‘The Habit of Happiness’

     
New York University’s Global Spiritual Life will host a group of Buddhist teachers next month for an evening of interactive learning and meditation exercises. From the publicity:

The Habit of Happiness:

An Evening on Mindfulness

with the Blue Cliff Monastery

Thursday, September 10

7 to 9 p.m.

Kimmel Center for University Life

Eisner and Lubin Auditorium

60 Washington Square South

Manhattan

If you haven’t lived the best day of your life yet, says Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, chances are that you never will. We wait for happiness to come to us from external events, things, and people. We hope it will find us when we meet the right person or get the right job, but when it proves fleeting, we are often left with anxiety, depression, and despair.

Courtesy Blue Cliff Monastery

The good news is that if we can truly awaken to each moment of our daily life we can experience happiness right here and now, no matter our situation. With mindfulness, we train the mind to cultivate happiness within ourselves and we learn that our happiness and suffering are deeply connected. Embracing our suffering with the energy of mindfulness can transform the necessary “mud” of our lives into lotus flowers of happiness, at any moment.

Fifteen Dharma teachers from Thich Nhat Hanh’s monastic community, in partnership with Global Spiritual Life’s MindfulNYU, will offer an interactive evening of practice and teaching through sitting and walking meditations, a talk, and time for Q&A. This special event is part of their Miracle of Mindfulness 2015 U.S. Tour. Should you have any questions, please write here.

RSVP here.

Tour information here.

Monastery information here.


This tour includes many stops in California, Mississippi, and New York, so do click this link to see if events are near you. On Friday, September 11, the group will visit St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery for “The Music of Mindfulness: An Eclectic Concert in Celebration of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh.”