Happiness doesn't exist (kind of)

[jducoeur]

My thanks to mindways for the pointer to this fine exposition of the heart of Buddhism. While it's by no means the complete be-all and end-all, this nicely summarizes one of the most central tenets. It's very unintuitive to most folks, because it is *so* contradictory to our upbringing, but more and more I've found it to be quite correct...

Comments

[jducoeur]

I don't mind that counter-argument (and agree that word choice is always a problem with this topic), but I do to some degree disagree. There's more than just inner peace here, at least as typically understood: the joy from absence of dukkha can be quite fierce, and I think it is usually greatly underestimated.

I do understand the cases you're referring to, although honestly, I think those those examples are just a small subset of the joys of the world. But the crux of the point -- and I do think it is correct -- is that these things are not *inherently* joyful. Rather, how we relate to them has everything to do with whether we can experience happiness in them. Each of these things can be a source of happiness or a source of dukkha, depending on how we view them. Some people can not stand surprises; some get downright angry at distraction. Many find doing-for-others to be an immense burden, because of being too attached to negative feelings about those people or oneself.

In other words, I disagree with you that these things are *kinds* of happiness. I think they are potential *sources* of happiness, among the many such. But whether they actually produce happiness instead of dukkha has absolutely everything to do with how you relate to them...

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

"Some people can not stand surprises; some get downright angry at distraction."

I'm at least sometimes an example of both. perhaps something I ought to work on adjusting...

[umbran.livejournal.com]

"I suspect most Westerners take "contentment" to have weaker connotations than is intended."

"...the joy from absence of dukkha can be quite fierce, and I think it is usually greatly underestimated."

If I may, I think you might be stuck on the degree or intensity of emotion - quantitative differences, while I think we are talking about qualitative differences.

Consider to scenarios: One is just after dessert at the end of Thanksgiving dinner. The other is opening a surprise birthday gift from a loved one that happens to be the perfect thing, though you didn't even know it existed.

The first will run you pretty close to the Buddhist ideal: worldly problems are, for the moment, gone. You are sated, warm, surrounded by friends, the stress and hurry of preparing the meal and hosting duties are, for the moment, gone. This is relief from dukkha. Some would call it happiness, but contentment or serenity hit closer to the mark, in terms of the nature of the feeling at the time.

The other may also distract you from worries for the moment, but cessation of worry is not actually the real working part of the emotion there. This is closer to the word "happiness" as Americans define it, the Denis Leary sense of the word, if you will.