The Art of Happiness

physical and emotional health, but it applies toone’s spiritual growth as well. Now, for instance,the Buddhist tradition includes many differenttechniques and practices. But it is very importantto be very skillful in one’s application of thevarious techniques, and not to be too extreme.One needs a balanced and skillful approach heretoo. When undertaking Buddhist practice it isimportant to have a coordinated approach,combining studying and learning with thepractices of contemplation and meditation. This isimportant so that there won’t be any imbalancesbetween academic or intellectual learning andpractical implementation. Otherwise, there is adanger that too much intellectualization will killthe more contemplative practices. But then, toomuch emphasis on practical implementationwithout study will kill the understanding. So there