Buddhism Happiness Quotes & Sayings

Don't be discouraged. At times the path to truth is circuitous. The point is not to succeed, only to smile eternally. — Frederick Lenz

Some nonreligious people are disgruntled by the word "faith," feeling that it has no connection to them. But we all have faith. Broadly speaking, "faith" does not apply only to belief in the supernatural. We have faith in our life, for example, believing we will live to see tomorrow, or in our health, believing we have years of healthy life ahead of us. Husbands and wives, parents and children have faith in one another. — Kentetsu Takamori

Life is painful. It has thorns, like the stem of a rose. Culture and art are the roses that bloom on the stem. The flower is yourself, your humanity. Art is the liberation of the humanity inside yourself. — Daisaku Ikeda

Now, Kalamas, don't go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, 'This contemplative is our teacher.' When you know for yourselves that, 'These qualities are skillful; these qualities are blameless; these qualities are praised by the wise; these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to welfare & to happiness' - then you should enter & remain in them.

[Kalama Sutta, AN 3.65] — Gautama Buddha

I do not think about converting others to Buddhism or merely furthering the Buddhist cause. Instead, I try to think of how I as a Buddhist can contribute to the happiness of all living beings. — Dalai Lama XIV

We just have to remind ourselves that the source of any happiness is mind itself. — Ole Nydahl

Leave behind the passive dreaming of a rose-tinted future. The energy of happiness exists in living today with roots sunk firmly in reality's soil. — Daisaku Ikeda

Whether our action is wholesome or unwholesome depends on whether that action or deed arises from a disciplined or undisciplined state of mind. It is felt that a disciplined mind leads to happiness and an undisciplined mind leads to suffering, and in fact it is said that bringing about discipline within one's mind is the essence of the Buddha's teaching. — Dalai Lama XIV

It took me forty years of dealing with buddhism to finally realize that actually Buddha's discovery was happiness and bliss. — Robert Thurman

Happiness is warm puppy. In other words, happiness is the things around you. Just to see that puppy is to be happy. You don't have to do anything; you don't have to add anything. — Frederick Lenz

The institutions of human society treat us as parts of a machine. They assign us ranks and place considerable pressure upon us to fulfill defined roles. We need something to help us restore our lost and distorted humanity. Each of us has feelings that have been suppressed and have built up inside. There is a voiceless cry resting in the depths of our souls, waiting for expression. Art gives the soul's feelings voice and form. — Daisaku Ikeda

When you experience the light, voila, you're happy. The very nature of the light is happiness. You don't have to do anything or be anybody special. — Frederick Lenz

Occupy yourself with what's in your life now. Address those situations and subjects as fully as possible with your best efforts. That is what produces happiness and clarity and knowledge and power. — Frederick Lenz

Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything - anger, anxiety, or possessions - we cannot be free. — Thich Nhat Hanh

Without discursive thought it is just dharma practice. Hope together with aim obscures. One does not cut through pride by meditatively cultivating the desire for happiness. If there is hope, even the hope for buddhas, it is a negative force. If there is apprehension, even apprehension about hells, it is a negative force. — Machik Labdron

Very few people are happy in this world. Most are miserable. Even in their so-called happiness, they are unhappy; it is so short of ecstasy, of god-consciousness; it's almost pitiful. — Frederick Lenz

Put a smile on your face. Don't sit in the waiting room of life. Go do something, happily. — Frederick Lenz

You have to be courageous in life to allow a lightness to engage your being. It is easy to be a jerk. To be unhappy with all this weird stuff around us just seems to me to be such a waste. That's a jerk. — Frederick Lenz

If you can bring earnestness to your meditation, you will find that happiness is something that will run through your life constantly. — Frederick Lenz

In Zen Buddhism an action is considered good when it brings happiness and well-being to oneself and others, evil when it brings suffering and harm to oneself and others. — Thich Thien-An

The worst thing you can do is to sit and brood and feel sorry for yourself. Nor should you feel wrong about doing this, since all of us do from time to time. — Frederick Lenz

Most successful people find out that the attainment of their goals doesn't necessarily bring them the happiness and joy they assumed; their happiness is short-lived. — Frederick Lenz

The top of the band would be happiness, contentment and peace of mind. — Frederick Lenz

What creates happiness, peace, and balance is not becoming simply powerful, but knowledgeable. — Frederick Lenz

Well Buddhism, 'shmoodism', I didn't go to India looking for Buddhism. I was looking for truth, or God, or a better way of life or happiness, fulfillment, meaning, purpose. And a way to become peace in the world and not just fight for peace, as we had in the 60's. — Surya Das

