Is being alone the ultimate happiness?

Exploring Theravāda's connections to other paths - what can we learn from other traditions, religions and philosophies?
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SarathW
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Is being alone the ultimate happiness?

Post by SarathW »

Is being alone the ultimate happiness?

I wonder whether the world (especially the West) has reached the peak of its sensual pursuits and now looking for alternatives completely in reverse.
Is it the time for the Great Reset?

“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
form
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Re: Is being alone the ultimate happiness?

Post by form »

Yes. If you reach that stage.
un8-
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Re: Is being alone the ultimate happiness?

Post by un8- »

Completely dependent on the person you're with. It's better to be alone than with a cruel or toxic person. However there are really good people in the world.
There is only one battle that could be won, and that is the battle against the 3 poisons. Any other battle is a guaranteed loss because you're going to die either way.
anagaarika
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Re: Is being alone the ultimate happiness?

Post by anagaarika »

Being alone yes, being lonely not.

Consider the Theravada cosmological model. The higher you go, the less you need other beings. The human world can be pretty cramped sometimes, you´re born into families you can´t choose, are forced to fit in society etc. In the deva realm, there is only the pleasant company of your friends/relatives and other nice beings. In the higher sensual realms, beings are more and more occupied with creations of their own mind (devas delighting in creation) or even of somenone else´s mind (devas delighting in the creation of others). In the rupa bhumi, beings are occupied mostly with their own bliss, not interacting very much with each other, let alone with the kama bhumi. And finally in the arupa plane, beings are "mind only", totally immersed in their respective arupa jhanas, not located anywhere specific, and hence pretty much incapable of any interaction whatsover. Just pure equanimity and ekagatta = samsara at the bare minimum, the best state you can reach within conditioned existence.

If you take hell realms, on the other hand, these are said to be extremely overcrowded, which is one of the sources of the profound suffering. There is this one niraya where beings are so cramped they can barely move.

Even outside Buddhist practice, I would say that investing into yourself, your own mind and interests is the best thing you can do - needing others is pain.
Alino
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Re: Is being alone the ultimate happiness?

Post by Alino »

Peace is blissfull.

But as say Ajahn Jayasaro: if you dispute with others while living I company, you will dispute with yourself when living alone.
So he suggest to train oneself to living at peace in company first, and then going training into solitude.

But yes, solitude, when choosen, is a source of great bliss.
We don't live Samsara, Samsara is living us...

"Form, feelings, perceptions, formations, consciousness - don't care about us, we don't exist for them"
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KeepCalm
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Re: Is being alone the ultimate happiness?

Post by KeepCalm »

Not being a being is the ultimate happiness...

https://accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/ ... ttata.html

A prerequisite for Awakening:

"If wanderers who are members of other sects should ask you, 'What, friend, are the prerequisites for the development of the wings to self-awakening?' you should answer, 'There is the case where a monk has admirable people as friends, companions, & colleagues. This is the first prerequisite for the development of the wings to self-awakening.'"

— AN 9.1

The whole of the holy life:

As he was sitting there, Ven. Ananda said to the Blessed One, "This is half of the holy life, lord: admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie."

"Don't say that, Ananda. Don't say that. Admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie is actually the whole of the holy life. When a monk has admirable people as friends, companions, & colleagues, he can be expected to develop & pursue the noble eightfold path.

"And how does a monk who has admirable people as friends, companions, & colleagues, develop & pursue the noble eightfold path? There is the case where a monk develops right view dependent on seclusion, dependent on dispassion, dependent on cessation, resulting in relinquishment. He develops right resolve...right speech...right action...right livelihood...right effort...right mindfulness...right concentration dependent on seclusion, dependent on dispassion, dependent on cessation, resulting in relinquishment. This is how a monk who has admirable people as friends, companions, & colleagues, develops & pursues the noble eightfold path.

"And through this line of reasoning one may know how admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie is actually the whole of the holy life: It is in dependence on me as an admirable friend that beings subject to birth have gained release from birth, that beings subject to aging have gained release from aging, that beings subject to death have gained release from death, that beings subject to sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair have gained release from sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair. It is through this line of reasoning that one may know how having admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie is actually the whole of the holy life."

