conception of happiness is fatally flawed. The second section makes a case for the
renunciation of desire and explains why it is, at least from a Buddhist standpoint,
that we would be better off as renunciants. In the third section, I explore the
relationship between happiness and the good life. Although the two notions are
not always distinguished, the concept of happiness can be treated as a
psychological concept rather than as a normative one. This allows us to ask
whether happiness is all that matters in life, and even whether happiness is
essential to living a good life. In the fourth and final section, I suggest that
Buddhism conceives of happiness as psychological health and that, so understood,
happiness is foundational to living a good life.
1. Why Life is Suffering
The Buddha famously taught that life is suffering, and he located the source of
this in desire, thirst, or craving. The happiness we seek is unattainable because our
thirsts are unquenchable. This implies that we would be happy if only our desires
were fulfilled. Happiness, then, is a state of fulfillment or “desirelessness,” a state
completely free from dissatisfaction or want. But, having said this, it is clear that
the Buddha’s message is not that happiness is to be achieved by fulfilling our
desires, but that we suffer because we mistakenly conceive of happiness in this
way. It is because we seek happiness in the fulfillment of desire that happiness is
unattainable. Why is this?
First, the stream of desires is endless. No sooner is one desire satisfied than
another one takes its place—a sad phenomenon sometimes called the
“satisfaction treadmill.”1
Never content with the present moment, we seek
happiness in the future, in the satisfaction of some new desire. As any beginning
meditator knows, dissatisfaction and restlessness gnaw on us constantly. The
untamed mind is never free from the grip of desire, not even for a moment. If to
be happy is to satisfy all of our desires, and if the stream of desires is endless,
then lasting happiness is unattainable. Some new desire, some unsatisfied want,
always appears to disrupt whatever satisfaction we might experience.
Second, desire often assumes the form of grasping or attachment. To a large
extent, we seek happiness in our possessions. We covet material things, of course,
but also pleasure, health, knowledge, status, praise, and recognition. We are