Henepola Gunaratana is a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk who has taught graduate level courses on Buddhism at several universities in the United States, including Georgetown University, American University, and the University of Maryland, College Park. He has also written extensively on the subject of Buddhism.

The message of the Buddha is traditionally known as the Four Noble Truths. The last of these four truths sets out eight steps to happiness, which are: skillful understanding, skillful thinking, skillful speech, skillful action, skillful livelihood, skillful effort, skillful mindfulness, and skillful concentration.

Gunaratana explains in his book “Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness”, that the Buddha’s path is grounded in common sense and in careful observation of reality. The Buddha understood that if we looked carefully at our lives we would realize that the choices we make lead to either happiness or unhappiness. And once we understand this principle thoroughly, we will be able to make good choices, because we want to happy.

Gunaratana adds the following: “The basis of Buddhist morality is that acting in unskillful ways leads to unhappy results, and acting in skillful ways leads to happy results. This simple principle of cause and effect is an aspect of what Buddhists call kamma (or karma).”

Once we understand that everything we think, say, or do is a cause, which will inevitably lead to some effect, we will naturally want to think, say, and do things which will lead to positive results. At the same time, we will avoid having thoughts, saying things, and doing things that will lead to negative results. Taking this approach will allow us to focus our attention on making choices that will lead to a happier life.

In order to act wrongfully, Gunaratana adds, you have to be lying to yourself about cause and effect. That is, you would be acting against the basic truth that actions have consequences. If you train yourself to be mindful of what you do, and ask yourself whether it’s likely to lead to positive or negative results, you’ll be heading in the right direction. You’ll be heading toward happiness.

Theravada is also known as the “Teaching of the Elders.” This is the earliest surviving form of Buddhism and is commonly found in South and Southeast Asian countries such as Myanmar, Thailand and Sri Lanka.

There are a few levels of attainment for practitioners of Theravada Buddhism;

(1) Anagami (Non-Returner) – The person has eradicated a series of hindrances and would never be reborn into any worldly systems, but to a heavenly realm in which he would attain enlightenment from there.

(2) Sakadagami (Once-Returner) – The person has eradicated or weakened a series of hindrances whereby he would be reborn once again to a human or heavenly realm and would attain enlightenment from there, and

(3) Sottapanna (Stream-Returner) – whereby a person would be reborn no more than 7 times again into either the human or heavenly realm.

Apart from the Four Noble Truths, Theravada Buddhism also touched upon subjects such as karma and rebirth, interdependent origination, the three universal characteristics of existence, the five aggregates and meditation.

Meditation is a large subject within Theravada. There are two main branches of meditation practiced by Theravada Buddhists, namely the samatha and the vipassana. The most common technique is the awareness of breathing. The meditator closed off his senses to the outside world and examined inward using breathing as a calming technique.