a Buddhist explanation. It is the nature of things. We should ask ourselves: When we regard others as being the same as us, are we able to fool them or harm them? Usually not. Another question might be: ‘Why should we care for others? Everyone has to take responsibility for their own live. My life is mine, and their life is theirs.’ The answer is that we all depend on others. No one can exist alone. Whether we want to acknowledge it or not, we all live in dependence on others. If we understand this connectedness, we get to the root of why we need the intention to benefit others.

To have a happy home, for example, depends only to a small degree on the building we live in. More important is how the family members get along. When we work, then of course we rely on computers or machines, but more important for our wellbeing it is our relationship with our co-workers. If we get treated badly, we are unhappy.. If we are considerate of others, our speech and behaviour will reflect that and others are more likely to react in the same way. Our intention to harm otherswill also reflect in our speech and behaviour andwill likewise come back to us. Having no respect or consideration for our family members and colleagueswill make it impossible to have a happy family life or work environment. No matter how much meditation we may do, how many movies we may watch and how many massages we may get, it’ll be very difficult to be happy.

Unless we want to wait for the holidays or the weekend to be happy, we need to make friends at work and in our family. Or else we may suffer five days a week and relax only on Saturday and Sunday. Thatwould be failure at life. Benefitting others is the basis for happiness. We need to be careful not to apply some sort of business-scheme, though, thinking ‘if I am kind to him, he has to reciprocate’. This is very destructive.

Now we are close to Christmas and sometimes we buy presents for someone based on what we got from them the year before. If we gave something nice the year before, but received something inferior back, we might think about buying something less nice this year. But if we give something to our partner or children out of love, we will never be calculating. We just give them something they like. Even if we don’t get something equally nice back, we will naturally feel happy and satisfied, just because they enjoy our present.

These days we often hear the phrase: “I don’t care.” Sport celebrities or actors will say that. Then we get in the habit of saying that, but if we don’t care, who will? Therefore it is important that we care for others. Saying others are not important, we lie to ourselves, because during our time at work we depend on our colleagues and at home we depend on our family. It is the nature of things that happiness can only come about through good relationships. We are fooling ourselves if we believe anything else.

2) Training ourselves in seeing the positive
Going to Rome over the weekend for a holiday one may think: ‘Oh, this is no good, they don’t do it the German way; the food isn’t good; this place isn’t beautiful’, one mayquickly perceive everything as being wrong. The entire holiday will be unpleasant. Nothing will be good enough. But trying to think in a positive manner: ‘Oh ,this is a different country with a different culture and different ways of going about things.’, the tension will immediately subside. One positive thought is more effective than an hour of meditation, going for a walk, watching a movie or any other way of distraction. We need to change our way of thinking so no matter what we perceive, it won’t trouble us.

Today everyone came here to listen to my talk. Anything else is secondary, like the condition the room is in, for example. But shortly after coming here, youe might think: ‘I’d really like to have a table in front of me and an armchair would be more comfortable.’ That’s when the problems start. I have a glass of water in front of me and you don’t, which as such is not a problem up to a moment when you might think you needed one too. Itcan get worse by thinking: ‘Why did he get two cups of water in the last hour and I got nothing?’ When we get emotional and angry, there is no end to the questions. The more questions we ask, the angrier we get. But if you turn our thoughts around and think: ‘He has to talk for so long, of course he needs some water. I am just listening and relaxing, so for me it’s not so important’, then immediately you’ll relax and startenjoying the talk again. Meditation, getting good advice, watching a movie and so on doesn’t really help if it doesn’t change our mind in a positive manner. A positive thought can solve a lot of our problems immediately. It is like pouring water on fire. That is what we need.

There is a joke of two men going to a party in their best clothes. On the way there, a bird flies over and lets some droppings fall. One man gets really angry and returns home thinking his clothes are ruined, he smells and everyone will laugh at him in this state. The other man brushes the droppings off, looks into the sky and says: “I am so happy cows can’t fly!” Then he gets to the party and has a good time.The situation is the same for both men, but one is more relaxed, sees the good side in what happened and eventuallyenjoys the party. The other one, taking the situation very serious, doesn’t get to have a good time. It’s just the small difference in the way of thinking that makes the difference.

See everything as being okay, satisfactory and so on, everything will be pleasant. If we concentrate only on flaws, on what isn’t working and so on, we will be permanently living in an unpleasant surrounding. Here is an experiment: take what you dislike most in your apartment and try to find its positive aspects. After a while we appreciate it more. Being able to do that, we can see the positive in everything.

