DLF Study Circles

The Sources of Happiness

July 1st, 2007

In his book titled The Art of Happiness, the Dalai Lama wrote that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness. For “whether one believes in religion or not, whether one believes in this religion or that religion, we are seeking something better in life —- the very motion of our life is towards happiness”. He then proceeds to show from personal life experience the sources of genuine happiness.

A critical factor for genuine happiness is the state of the mind. He demonstrates that happiness is determined more by one’s state of mind than by external events. As important as our material facilities and success may be, without the right mental attitude and attention, these things have very little or no positive impact on our long-term aspirations for genuine happiness. The mental state and mind factor have tremendous influence on our daily life experiences. Another important source of happiness is what the Dalai Lama refers to as “Inner Contentment”, which he says is “the true antidote of greed”. And one sure and reliable way towards achieving inner contentment is to “want and appreciate what we have”.

A third source of happiness as outlined in The Art of Happiness is a sense of self-worth and human dignity that comes from our relationship and bond with fellow human beings. This bond, the Dalai Lama says, “can become a source of consolation in the event that you lose everything else”.

The Dalai Lama then progresses to show the difference between happiness and pleasure. True happiness he says relates more to the heart and mind and is lasting and genuine, whereas pleasure mainly depends on the physical and is short-lived. And the Dalai Lama then says that we must learn to approach our choices with caution, bearing in mind the fact that what we are seeking is genuine happiness and not just pleasure.

In both the Ethics for the New Millennium and The Art of Happiness, we are presented with key ingredients for achieving genuine and lasting happiness. These include a compassionate heart, seeking to make others happy, acting out of concern for others, love, forgiveness and reconciliation, inner peace, training our minds towards happiness and sincerely deepening our connection to others, friendship, self-control and inner discipline and hope, among others.

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