Finding Joy in Your Spiritual Progress

May the blessings of the Triple Gem be with you all!

Today, through our spiritual teachings, I wish to share a vital insight for anyone developing their spiritual life: the importance of learning how to be happy with your own spiritual progress or finding joy in your spiritual progress. This is a topic I have touched on before in a different way, and I was so glad to hear from many of you that it brought great understanding, especially to those who had become disheartened with their meditation, feeling as if they were stuck in one place. Our only goal here is to help you correctly understand your own spiritual development as it unfolds.

For many, a lack of understanding arises simply because no one has explained these subtle inner workings. But when someone points the way, it becomes possible to reach a correct understanding. Once you arrive at this clarity, your spiritual journey can proceed simply and without sorrow. This previous teaching may have already sparked this realization in you.

I felt inspired to revisit this theme from a new angle, to encourage you and help you integrate these principles into your daily life. The aim is to help you practice consistently, with a renewed sense of enthusiasm. So let us explore this idea: learning to be happy right where you are.

When Meditation Becomes a Chore: Understanding Spiritual Plateaus

Let’s say you begin to develop your spirituality, perhaps by starting a meditation practice. It could be any method in the world, whether it’s a tranquility practice, known as Samatha, or an insight practice, which we call Vipassanā.

When we talk about Samatha, this includes a wide range of methods you may have heard of, such as ‘third eye‘ or ‘kundalini‘ meditations all fall under this category of developing calm and concentration. You practice diligently for some time, but eventually, you might find yourself getting tired of it. You already know some of the reasons for this, but I will add a few more.

We feel stuck in one place, we don’t see the results we hoped for, and we stagnate at the same level for a long time. As we discussed previously, you can feel like you’re treading water on the same step. These feelings naturally lead to disappointment and sadness about the stage we are in.

So, this teaching aims to answer the question: how can we be happy with the step we are on? When you start meditating, you might try with all your might, but you just don’t seem to advance to the next stage. This can be a very real and pressing question in your mind. What should we do in such moments?

The Wisdom of Patience: What Worldly Life Teaches Us About Spiritual Progress

If I were to explain it simply, the answer lies in a lesson from our worldly lives. In our day-to-day existence, we are often forced to give things time. There are situations where we simply have to be patient. In our secular lives, no matter how much we desire the next step, we sometimes have to remain balanced and accepting. This is a state of mental poise called Upekkhā, or equanimity.

You have countless life experiences that have taught you the necessity of patience what in the Buddhist path is called Khanti. There are times you just have to endure.

As I say these words, you know it’s true; in your worldly life, things did not always happen the moment you wanted them to. We don’t always get what we want right away. It might be delayed by a minute, or even a day or more. Things rarely manifest at the exact time we wish.

If this is the reality of the worldly sphere where instant gratification is rare it is just as true when we enter the spiritual world. When you start meditating, closing your eyes to develop tranquility, whether through a method we teach or one from another teacher, you begin to dream of the next stages of spiritual progress, just as you do with worldly ambitions. As I’ve explained in various teachings before, these expectations are what cause you to become discouraged with yourself and your own spirituality. Feelings of sadness, frustration, boredom, and laziness arise, and your mind may even decide to stop meditating altogether.

The Key to Unlocking Progress: Celebrate Where You Are Right Now

This is precisely why I am sharing this teaching. In our last talk, I mentioned that we must endure and give things time. But there is another crucial step: you must be happy with the place you are in right now. Imagine you’ve been meditating for a while, and you find yourself at a particular stage. A common experience for many is a feeling of pressure in the middle of the forehead, between the eyebrows. Let’s say you have been at this stage for two or three months.

Now, think back. Did you have this experience before? No. Before, you didn’t have this kind of focused concentration, this samādhi. But now you do, even if it’s been for three months. You should be happy about this. You must find joy in the step you are currently on. Only if you are happy in this way will you gain the ability to move to the next stage.

This is a point I haven’t stressed enough before. This happiness comes from comparing your present state to your past. ‘How was I before? How am I now?‘ You don’t need to look far. Think about your character traits.

How well did I keep my moral precepts (known as sīla) before? How much did I trouble, slander, or insult others? Do I still have those habits now? This is how we cultivate joy. As you mindfully work to diminish your mental defilements, or kilesas, you compare who you were to who you are now.

The state of your mind then versus the state of your mind now. ‘Before, I never felt this physical sensation of pressure in my forehead. But now I do.‘ Reflect on this. Compare what was with what is. When you do, you will be able to find a genuine, independent happiness about your own spiritual progress and see your shortcomings without judgment.

How True Joy Leads to Balance and Simplicity

You must be happy with the step you are on. ‘I have developed. My forehead tightens, and I can generate a state of concentration. This is helping me move towards the next steps. I have meditated for three months and at least come to this state.‘ You should be happy in this way. When you are happy like this, it actually helps you move to the next stages.

That very happiness makes you equanimous, bringing you to a middle path. This means you cultivate a state of Upekkhā, where there is neither excessive joy nor excessive sadness. It prevents you from becoming disillusioned with your meditation and your spiritual journey. This is what we need to understand.

When we grasp this, our mind becomes very simple. It is the simplicity the Buddha spoke of. The truth is, on our spiritual journey, we are often not simple. The Buddha taught us to be content with little, a quality known as alpecchata. But we often lack this quality in our minds. We must cultivate this ‘fewness of wishes.‘

Instead, just as we hoard goods and belongings in the worldly life, we hoard a collection of expectations and desires in the spiritual life. We think, ‘Why am I not getting to the next step? What is this nonsense? I’m sick of this.‘ You fall into this state of mind.

Therefore, remember the point I am making today. Remember the title of this reflection.

