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Fourfold Happiness
By Hye Wol Sunim
Happiness is something that we generally think is hard to achieve. Though we want to be happy, it often seems that we have no idea what happiness is. Our struggle to be happy is never-ending.
The external circumstances that we expect will contribute to our happiness keep shifting. When we realize this, we lose hope and become unhappier. According to Buddha, happiness goes with moral character and a good way of life. That is the foundation upon which the wise can gradually build happiness. There is a big difference between looking happy and being happy. Most of us know how to look happy. If we need help, there are lots of things recommended to help us look happy. But we don’t need much help actually to be happy. What we need to be happy is to have and employ good intention.
The first kind of happiness that Buddha recommended is happiness of ownership. We believe that ownership can bring happiness. According to Buddha, what we should keep in mind is that there is a right a way to own things and there is a wrong way. With right effort, we should own things in a fair and just way. We often find it too slow, or too hard, to come to own things in a fair and just way. There are many fast ways - crooked, wicked ways to get rich and own things. Those ways don’t ultimately make us happy when we begin to realize how we have gotten what we have. Regrets, remorse, and guilty feelings begin to follow us, and the things we own don’t really make us happy. When we are young and strong, we may not see it. But when we are old, weak, and sick, we begin to realize that having a fair and just heart is more valuable than possessing things in the wrong way. Therefore, if we want to have happiness of ownership, we must learn to own things in a fair and just way.
The second kind of happiness is the happiness of wealth. Each person ‘s idea of wealth is different from others' ideas of wealth. The happiness of wealth is not just to look at it, or think of it, or to boast about it, but rather to put it into right use. Each one of us, regardless our amount of wealth, has some duties and obligations to fulfill. When we carry out these simple duties and obligations of our everyday life, we need to realize how important they are and how they make a difference in others' lives.
If we miss that realization, we won’t know how to enjoy our wealth. Happiness of wealth is here in this life, not after death! There is no evidence of anyone keeping his wealth for himself and taking it with him to heaven or hell. The only transaction of wealth that can happen between this world and heaven is the joy and fulfillment one can gain through using one's wealth to do right things. Happiness of wealth can open a door to heaven for the wise. Happiness of wealth is to live happily and help others live happily.
The third kind of happiness is debt lessness. Debt lessness indeed makes us happy. We all know the pain and stress of debt. The Pali word “ananasukha” means to be free from what is borrowed. This has a deeper meaning than just being free of debt. One who has both happiness of ownership and happiness of wealth is a person to some extent satisfied and content. A contented person is not looking around to find happiness. Rather than seeking pleasure from things seen, heard, felt, and thought, the experience of these can be limited to just the seeing, hearing, feeling, and thought.
We have the habit of seeking pleasure from the world - like a person who is not self-sufficient, but depends on others. One who is debt-free, in the deeper sense, has no need to look for happiness from the world.
He or she may not have a lot, but there is something in the heart that brings them happiness and a sense of fulfillment. It is like a single tree standing in the vast desert with no other trees around to be seen. This lonely tree that has endured all kinds of harsh weather and hard times seems quite attractive and strong. We immediately see the beauty of such a tree and cannot turn our eyes away from it. Though half of the tree may be dead, there is still life. All kind of animals seek occasional refuge under it. The tree shows no sign of loneliness and is not even aware of its usefulness to others.
That is how those who are debt-free look - standing alone and firm with happiness in the heart.
There is no sign of anxiety or depression in them. They are always ready to do what they can do for others. No one can deprive them of their happiness. Those who are around them may leave, circumstances around them may change, but no one can take their happiness away because it is not dependent on anyone.
The fourth kind of happiness is anavajja sukkha, the happiness of faultlessness. Happiness of faultlessness is the highest happiness.
In general, this means the happiness of good conduct, or a trouble-free life, or the happiness of morality.
At a deeper level, it also consists of correcting one’s own thoughts without falling into wrong views. Wrong views about life, and about things in the world, can repeatedly lead us to wrong actions. Therefore, it is important to closely watch our verbal, physical, and mental actions.
When the three kinds of happiness discussed above are experienced, it is natural for people feel like want to attribute it to something beyond this world, like some higher power or divinity. That is simply an unnecessary conception that undermines freedom through a proliferation of ideas, beliefs, and theories to which the mind then clings. This proliferation ties us to birth and death. Avoiding that mistake is freedom from faultlessness.To be free from all suffering, we must be free from birth and death. That is the ultimate goal of Buddhist life. That is the ultimate happiness. Before we get there, we should know how to achieve our everyday happiness which is bound to our earthly life.
