Think about Happiness
November 22, 2023

Close your eyes. Think thoughts of goodwill. Goodwill is a wish for happiness. And it’s good to stop and think every now and then: What is happiness and how is it found? The Buddha once said, “There is no happiness other than peace.” And of course he’s talking about peace in the mind. If we had to wait for peace in the world outside there would never be happy. But we can create a peaceful state inside the mind.

What he says reminds us, also, that happiness comes from our own actions. This is an important principle. All too many people think that happiness comes from outside—from arranging things outside to be a certain way. But here again, the Buddha said the source of our suffering is inside, but the source of our happiness is inside as well.

This is why we meditate, because we have to develop good qualities in the mind—qualities like mindfulness, concentration, discernment—a willingness to look at the ways we were looking for happiness in the past and see where they’ve been lacking. And also to see where they’ve been harmful to others. After all, when we think about happiness, we want happiness that lasts. And a happiness that lasts has to be a happiness that doesn’t depend on harming anybody. If other people are harmed by our quest for happiness, they’re not going to stand for it.

So we think of having goodwill for ourselves—it keeps pointing us back inside. We’ve got to train our minds to find a state of peace and do whatever is needed to find that state of peace, as long as it doesn’t harm anybody. It doesn’t harm us; it doesn’t harm other people. This way your quest for happiness is not a selfish thing, and it doesn’t interfere with anyone else’s quest for happiness. You’re being responsible in how you look for happiness.

So when you’re meditating, it’s not the case that you’re just running away to save yourself and let everybody else go. Your quest for happiness has to be one that’s totally independent. It can’t depend on things outside, because things outside are going to change. And it can’t depend on harming anyone.

So focus in here. It’s like having a well that gives water all the time, even in the dry season. There are wells at various places around the world that even when there’s a long-term drought, they still give water. That shows that they don’t have to depend on the rainfall. They have a deeper source. In the same way, you want to develop a deeper source for your own happiness that doesn’t depend on the goodness of other people. Sometimes the goodness of other people is very small.

The Buddha gives an image of a person who’s only a little bit good. You still have to think about that person’s goodness if you want to treat that person well. It’s like a piece of cloth that’s partly dirty. Back in those days, monks would search for scraps of cloth to make their robes. If a piece of cloth was partly dirty, but partly clean, they would take just the clean part, even if it was just small. They’d rip the other part with their foot and leave it. In the same way, you have to think about the goodness of other people as a way of nourishing your intention to be good to them, too. Even if there’s just a little bit of goodness in them, honor that. That way you learn how to honor your own goodness.

So when you think thoughts of goodwill, it’s good to think about: What does it mean to have goodwill for yourself? What does it mean to have goodwill for others? You’re not just wishing that people be happy, happy, happy, doing whatever they’re doing—killing other people, stealing, whatever. If people are killing other people, your wish is: “May they stop.” If they’re looking for their happiness through stealing, through corruption: “May they stop.”

And you know that some people will stop, and some people won’t. But your wish is for your own sake, basically, so that when you’re dealing with other people, you have a good idea what kinds of things you want to say, what kinds of things you want to do that will be skillful, will be helpful.

So it’s good to think about happiness seriously. Here we are, looking for happiness throughout our lives, yet we don’t stop to take stock of what is genuine happiness. We see other people doing things and we think, “They must know what they’re doing,” and we follow suit. But as the Buddha said, if a blind person is leading the way, and you follow the blind person, the blind person is leading you even if you have good eyes.

So use your eyes. Look around. What kind of happiness really would be satisfactory? Then turn around and look inside to see if you can develop your mind so that you can provide that happiness, that peace, that you need inside.