Applying Joyful Acceptance to Every Stage of Your Practice

This principle being happy where you are affects every aspect of your life: your job, your family life, your children’s problems, your relationships as a husband or wife, as a parent, your interactions with relatives, and even how you deal with society and the economy. If you truly understand this and learn to think this way, you will live happily every day.

Now, let’s take another example from meditation. After the sensation in the forehead, some people and I have said many times that not everyone does, may begin to see light signs (āloka saññā). This is often the next step. (For those who don’t experience this, I have explained in other teachings how to proceed, so I won’t repeat that here.) Let’s say a person reaches the stage of light signs and stays there for two or three months, stagnating just as before.

Here too, frustration can arise. ‘What is this? I’m not getting to the next step the teacher described!‘ But here too, you must be happy with yourself. Think: ‘Before I started meditating, did I have any light signs? I had nothing of the sort.‘ But now you do. You have meditated for months and now you have this experience of light. Be happy about that. When you are happy, you can remain in that state joyfully.

The light sign itself becomes less important in your mind. You will not have a great attachment to it, nor will you have a great aversion, anger, or sadness that it is not progressing. Why? Because you are happy with the step you are on.

Think of it like running a business. To succeed, you must be happy with the profits you are making at your current level. Only then can you develop the business further. You have to be happy with the step you have achieved through hard work. If we are unhappy, we can neither develop the business nor continue with it; we end up abandoning it midway.

The world’s wealthiest people did not give up at the first setback. They tried again and again, using their failures as motivation. This is how they reached the top. The spiritual journey is just like this. It is something where you have to get up after falling down. Setbacks and disappointments will come; that is the nature of the path. The main purpose of this teaching is to show you how to be happy with the step you are on right now.

The Ultimate Freedom: Living Fully in the Present Moment

Even if you remain at the stage of light signs for a year, be happy. Cultivate this happiness by reminding yourself, ‘At least I have a light sign now.‘ Don’t compare yourself with others. Compare yourself to your past self. ‘Before, I had no light sign at all. Now I do.‘ If you can stay at that stage for a year without falling back and without the light disappearing, while enjoying the peace that comes with it because there is surely a pleasantness in it then be happy about that.

This is a very important point. To be happy with your current step in the spiritual world means you are someone who lives in the present moment. This is crucial for mindfulness. Being content with where you are in your job, your education, your spiritual life is incredibly important. It liberates you mentally. You don’t suffer from mental pressure. No problems arise. You become simple and free.

Think about how much you suffer mentally by constantly thinking about the next step. It’s a terrible torment. Many students suffer from this in their education, as do people in their careers and financial lives. This pressure comes from comparing yourself to others. But if you instead compare your present self to your past self and learn to be happy, all those thoughts that cause mental pressure will collapse.

The thought of contentment becomes strong and powerful. As soon as this happens, you become free and experience a simple mental well-being. This happens only if you are happy with your present stage of spiritual progress.

Shedding the Weight: The Spiritual Journey as an Act of Unburdening

We speak these things from our own experience. The lesson is this: your body carries a lot of things. Which journey is more liberating? One where you are carrying heavy bags and luggage, or one where you can swing your arms freely and walk with ease? Which is more of a burden to the body? Clearly, walking simply, with free hands, is lighter and more freeing than being weighed down by bags. Think about how much lightness there is in that.

There are important points like this in life. On the spiritual journey, we need to grasp these points. The point you need to grasp is this: you must be satisfied and happy with the place, the step, you are on. You must increase that happiness again and again.

Most people begin their spiritual journey like the first example: carrying many bundles, not on their body, but in their mind. You cannot travel that way. You cannot attain liberation, or Nibbāna, that way. You cannot develop tranquility meditation that way. Whether you are practicing insight meditation, as taught by the Buddha, or a tranquility practice, you must travel light. On this journey, the bags will be shed one by one.

Eventually, to put it simply, you are left with nothing, not even clothes. It is at that point that you feel true simplicity and freedom.

Finally, you realize, ‘This body, too, is an incredible burden.‘ To understand this, you must use your own mindfulness to see through your wrong views, opinions, and misunderstandings. If you do, you will be able to shed those bundles, one by one, and move forward.

Today, we have unburdened one of those bundles: learning to be happy with your own spiritual progress. This alone will remove a great weight from you.

A Practical Blessing for Your Journey

I believe this teaching is valuable for both your worldly life and your spiritual life. I hope these words can help you in your daily existence as well. If you have faith in this principle and, more importantly, put it into practice, you will find success. This is a special characteristic of all who are genuinely developing spiritually, not the false teachers, but those with real experience. Through this, you become simple, free, and relaxed.

You become a free thinker, a peaceful person. You learn to think without limits. Believe in this, but belief alone is not enough. You must practice it. The Buddha taught contentment with what one has, and this teaching embraces that, along with simplicity and being happy with oneself. You will realize how liberating it is to be simple, as if you are floating.

I will now conclude this teaching. By the power of the Triple Gem the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha may you be able to see your current stage with clear understanding and mindfulness. May you be able to find joy in it. May you be able to move forward by repeatedly cultivating that joy. With this blessing.

We invite you to walk this path with us. Read our teachings, and most importantly, apply them practically in your own life. as you practice, questions will naturally arise. Please feel free to share your experiences and questions in the comments below, via email or contact form. I will do my best to offer guidance in future talks based on your progress. For now, begin this practice with an open heart and a mind free from expectation. Cultivate it correctly, and may you find the clarity and peace you seek.

Thank you for joining us. We hope this blog will be of great benefit to your spiritual journey.

May you all be well and happy.
May the blessings of the Triple Gem be with you all!