To become balanced, meditate on the heart center in the center of the chest. There you will experience happiness, refinement, sensitivity, beauty, laughter. — Frederick Lenz

Look for the things in your life that bring you stillness and happiness, not the things that make you crazy. Look inside yourself and look for that perfect stillness. — Frederick Lenz

Sometimes it is hard to see in life. If the fog rolls in we can't see anything. Most people get caught up in life that they forget the purpose of life is to be happy. — Frederick Lenz

Actively, we are motivated by the never-ending desires of the self. We are compelled to pursue whatever the self imagines will satisfy its desires. We are convinced that satisfaction of desire is the source of true happiness.
Yet the very nature of desire does not permit happiness. Like trying to quench one's thirst by drinking salt water, satisfying desire only stimulates the flow of desire. In the wake of fulfillment, desire once more stirs and reaches out. There is never lasting satisfaction, not even completion. — Dharma Publishing

A great human revolution in just a single individual will help achieve a change in the destiny of a nation and, further, can even enable a change in the destiny of all humankind. — Daisaku Ikeda

Everything that I teach as an enlightened Buddhist teacher is towards directing an individual to happiness, a balanced wisdom and knowledge that is sometimes just bubbly and euphoric or just very still and profound. — Frederick Lenz

To occupy yourself with tasks that are useful to yourself and others, you can get your mind off your problems. — Frederick Lenz

You must constantly check that you are meditating properly, and not become, what Clint Eastwood refers to as, "a legend in your own mind." — Frederick Lenz

We train the mind so that we can enjoy greater peace, happiness, wisdom & equanimity. — Allan Lokos

Unhappiness is really an incorrect way of seeing. When we are unhappy we don't see life as it really is. We are in a condition of veiled light, of shadows. — Frederick Lenz

I know a lot of ways to happiness! I also know some pretty fast shortcuts to misery. — Frederick Lenz

Happiness is not dependent on experience. What you experience shouldn't make you happy or unhappy when you know how to be happy. — Frederick Lenz

The person who suffers most in this world is the person who has many wrong perceptions, and most of our perceptions are erroneous. — Thich Nhat Hanh

That's what Buddhism has been trying to unravel - the mechanism of happiness and suffering. It is a science of the mind. — Matthieu Ricard

Happiness is not the same as pleasure. Pleasure is an immediate experience, very transient in nature, that's enjoyable, and if we experience a great deal of it - there's a sense of satiation. — Frederick Lenz

If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him. — Gautama Buddha

While happiness is an end in itself, it is also the state of mind we can have right now. — Sharon Salzberg

Even if we were very good at making everything outside of ourselves be just the way we ourselves want it to be (a ludicrous thought, you must admit), we could fundamentally never get everything perfect: because our desires are always changing, because they are often conflicting, and because the changes of the environment can never keep up with the pace of the wanting mind. The satisfaction of desire as a strategy for happiness will always be a doomed enterprise. — Andrew Olendzki

Life should be continually brighter. We are continually seeking our own innocence. We want to recapture it for eternity. It's in there, but we lose touch with it. — Frederick Lenz

Maybe if you stopped asking "why" all the time, you might be happy. Leave it alone, you know? Life is happy. — Frederick Lenz

One of the best ways to support the development of patience is to cultivate happiness with yourself. — Allan Lokos

By breaking down our sense of self-importance, all we lose is a parasite that has long infected our minds. What we gain in return is freedom, openness of mind, spontaneity, simplicity, altruism: all qualities inherent in happiness. — Matthieu Ricard

I show people the techniques for gaining knowledge, and this inspires them in their search for truth, freedom and happiness. I also try to show people that truth exists as much in this world as it does in any other world. — Frederick Lenz

Practice smiling for five minutes. Stop trying to meditate. Just smile. Let your smile get bigger and bigger. Oh, you're unhappy, you're miserable, nothing is working in life, it doesn't matter. Smile anyway. — Frederick Lenz

Forgiveness is the best revenge. — Frederick Lenz

There is always going to be pain. There is always going to be pleasure. But what is not always going to be there is balance, happiness. That is a personal decision. — Frederick Lenz

Examine your experience of the incarnation so far and realistically add up the moments of happiness and unhappiness and you tell me, oh somewhat vaguely nobly born, you tell me, what has it been like for you? — Frederick Lenz

Balance is to choose happiness, to feel that the purpose of life is to love, not necessarily to be loved, to be happy, to be conscious, to be aware, to be fulfilled. — Frederick Lenz

Happiness comes from living in the moment, this moment, now, right here. If you are in obscure states of mind, you won't see what this moment is. You won't realize its beauty. — Frederick Lenz

