The Secrets to Happiness

Posted in Buddhism by amituofo on March 28, 2008

Recently I read an article on the keys to ‘Happiness’ that I would like to share with you.

Happiness is so elusive a goal to many of us that we keep searching for the answers when they are just right within us waiting to be unlocked.

unhappiness is a default condition because it takes less effort to be unhappy than to be happy - S. Freud

According to Sonja Lyubomirsky of the University of California at Riverside, the road toward a more satisfying and meaningful life involves a simple recipe that we often overlook or ignore in our everyday life.

1. Make lists of things for which you’re grateful for in your life,
2. Practice random acts of kindness,
3. Forgive your enemies,
4. Notice life’s small pleasures,
5. Take care of your health,
6. Practice positive thinking,
7. And invest time and energy into friendships and family.

If I were to add, the list should include

1. Embrace a religion or belief
2. And ‘Learning the philosophy of “Buddhism”‘.

It is through the right understanding of the teachings of Buddha, we can find the true and lasting happiness.

As Master Chin Kung once said,

Buddhism is a special kind of knowledge. It provides the greatest enjoyment for humankind.

Yes, no doubt money could buy happiness and lots of conveniences that lead to the state of happiness but such happiness is impermanent and self-centered. When the initial state of happiness subsides, we fall into the same trap of - in simple term “wanting more.”

We are concerned day and night for our individual personal needs thinking that our happiness lies in gratifying those needs. In actuality, the more self-centered we are, the less happy we become. On the other hand, if we forgo our self-concerned for happiness and provides happiness to others, that’s the actual experience of happiness defined in Buddhism.

Just like a Bodhisattva who is more concerned about the liberation of all sentient beings and forgo his own liberation. Being able to forgo his own liberation is itself his liberation.

So the next time you are searching for happiness, in the spirit of Bodhisattva, may I suggest that you go to a live market and buy those waiting-to-be-slaughtered animals such as fish, frogs or turtles and release them in their natural environment and imagine if you were one of them.

That’s true happiness.

Read more articles tag with Buddhism, happiness, philosophy.