Are Tibetan monks training their brains and their surroundings to produce a prolonged or constant positive state?
The positive psychology movement in some senses is a brain training for prolonged positive feelings.
The positive psychology movement in some senses is a brain training for prolonged positive feelings.
I think happiness is a state the brain produces to reward itself for good outcomes in life decisions. The fact that it is only of limited time and intensity has its (evolutionary) reasons -- they are not the worst of all reasons.
Like with depression as chronic sadness and fatigue, chronic happiness is not something we are capable of handling long-term if we want to optimize outcomes for ourselves and others.
(read stories about that actually happened in reality. Basically a form of madness/strategy of the brain to deal with a situation it seems impossible to solve)
In any case that seems like a separate emotion than "happy"... "traumatized" seems more like it.
I'm not sure what a constant state of "happiness" is because I certainly don't consider it en emotion in and of itself, (I consider it contentment, or perhaps euphoria on an occasion, or perhaps lack of suffering), so I'm not sure the concept of "chronic happiness" even makes sense vs the very real physiological effects of chronic stress on the body and mind.
Suffering is only informative as a signal. You have to parse it out and identify the source yourself in order to translate it into effective motivation. This same process is likely necessary to achieve the "happiness" in the first place.
Optimizing outcomes will likely be easier if you're able to focus on the task at hand with a clear mind, or you're able to address background stress, and will let you know if your stress is pushing you in the wrong direction (say, towards a career, but because of social pressure and not your own volition).
That's why Morality (Śila) is one of the pillars of Buddhist training. Tibetan monks are taught to cultivate compassion for others at the same time as they are trained in meditation. At least that's the theory, not sure how well it works out in real life.
And also less joy.
Yes, significantly better. Firstly, the state of just being is much lighter, not dependent on the memory and understanding of the world it takes to be cognitively happy; it is child-like. Secondly, this silent state is aware that it is self-contained, free from external circumstances, and revels in it; it is not wrong to say it is full of energy and power from self-sufficiency. Thirdly, there is awareness that there is no effort involved in being silent and happy, that no work needs to be done, and that brings a 2nd-order joy, too.
I'm new to this state, though; I just entered into silence for the first time around 6 months ago. It immediately makes me a bit excited when all thought subsides and the silence descends onto me, and that just results in the thoughts coming back :-)
It should be easy and effortless once you get the knack of it; you should be able to suspend all thought and enter silence on-demand. "Observe your breath", etc; are things that naturally occur AFTER one becomes silent (the intensity of the silence causes you to be attentive to each little movement in the here and now with new eyes). It seems to me that common meditation practice has this in the reverse order and unfortunately, I am not sure that mere imitation is going to help. Instead, abandon all postures and practices except one: the question "Who am I?". Please let me know if you have any further questions.
1. Self Inquiry Practice - Ramana Maharshi - Audiobook - Spoken by lomakayu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymvj01q44o0
2. I AM THAT excerpts pages 236 to 250: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VxOFa0GE9Y
3. I am only the Self: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzd0txiRN2E