Enlightenment requires discipline, balance, knowledge, power, happiness and a sense of responsibility and sacrifice, being able to do things with your life that you would not have done otherwise. — Frederick Lenz

Buddhism shares the basic insight of the biological approach to happiness, namely that happiness results from processes occurring within one's body, and not from events in the outside world. However, starting from the same insight, Buddhism reaches very different conclusions. According to Buddhism, — Yuval Noah Harari

Metta sees truly that our integrity is inviolate, no matter what our life situation may be. We do not need to fear anything. We are whole: our deepest happiness is intrinsic to the nature of our minds, and it is not damaged through uncertainty and change. — Sharon Salzberg

Happiness is not dependent upon outer circumstance. Happiness is falling in love with everything around you, everything inside of you. — Frederick Lenz

Free yourself from happiness and unhappiness. Realize there is something beyond both and yet, revel in your time, revel in this world. — Frederick Lenz

There are no problems, there is only confusion. When confusion passes away, there is only happiness. Happiness is not complicated at all. — Frederick Lenz

The fundamental goal of Buddhism is the realization of the peace and happiness of humankind. — Josei Toda

Happiness is the main object of our aspirations, whatever name we give to it: fulfilment, deep satisfaction, serenity, accomplishment, wisdom, fortune, joy or inner peace, and however we try to seek it: creativity, justice, altruism, striving, completion of a plan or a piece of work. — Matthieu Ricard

We are miracles. So don't deny yourself the miracle of happiness. — Frederick Lenz

According to the Buddha, the failure to recognize the illusion of the self is the source of all ignorance and unhappiness. It is only by renouncing the self, that is, by dropping his ego defences and committing metaphorical suicide, that a person can open up to different modes of being and relating and thereby transform himself into a pure essence of humanity. In so doing, he becomes free to recast himself as a much more joyful and productive person, and attains the only species of transcendence and immortality that is open to man. — Neel Burton

Worrying does not accomplish anything. Even if you worry twenty times more, it will not change the situation of the world. In fact, your anxiety will only make things worse. Even though things are not as we would like, we can still be content, knowing we are trying our best and will continue to do so. If we don't know how to breathe, smile,and live every moment of our life deeply, we will never be able to help anyone. I am happy in the present moment. I do not ask for anything else. I do not expect any additional happiness or conditions that will bring about more happiness. The most important practice is aimlessness, not running after things, not grasping. — Thich Nhat Hanh

Question everything, even the question mark, that shepherd's crook floating in the air above that small round rock

If you - stubbornly - still wish to be unhappy,
maybe you can grasp it. — Dick Allen

The advantages of developing absorption concentration are not only that it provides a stable and receptive state of mind for the practice of insight meditation. The experience of absorption is one of intense pleasure and happiness, brought about by purely mental means, which thereby automatically eclipses any pleasure arising in dependence on material objects. Thus absorption functions as a powerful antidote to sensual desires by divesting them of their former attraction. — Analayo

Happiness is only gained when your mind is in extended states of attention, when your mind is merging with the infinite. — Frederick Lenz

Most human beings are completely out of touch with their spiritual nature and with the inner dimensions that exist within themselves. They don't realize each person has a soul, an inner core of light and intelligence as vast as the ten thousand worlds, whose inner nature is emptiness, ecstasy and happiness. — Frederick Lenz

Buddhism has a term for the happiness we feel at someone else's success or good fortune. Sympathetic joy, as it is known, invites us to celebrate for others. — Sharon Salzberg

When we direct our attention toward our suffering, we see our potential for happiness. We see the nature of suffering and the way out. That is why the Buddha called suffering a holy truth. When we use the word "suffering" in Buddhism, we mean the kind of suffering that can show us the way out. — Thich Nhat Hanh

Focus on beauty all day long. Realize how incredibly beautiful your life is. How incredibly beautiful it is to feel, to look around, to be, to experience all this wonder. — Frederick Lenz

Everything you do in meditation is amplified. If you meditate for five minutes with your complete mind focused on happiness, that is like focusing on happiness for several hours as you are walking around. — Frederick Lenz

I can't give you happiness. I can show you where it is, but I can't give it to you. How can I give you what you already have? You have to get it yourself, inside your mind. — Frederick Lenz

The human life form vibrates at a certain rate, but all vibratory rates are not suitable for human life. So it's very necessary to meditate on higher octave energy, on the clear light, on joy, on happiness. — Frederick Lenz

Learn that happiness comes through self-control and not being angry or jealous. The only one that you really torment is yourself. It is easier to let go and gain new ways of looking at life. — Frederick Lenz