— SN 45.2
pegembara
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Re: Is being alone the ultimate happiness?

Post by pegembara »

“Bhikkhus, dwell with yourselves as an island, with yourselves as a refuge, with no other refuge; with the Dhamma as an island, with the Dhamma as a refuge, with no other refuge. When you dwell with yourselves as an island, with yourselves as a refuge, with no other refuge; with the Dhamma as an island, with the Dhamma as a refuge, with no other refuge

“When one has understood the impermanence of feeling … of perception … of volitional formations … of consciousness, its change, fading away, and cessation, and when one sees as it really is with correct wisdom thus: ‘In the past and also now all consciousness is impermanent, suffering, and subject to change,’ then sorrow, lamentation, pain, displeasure, and despair are abandoned. With their abandonment, one does not become agitated. Being unagitated, one dwells happily. A bhikkhu who dwells happily is said to be quenched in that respect.”

https://suttacentral.net/sn22.43/en/bodhi
Quite different from the saying that "no man is an island".
And what is right speech? Abstaining from lying, from divisive speech, from abusive speech, & from idle chatter: This is called right speech.
pegembara
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Re: Is being alone the ultimate happiness?

Post by pegembara »

Being truly alone is quite different from being "alone with your thoughts" or lonely.
"This is peace, this is exquisite — the resolution of all fabrications, the relinquishment of all acquisitions, the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; Nibbana."
And what is right speech? Abstaining from lying, from divisive speech, from abusive speech, & from idle chatter: This is called right speech.
SarathW
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Re: Is being alone the ultimate happiness?

Post by SarathW »

Alino wrote: Wed Oct 13, 2021 4:46 pm Peace is blissfull.

But as say Ajahn Jayasaro: if you dispute with others while living I company, you will dispute with yourself when living alone.
So he suggest to train oneself to living at peace in company first, and then going training into solitude.

But yes, solitude, when choosen, is a source of great bliss.
Goo point.
Perhaps what Buddha meant from solitude does not mean living alone.
You can be with someone still can being alone.
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
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Dhamma Chameleon
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Re: Is being alone the ultimate happiness?

Post by Dhamma Chameleon »

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak ... .than.html
I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was living among the Sakyans. Now there is a Sakyan town named Sakkara. There Ven. Ananda went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to the Blessed One, sat to one side. As he was sitting there, Ven. Ananda said to the Blessed One, "This is half of the holy life, lord: admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie."[1]

"Don't say that, Ananda. Don't say that. Admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie is actually the whole of the holy life. When a monk has admirable people as friends, companions, & comrades, he can be expected to develop & pursue the noble eightfold path.
...
Bundokji
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Re: Is being alone the ultimate happiness?

Post by Bundokji »

"Lord, alone I enter the village for alms, alone I return, alone I sit withdrawn [in meditation], alone I do walking meditation. That is how I live alone and extol the virtues of living alone."

"There is that way of living alone, Elder. I don't say that there isn't. Still, listen well to how your living alone is perfected in its details, and pay close attention. I will speak."

"As you say, lord," Ven. Elder responded.

The Blessed One said: "And how is living alone perfected in its details? There is the case where whatever is past is abandoned, whatever is future is relinquished, and any passion & desire with regard to states of being attained in the present is well subdued.[2] That is how living alone is perfected in its details."

That is what the Blessed One said. Having said it, the One Well-gone further said this:

"All-conquering,
all-knowing, intelligent;
with regard to all things,
unadhering;
all-abandoning,
released in the ending of craving:
him I call
a man who lives
alone."
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak ... .than.html
And the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus, saying: "Behold now, bhikkhus, I exhort you: All compounded things are subject to vanish. Strive with earnestness!"

This was the last word of the Tathagata.
ryanaxel1177
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Re: Is being alone the ultimate happiness?

Post by ryanaxel1177 »

Thank you for the great info..
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