May 21, 2026:
True Happiness; Contemplating Non-Craving
To Read for May:

The Path of Emancipation: 

Chapter 15: Happiness Is Not an Individual Matter (Pgs. 235-240)

Additional Readings:

Awakening of the Heart: I Observe the Disappearance of Desire

The Art of Power: Getting What We Really Want

Verse 14:

Experiencing non-craving, I breathe in.

(or: I observe the disappearance of desire.)

Experiencing non-craving, I breathe out.

(or: I observe the disappearance of desire.)

Our practice sessions are open to anyone who would like to participate; there is no requirement to have attended prior sessions. 

Practice Exercises for May

1. This month, Thay invites us to consider our volition, our deepest desire. What is the driving motivation of your life, the true motivation behind your thinking, speech, and action? Spend some time reflecting and/or journaling on this. How has your volition shaped your life, or determined the choices you have made? Do you feel you have a wholesome volition, one that brings you happiness? Or does it cause you or others suffering? Has this core motivational desire changed over time? Has it been influenced by your practice mindfulness?

2. In our readings this month, Thay poses four questions:  What is true happiness? Is happiness possible? Are the elements and conditions for happiness available in the here and now? Do we need to chase after happiness in the future?  You may like to make a list of the things that you think (or have thought) are necessary for your happiness. Reflect on whether the things on that list have bourght you happiness or suffering. 

3. Alternatively, try making a list of the conditions for your happiness that already exist right now. Thay often invites us to do this to water the seeds of happiness in ourselves, to help us see we already have enough conditions to be happy and don't need to run after our obects of desire.

4. Thay tells us that the nature of the object of our desire is always changing and is on the way to dissolution, even our own bodies. Therefore, we suffer. He says that "A practitioner should observe clearly the impermanent and fading nature of all things, including the Five Aggregates (Skandhas) that comprise our own self."  We can do this by bringing the 5 Remembrances into our practice this month. You can recite the 5 Remembrances by using the text here: The Five Remembrances - Plum Village. Or you may like to practice this guided meditation with Kaira Jewel:  The 5 Remembrances 

Enjoy your practice, dear friends! 🙏

Optional Recommended Resources

• Reading

  • Appendix One: Discourses on the Full Awareness of Breathing (Pgs. 261-276)

• • Video and Song below