Don't just sit there. Go do something and don't expect that it's going to be fun unless you make it fun. You have got to work on things. That is when you are happy. — Frederick Lenz

You don't have to do anything to be happy, nor do you have to avoid anything. Happiness comes from within your mind. Happiness already exists. — Frederick Lenz

Solitude is happiness for one who is content, who has heard the Dhamma and clearly sees. Non-affliction is happiness in the world - harmlessness towards all living beings. — Gautama Buddha

Power doesn't make you happy. Actually, power without knowledge and balance is problematic. Power is something that will automatically follow when you have knowledge. The two are really the same, in a certain sense. — Frederick Lenz

As a friend of mine told me about Real Happiness: you wrote this one in American. — Sharon Salzberg

Happiness is self-generated as the mind becomes still. As we become involved with the desires of the world, we lose that centering, that stillness. — Frederick Lenz

Each time you meditate, you create a stronger connection with the world of inner light and happiness that exists within you. — Frederick Lenz

Discrimination means keeping the negative and unhappy thoughts away and allowing the pretty thoughts to come inside you. — Frederick Lenz

The pathway to enlightenment is happiness. It doesn't really matter if you're successful, if you're in prison, if you're dying - if you have contact with light. — Frederick Lenz

Most people have no idea how unhappy they are because they don't know what happiness is. When they get a little break from their total pain, they feel a little better and they call it happiness. — Frederick Lenz

Happiness is everything in the whole universe. It's a state of mind. Your whole life is a state of mind. So be happy, why not? — Frederick Lenz

The basic root of happiness lies in our minds; outer circumstances are nothing more than adverse or favourable. — Matthieu Ricard

To be mindful entails examining the path we are traveling & making choices that alleviate suffering & bring happiness to ourselves & those around us. — Allan Lokos

You cannot simply take a mala from someone else and start using it. When you buy a mala you have to make sure that it accords with the advice we have just discussed, and then before you use a mala - whether it is old or new - you should bless it. How do we bless the mala? There are different methods for blessing a mala, and some are more elaborate than others. In Buddhism there are two types of conduct: elaborate and simple. Elaborate conduct, for example, involves having many thangkas, statues, and lots of offerings, such as flowers and so forth. However, Buddhism is also very practical, and so there are more simple forms of practice where you utilize visualization. However, you should not use unelaborated versions of practice simply out of laziness. Making offerings are an important part of practice since these actions accumulate merit, and it is merit that brings about our happiness. People often refer to luck and fortune, but really — Zurmang Gharwang Rinpoche

Some people get the impression that Buddhism talks too much about suffering. In order to become prosperous, a person must initially work very hard, so he or she has to sacrifice a lot of leisure time. Similarly, the Buddhist is willing to sacrifice immediate comfort so that he or she can achieve lasting happiness. — Dalai Lama

The concept (of happiness) is universal. In Buddhism, it is called causeless joy, in Christianity, the kingdom of heaven within, and in Judaism it is called ashrei, an inner sense of holiness and health. Is Islam it is called falah, happiness and well-being, and in Hinduism it is called ananda, or pure bliss. — Marci Shimoff

Letting go takes a lot of courage sometimes. But once you let go, happiness comes very quickly. You won't have to go around search for it. — Thich Nhat Hanh

The spectrum that most people exist in this world is very mundane and very unhappy. Certainly human beings are capable of experiencing great joy and happiness. — Frederick Lenz

Beyond happiness and unhappiness is truth. Truth is not affected by anything in the relative world. Truth is the unifying aspect of existence. — Frederick Lenz

The aim of far too many teachings these days is to make people "feel good," and even some Buddhist masters are beginning to sound like New Age apostles. Their talks are entirely devoted to validating the manifestation of ego and endorsing the "rightness" of our feelings, neither of which have anything to do with the teachings we find in the pith instructions. So, if you are only concerned about feeling good, you are far better off having a full body massage or listening to some uplifting or life-affirming music than receiving dharma teachings, which were definitely not designed to cheer you up. On the contrary, the dharma was devised specifically to expose your failings and make you feel awful. — Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse

Love is self-realization. Love is liberation. The only way beyond time, to unravel the knot of existence, is to love. — Frederick Lenz

Smile sometimes when things aren't going well, and maybe realize when they aren't going well, they are. — Frederick Lenz

Forget that you are anybody and just perform the activities around you. Look at them. Watch what you are doing, my God! Life is right in front of you, and it's great. — Frederick Lenz

Real happiness is something most people never know. What we experience in deep meditation, that ecstasy is beyond what human beings call happiness — Frederick Lenz