3) Against jealousy – train in rejoicing

Jealousy is the reason for many of our problems. Here is a story: Two elderly women went to the temple. One was quite rich and could afford to offer a lot of butterlamps. The other was poor and could afford but one butterlamp, though she was happy for the other woman had the means to give so abundantly. Then, the poorer woman recited prayers very well and for a long time, whilst the other one wasn’t so good at it. The richer one was impressed by the other’s praying and thought it beautiful. When they came out of the temple, though, a thought crossed the rich woman’s mind and she returned into the temple, asking the other one to wait outside. When she got in front of the Buddha statue, she requested: “Don’t listen to nice words. Look, who offered you more butterlamps!” So as long as the two women were in the temple and rejoiced in each other’s activities, they were happy. But the moment jealousy arose in the mind of the richer woman, her happiness was gone.

What we call jealousy is a mental state of not being able to bear to witness someone else having what we want for ourselves. ‘Why does he have a better job, car or house than me?’ That is the way we think when we are jealous. If jealousy had the power to bestow upon us what we want, there might be a valid reason for feeling that way. But this is not the case. The situation is usually beyond our control. All that jealousy will achieve is our own suffering. It has no effect on another. That’s the way it is. We need to accept that. Trying to hide from someone who makes us jealous, might lead to some temporary success, but then againsomeone else comes along who makes us jealous and then someone else after them. We can’t hide from everyone forever. Jealousy towards a colleague will cause us to suffer whenever we meet him. That can be eight hours a day, every working day. So, what can we do? Give up the job and look for a new one? Is there a guarantee that we will never get jealous at the new job? We can’t always run and hide from these situations. Nor can we constantly try to compete with that colleague if the overall goal is to be happy.

But if we rejoice in the fortune of another, we neither need to quit our job nor do we need to compete constantly. Plus we will be happy and better enjoy our work. The first step is to let go of jealousy and be happy for the other. If we have worked for ten years, have given our best but haven’t been promoted to become vice-president of the company whereas our colleague got the job, we should think that he worked just as hard as we did and at least he made it. So good for him. The more we think like this, the lessjealous we will be. We need to train ourselves in these ways of thinking, to really feel happy about what others have achieved. That is actually not very difficult and can eliminate a lot of our problems. In the beginning it might feel a bit strenuous to rejoice in something that actually makes us jealous. Just keep trying. Slowly you will see the other person in better light. If he used to do ten things we couldn’t stand, suddenly we can appreciate one or two. From that point your view will develop and in the end you will be able to rejoice whole-heartedly in the other person’s actions. You will also change in your behaviour and stance towards that person. Even thoug they never actually harmed you, being jealous anything they do is upsetting. When the jealousy is gone, you will feel calmer around them.

All negative states of mind obscure the real situation, especially anger and jealousy. We can no longer clearly perceive the actual situation , and engage in misleading thoughts. For example, if someone we feel jealous of tells us that there isn’t a chair available for us, we might think he won’t give us a place to sit on purpose. We won’t even consider the reality of the situation. I have a friend who gave up her job as a TV news presenter because her colleague got involved with the boss, got promoted and eventually married him. My friend got so jealous she couldn’t bear working with the other woman anymore and quit her job. But after a couple of years, she felt sorry, because it was a good job and actually the promotion of the other hadn’t influenced it. Eventually she might also have got promoted. When she was caught up in that jealousy, though, she wasn’t able to appreciate the job that she had, the good working environment and facilities. The jealousy had overshadowed everything.

We have to train ourselves in rejoicing over what others have by appreciating their work and realize that they are just as deserving as we are. It makes no sense to think that just because we didn’t get something, no one should have it. Another way of training is to join others when they praise our object of jealousy. Even if at first the praise kindles our jealousy, we should just praise them too and slowly we can really praise them from the depth of our heart. All jealousy naturally disappears. This might look like children’s game on the surface, but if we look into it more deeply, these kinds of methods are way more effective than just meditating or trying to hide from our object of jealousy. If our mind can generate the power to see 100% faults in our enemy, even though he might only be half that flawed, that same mind could also have the power to think in the opposite way. In fact, our mind is naturally good. Just through temporary conditions it is obscured like clouds obscure the sky. It can be made more positive through some effort.

4) Against anger – train in patience

The Buddha said that anger is an agitated state of mind. The antidote to anger is patience and when we train in patience we have to think again and again about the destructive aspects of anger. Then at the moment when anger arises we can recall this and think: “Now I have to be careful or else anger will take over and this will not end well.” Sometimes the reason for our anger is valid, sometimes not. But no matter if we are right or wrong, anger will only harm us. The basis for patience is the wish to benefit others, as I mentioned in the beginning. When we think that the other person wants to be happy just like we do, we will immediately become more patient. If we don’t care about the wellbeing of others, our patience also fades.

