Some writers distinguish between two senses of “happiness.”7
In one sense,to describe someone as happy is to make a value judgment; it is to say that that
person has a good life, a valuable life, a life worth living. This is the sense in
which “happiness” is often understood by philosophers. But in another sense,
“happiness” refers to a psychological state (one that is roughly the opposite of
depression). This is the sense in which “happiness” is understood by
psychologists; and it is, I believe, the sense in which the term (or the Pāli
equivalent, sukha) was understood by the Buddha. In this sense, to describe
someone as happy is not to make a value judgment about that person or about that
person’s life (no more than to describe someone as depressed is to make a value
judgment). Using the term “happiness” in this second, value-neutral sense, what
exactly is happiness? How is related to the good life?