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A BUDDHIST VIEW OF HAPPINESS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2014

Matthieu Ricard
Matthieu Ricard*
Affiliation:
Shechen Monastery, Kathmandu, Nepal
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Abstract

In Buddhism, happiness is achieved when a person can perceive the true nature of reality, unmodified by the mental constructs we superimpose upon it. This authentic happiness comes from having an exceptionally healthy state of mind that underlies and suffuses all emotional states and that embraces all the joys and sorrows that come one's way. The mental states necessary for authentic happiness are not simply found or happened upon. Rather, happiness is achieved through mental training that purges the mind of afflictive emotions, such as hatred and compulsive desire, which literally poison the mind, and above all through the eradication of ignorance. This article discusses the Buddhist conception of happiness and its attainment. In particular, the article addresses the methods and practices that Buddhism employs to train the mind to achieve authentic happiness and the recent developments in contemplative neuroscience that complement and advance these methods.

Keywords

Buddhismhappinesscontemplative neurosciencemeditationcompassion
Type
SYMPOSIUM: PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS IN INTERRELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVE
Information
Journal of Law and Religion , Volume 29 , Issue 1 , February 2014 , pp. 14 - 29
Copyright
Copyright © Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University 2014 

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References

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6 Ricard, Happiness, 33.

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8 Shantideva, Way of the Bodhisattva, 127.

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13 Dalai Lama and Cutler, The Art of Happiness, 236.

14 Ricard, Happiness, 118.

15 Ricard, “Buddhist View of Happiness,” 350.

16 Ibid.

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21 Ibid, 154.

22 For more on these meetings, see Goleman, Daniel, Destructive Emotions (New York: Bantam, 2003)Google Scholar.

23 Matthieu Ricard, “Neuroscience and Meditation,” View: The Rigpa Journal (August 2009), http://www.viewmagazine.org/index.php/articles/science/102-neuroscience-and-meditation.html.

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26 Ricard, “Neuroscience and Meditation.”

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30 Ricard, Matthieu, Why Meditate?, trans. Kohn, Sherab Chödzin (Carlsbad: Hay House, 2010)Google Scholar, 14.

31 Ricard, “Neuroscience and Meditation.”

32 See further Ricard, L'Art de la Méditation.