THE SNOW LION BUDDHIST NEWS & CATALOG

DM: [laughs] That's a bit like asking, Are you enlightened? I wouldn't for one moment claim that I'm entirely mindful of all my actions of body, speech, and mind 24/7; however, I have more mindfulness than when I started—it would be worrying if I didn't, because I have been practicing for years. The important thing, though, is that even a minor shift can make a huge difference. By making a small change—even doing ten minutes of meditation or just remembering every time we have a cup of coffee—we can achieve quite a radical change in our general state of well-being and happiness.

CC: There's a lot of interest these days in the components of happiness.

DM: The Dalai Lama always talks about happiness—it's a very good starting point.

CC: What, in your view, does it take to be happy?

DM: It's a rearrangement of the internal rather than a rearrangement of the external. Let's take a step back. One of our key problems is that we don't ordinarily make a distinction between pleasure and happiness. Pleasure is something created by external circumstances—going to restaurants or driving a new car. In the West we tend to think that pleasure equals happiness. We chase things that cannot possibly deliver happiness but can only deliver pleasure, believing that they are one and same thing. It's the fundamental failing. Happiness, however, is cultivated at an inner level.

CC: But what is it?

DM: It's a shift in one's understanding about the nature of reality. It's a rearranging of our interpretation of the happenings of our world. Far from requiring constant upgrade to continue, happiness grows naturally and becomes stronger and stronger the more you practice it.

CC: You yourself have had most of what you're defining as pleasure—the big bucks, glitzy lifestyle, and high-level job. What occasioned your transformation into a practicing Buddhist? Not that the two things are mutually exclusive, naturally.

DM: That's part of the point of the book, of course. I set out to write a very accessible book for those of us living high intensity, high stress lifestyles—and that's most of us, Buddhist or not. I'm still very active in the world of financial public relations.

For me it was a question of not finding that world enough. The catalyst of change was developing a persistent physical condition. It's often the case, isn't it, that we have to reach a crisis point before we break through to the next level? My naturopath said, "Look, you're very stressed; you have to start meditating." It changed everything. Learning how to meditate, I was struck by the parallels between Buddhism and Cognitive Behavior Therapy.

CC: In the sense that one cannot always change circumstances, but one can transform oneself and thus one's reactions to those circumstances?

DM: Understanding that instead of changing a thing you could just change your attitude was something of a revelation for me. It's a simple point but a profound one. Of course CBT only takes you so far; Buddhism takes you much further.

CC: Are people in your professional world receptive to these ideas?

DM: Very much so. When HH the Dalai Lama came to Australia last year, I was involved in organizing a corporate lunch fund-raiser. We were blown away by the immediacy of the response. People from all over the corporate world—executives involved with iron, gold, and nickel mining, for example—clamored to buy tables for the event. It was magical, an amazing experience that will certainly stay with them for the rest of their lives—tears came to people's eyes. And I'm often asked about meditation's benefits and so on.

CC: I've seen ostensibly hard-boiled detectives—assigned on only one occasion to the Dalai Lama's security detail—tear up, even years later, at the mere mention of His Holiness.

DM: In my darkest dharma moments when I think I'm not getting anywhere I just remind myself, "Well, the process does work if the end result is the Dalai Lama." One of the things I like about Buddhism is that you can meet people, such as His Holiness and others, who are the embodiments of what happens when you do it well enough. You can see that it really works.

CC: What would be the most dramatic shifts you've seen in people who have followed some of the suggestions in your book?

DM: One thing I'm always amazed by is the way people will transform their lives in ways you never could have imagined. People have told me about the huge impact on their lives of the simple practices of mindful awareness, for example.

CC: You're offering a kind of meditation-in-action for busy people who may not have time to sit extensively.

DM: Yes, that's absolutely the point. In these times we're called upon to creatively integrate dharma teachings into ordinary Western life. Even at that level it can be very transformative. The Dalai Lama often quotes that line about when we come to the island of jewels we must be sure not to leave it empty-handed. It's a great phrase to remember on a daily basis.

More about the book . . .

What does it take to be happy? We've all asked ourselves this question at some point, but few of us have found the path to lasting fulfillment.

More about the author . . .

David Michie is a corporate communications consultant, published novelist, and Buddhist practitioner. He lives in Perth, Australia.

Books by David Michie

• Buddhism for Bush People: Finding Happiness in an Uncertain World
• Hurry Up and Meditate: Your Starter Kit for Inner Peace and Better Health (Sept. 2008)