Ten people working together means ten different ways of thinking. Even between family members there are different opinions. We need to acknowledge these differences and understand that we cannot always have our way. That is the meaning of patience. We have a saying that patience is like the ocean. There are all sorts of things in the ocean. Jewels, rubbish, fish, waves etc., the ocean can accommodate everything. The same way we need to be able to accommodate whatever comes along – good or bad. This is one of the main wisdoms for a happy life. If we can be like that, we will have a healthy kind of self-confidence. We all know what it is like to lose patience. Then, we cannot use any of our qualities. Whatever we studied, whatever we know, we can’t show it in public when we tense up.The most successful of peopleare the ones who can deal with difficulties and without taking them too seriously. Neither do they get swept away by good cirumtances. Whatever happens they stay calm and thus are able to act according to the situation using their skills.

Some of the methods I have talked about today might seem like games, but they are what we call mind training. If we train well in it, we can be happy wherever whenever. If we use these methods well in our lives, then from the moment we say ‘good morning’ to the moment we say ‘good night’ we can be relaxed and happy. The biggest enemy to our happiness is to dislike the people we live and work with, the situations we find ourselves in etc. A famous adept in Buddhist philosophy called Shantideva once said, If the whole earth was covered with thorns, there wouldn’t be enough leather to cover it in order to protect our feet; But once we cover our feet with leather, it is the same as if the earth was covered in it. In the same way we get upset by all sorts of situations and we think we need to change the whole world, then that is not possible. But if we can protect our mind, then it is the same as wrapping our feet in leather. Nothing will upset us anymore.

In this way I have presented to you some aspects of mind training, which will protect our happiness in every day life.

This talk was given in Landau, Germany on November 20th, 2012

Translated from Tibetan by Daniela Hartmann
Edited by Zuzi Griffiths

Busy for their Own Survival

Some people are going to office with luxurious life, some are busy farming in the agriculture farms, some are going to schools from primary to university levels, some are running the businesses from pan shop to shopping malls, some are working with deadly weapons, some developed the habit of killing animals, some are begging in the street, some face the trials of criminal and civil in the courts, some are enjoying with their loving partners, some are departing and some are meeting. What’s a life all about? What really made us to do all these? The questions have been answered by many writers but every time, answers are very simple that people are busy for their survival.  

My answer would be different from this, I would say that every human being is born equally and every human being has equal opportunity. But different level of human beings defers from ones immatureness of their mind and matured mind to set target for their lives. This is the realization to lead happy and standard living but it depends on one’s own mind concept. We should not feel attached to those of luxurious life because one day we have to leave all luxurious things when we face the death. Similarly, we should not feel bad with baggers in the street rather we should feel sympathy to them. And we should not feel ourselves unfortunate because there are thousand people who are suffering in the world and we should not feel ourselves superior because there are thousand people who are better than us.  

Everyone wants happiness but most of the human beings failed to identify the root cause of happiness and left in this busiest world with so many thoughts for their livings. They want to enjoy the happiness through ignorance, attachment and aversion; ignorance is equivalent to the identification of a self as being separate from everything else. It consists of the belief that there is an "I" that is not part of anything else. On this basis we think, "I am one and unique. Based on this misapprehension of the status of “I”, we are drawn into afflictive desire and hatred not knowing the real nature of phenomena. We are driven to generate desire for what we like and hatred for what we do not like. Therefore, this leads to sufferings, anxiety and dissatisfactions in our life. In the way, we are not able to accumulate the real happiness but left being busy all the time for our own survival in this world.    

In the Realm of Western Paradise in this Country

One of the great Buddhist master have said, “the copper color mountain or Zangdopelri is within the country while mountains around the country side covered with beautiful snow, while spring water from the mountains fall with its sweet voice and budding flowers in the valley blooms with smiling face where all kinds of species are found with natural gifts.” The beauty of our country is not only with natural gifts of all kinds but apart from this, we the people of Bhutan are blessed by great noble leaders.

Our, His Majesty the King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck is a keen and passionate artist and photographer with loving heart to every citizen. His Majesty likes to travel around the country to learn from different cultures, customs and to know the various problems of different sections of the people in far flung of the remote villages. The people of Bhutan, be it from small children to old age have deep respect and admirations for his compassionate, loving, caring and humbleness shown towards his people. Thus the people enjoy the fruits of harmony and peace in the country like in realm of Western Paradise.                                                               

Apart from this, one of the unique culture in our country is the Dratshang Lhentshog, lead by His Holiness the Jekhenpo, the Chief Abbot of Bhutan, whereby Buddhist teachings are uphold with all affords from fellow great masters, monks and nuns in the country. His Holiness conducted blessings and oral transmissions teachings in every Dzongkhags and conducted world peace prayers in most of the places. With the blessing from His Holiness the Jekhenpo, all people in the country are free from all struggles, violence, dangerous diseases and war.  The country is blessed with harmony and peace like realm of Western Paradise.

The natural gifts of realms may continue to existed in my country with guiding principle of Gross National Happiness and this principle may flourished all over the world for peace and harmony like in my country.