Happiness

EVERY ONE OF US WANTS HAPPINESS, and not only in each moment of our daily life: we want an unchanging, ultimate happiness that can be experienced forever.

Every one of us is trying to stop our problems and find peace. No matter where we live, what race or culture we belong to, what religion or philosophy we follow, or what language we speak, we all wish to be happy and not have problems. Truly every living being has the basic wish to experience happiness and avoid suffering.

But so often, our attempts to find happiness end up only causing more pain.

We need to understand the full potential of our mind, and we need to understand the 2 importance of loving-kindness for our own happiness and for the happiness of the world. We need to learn how to transform our daily work so that it becomes the cause of happiness rather than problems, now and in the future. And we need to learn how to transform every single experience—health and sickness, wealth and poverty, living and dying—into happiness. Meditation is the most powerful tool we can employ to do this. Through the power of meditation, we can find lasting peace and happiness and, more importantly, we can bring peace and happiness to others.

Cultivate the thought that everyone you meet—in all circumstances—is fulfilling all your wishes.

This is the gate to true happiness.

The sun of real happiness shines in your life only when you start to cherish others.

PROBLEMS AND THE ABSENCE of problems do not come from outside. Problems and the absence of problems, as well as all peace and all happiness, only come from your own mind. Your mind has the potential to stop the problems that come from your mind. And yet the same mind that brings the problem doesn’t stop the problem, but another mind—another thought, another attitude—can stop all problems and bring peace and happiness.

The mind of a buddha or some holy being can’t be transplanted into you.
Peace, happiness, and satisfaction have to come from your own mind. 4

AS LONG AS WE BELIEVE that happiness has to come from outside, from other people or from the external environment, we will always blame something outside whenever we have a problem. Many people, for example, think that their problems come from their parents. They say, “I’m like this because of my mother and father. My parents are to blame.” In a way, Western culture as a whole teaches children to blame their parents for their problems, rather than emphasizing how kind parents are in giving life to their children. But real happiness has nothing to do with the past, with our history, or our upbringing. Real happiness comes when we free ourselves from the dissatisfied mind of desire. Satisfaction comes when we give ourselves freedom from the always unhappy mind of desire.