Quotes About Happiness

The purpose of Buddhism is not to convert people. It is to give them tools so they can create greater happiness. So they can be happier Catholics, happier atheists, happier Buddhists.

It is the wonderful paradox," he continued, "that the best way to achieve happiness for oneself is to give happiness to others.

The purpose of Buddhism is not to convert people. It is to give them tools so they can create greater happiness. So they can be happier Catholics, happier atheists, happier Buddhists. There are many practices . . .

It was the ruling King of Bhutan himself who, in the 1980s, set up a system that measured national advancement according to Gross National Happiness rather than Gross Domestic Product.

Be wisely selfish, little Snow Lion. Gain happiness for yourself by giving it to others.

also reflected on His Holiness's advice about how to deal with problems in life. They are never asked for, but how we deal with them defines our future happiness or unhappiness.

When we think of other beings with compassion, this makes us happiest. When we consider how to help others avoid suffering and give them contentment, we, ourselves, are the first to benefit.

Enduring happiness was only possible with equanimity. As long as our happiness depended on circumstances, it would be as fleeting and unreliable as the events themselves.

If pleasure is a circumstantial enjoyment, happiness refers to a deeper sense of fulfilment not dependent on circumstance, and which is usually accompanied by qualities such as peacefulness, purposefulness and benevolence. Unlike pleasure, which requires situations to be constantly renewed or upgraded, happiness is a state of mind that grows the more we experience it.

aim at success,'" he read. "'The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue … as the unintended side effect of one's dedication to a course greater than oneself.

Two main true causes of happiness: first, the wish to give happiness to others, which Buddhists define as love, and second, the wish to help free others from dissatisfaction or suffering, which we define as compassion.

it is not so much the circumstances of our lives that make us happy or unhappy but the way we see them.

The researchers summarized: "A human mind is a wandering mind, and a wandering mind is an unhappy mind. The ability to think about what is not happening is a cognitive achievement that comes at an emotional cost.". Long ago, Buddhists reached much the same conclusion.

We don't stop thinking about ourselves the whole time. Even when this makes us unhappy and uptight. If we focus too much on ourselves, we make ourselves sick. We have this constant inner chatter going morning, noon, and night, this inner monologue. But paradoxically, the more we are able to think about making other beings happy, the happier we become ourselves

Impermanence. It is the nature of all things, especially relationships. They are certainly not a true cause of happiness.

The Holy Secret is this: If you wish to end your suffering, seek to end the suffering of others. If you wish for happiness, seek the happiness of others. Exchanging thoughts of self for thoughts of others—this is the most effective way to be happy.

I sometimes think the past is a dangerous place to go looking for happiness," said the Indian man sitting next to Serena.

Enlightened beings cannot take away your suffering or give you happiness. If they could do this, wouldn't they have done so already?

Of course, we cannot genuinely accept others and wish for their happiness if we don't first accept ourselves.

If you help people lead more positive lives that benefit others as well as themselves, this is a good thing. Very good thing. The danger is that self-development can lead us to more self-cherishing, self-absorption, self-infatuation. And these are not true causes of happiness but the opposite.

instantly understood in that moment, however, was that the version of the beings we saw in the world around us was as much a reflection of our own mind, as it was of them. And that the more our mind was filled with thoughts of self and our own needs and wishes, the less space and compassion there was for others—and the less happy we would be.

May all beings have happiness and the true causes of happiness; May all beings be free from suffering and the true causes of suffering; May all beings never be parted from the happiness that is without suffering, the great joy of nirvana, liberation; May all beings abide in peace and equanimity, their minds free from attachment and aversion, and free from indifference.

The here and now. What contentment it held! Why spoil it by thinking?

For all of us with consciousness"—the Dalai Lama returned to his seat—"our life is very precious. Therefore, we need to protect all sentient beings very much. Also, we must recognize that we share the same two basic wishes: the wish to enjoy happiness and the wish to avoid suffering.