Any sensible person will say they want happiness. But what is happiness? Most people only understand happiness in terms of the material things that give them pleasure, some kind of thrill or excitement. That is considered happiness.
From childhood, we try various means to get happiness. Ask yourself what gave you happiness when you were five years old? Some toys to play with? But ten years later, by age fifteen those toys have been put aside and you were looking for other things. Then, another ten years on, at twenty five years old – again, you will be looking for something else.
This is how people go on looking and looking for something – Something to give them happiness. But the real happiness is not found in all these material things outside, in the happiness experienced through our sense: eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body. There is another kind of happiness which does not depend on material things: peace and blissful contentment in our hearts. This happiness is found through the cultivation of the spiritual path. To Buddhists, the real happiness is the ultimate bliss of Nibbana. Nibbana paramam sukham – ‘Nibbana is the highest bliss’.
As long as we have not reached that ultimate goal, we will always be looking for something. And whenever we get something, we will find that it is unsatisfactory. When we start to realize the unsatisfactory nature of life, our priorities in life will change. Our quest for peace and happiness will direct us onto the path to realize the ultimate goal.
Venerable Mahinda
Edited and revised transcription of a Dhamma talk on The Purpose of Life given by Bhante Mahinda in Singapore in 2005.
No comments:
Post a Comment