Be Happy Right Now and Afterwards as well

Be Happy Right Now and Afterwards as well

We like to be happy at all times. However, the grave concern is that we are unable to experience happiness at all times. Even though, we experience happiness for short spells, it gets eliminated by unhappy circumstances. So, we have to make fresh attempts to be happy again. But, there is no guarantee that we would be able to find expected happiness in time to come. What we normally do is to act in anticipation of happiness in many ways at all times.

Let’s take an example to clarify this matter. An individual who is desirous of eating some confectioneries would, either, make them or try to buy them at any cost. This individual may encounter some problems during this attempt, such as shortages of ingredients used to make these confectioners, some ingredients being out of the season, loss of expected taste and flavor of the final product. In view of these uncertainties, the expected happiness may turn to unexpected dissatisfaction.

When we reflect on our past, we would realize that occasions where we experienced unhappiness are far greater than the occasions we experienced happiness. Almost every occasion has led us to unhappy mental states, even though our goal was to find happiness.

“idha nandati, pecca nandati…”, is a proclamation by the Buddha, meaning, “ one is happy right now and afterwards…” One can find happiness in the present moment and in time time to come in terms of this verse.

When we look at our lives, we find that experiencing happiness to be random, occasional circumstance occurring by chance.  There is no regular, reliable pattern for us to be happy. According to the Buddha’s advice, we are capable of sustaining the intermittent happy  moments and make them everlasting.

One day, Anatha Pindika, the community leader, visited the Buddha in order to inform the death of his younger daughter, Sumana, following an unsound mental state. When the Buddha inquired further about his daughter's death, Anatha Pindika described that his daughter was bedridden for some time with a grave sickness and she summoned him to her just before she passed away. He also mentioned that his daughter addressed him as “younger brother” at the time of her death.  

The Buddha, after listening to Anatha Pindika, clarified that his daughter was in a sound state of mind at the time of death and she was reborn in the Thusitha heaven. With regard to the comment “younger brother” made by Sumana, the Buddha said that Sumana had attained  the fruit of Once-returner and therefore she addressed Anatha Pindika as “ younger brother “ as he was a stream enterer (sotapanna) at that time.  In terms of spiritual attainment, Anatha Pindika had a lower achievement than that of Sumana. Then the Buddha quoted the verse;

               

                Idha nandati pecca nandati

                katapunno ubhayattha nandati

               punnam me katanti nandati

               bhiyyo nandati suggatim gato.

The secret to “being happy right now and afterwards” is incorporated in this verse. Especially, we need to focus on the second line, “ katapunno ubhayattha nandati” to unravel this secret. Punna (pina in Sinhala) means a state of “being elated”. The mental state of “being elated” can not arise in a mind filled with defilement according to the Buddhist teachings. This pure state results from a defilement-free mental state where greed (lobha), aversion (dosa) and delusion (moha) have been subjugated. If one can sustain a mental state devoid of greed, aversion and delusion, one could  sustain a firm mentality filled with elation, joy (punna).

“Happiness arises exclusively in a mind devoid of defilements” is a revolutionary discovery of the Buddha. A large number of individuals were able to enjoy lives with constant happiness. The Buddha’s proclamation with regard to happiness is valid even  today.  How could we verify the validity of this concept today? Let’s assume that an individual intends to obtain a loan from someone. The lender agrees to provide the loan within a certain period of time. Now, this individual is anxiously waiting for the lender to come to him and hand over the money as a loan. One day, he comes to know of the arrival of the lender shortly. This news brings some consolation to this individual. After a while, he sees the lender coming towards him. This brings further consolation in his mind. Then, the lender hands over the money to this individual which causes immense happiness in his mind.

When we take a close look at this event, one may tend to think that this individual  experienced immense happiness due to the money he expected. If that is true, then, he should be able to experience the same degree of happiness as long as he keeps money in his hands. However, it does not happen that way as happiness is taken away from his mind when he begins to think about the activities that need to be carried out with the money he borrowed. This proves the fact that happiness was not caused by the money he received.

What happened in an ultimate sense was that the individual’s mental inflammation caused by the desire to borrow money was temporarily relieved at the time he received the money in his hands. Mental inflammations similar to this event are known as defilements (kilesa). So, when the defilements identified as lobha, dosa and moha are not present temporarily in the mind, one is able to experience happiness. This is also the Buddha’s advice that distinguishing the impact of defilements is the only way for true happiness.

So, now it is evident that the emergence of happiness is a direct outcome of the presence or absence of defilements in the mind. This theory would apply to achieving true happiness, including the instance of attaining Nibbana. One is able to experience true and greater happiness as the defilements get diminished to deeper levels.

The Buddha has also taught the way to prolong and  sustain the intermittent happiness we experience occasionally. We notice that the occasional happiness is wiped out by impulses associated with defilements known as lobha, dosa and moha. For instance, if one attaches to a visual object, believing it to be pleasant, beautiful, entertaining, etc., that leads to arising of lobha (greed) in the mind. Similarly, treating an object as unpleasant, disgusting, wrong, etc. would cause dosa (aversion) to arise in the mind. Both occasions drove away the happy state of mind due to operation of impulses associated with greed (lobha) and aversion (dosa). In these circumstances, the best approach for us to implement is to exclusively identify any object without attributing any values of greed or aversion to it. Once an individual is accustomed to interacting with objects in this manner, his happiness would remain intact.

No object in the world has come into existence for the purpose of causing happiness or suffering to beings. It is our way of thinking in respect of these objects that brings us happiness or suffering according to the teachings of the Buddha. So, if anyone who intends to be constantly  in a happy state of mind should make it a point not to seek happiness from external objects and  accept any object in the world with equanimity (upekkha). As we have been used to seek happiness from external worldly objects from the time immemorial, it has been a very difficult task for us to accept external objects with equanimity. Until the day that we realize that happiness exists in our minds, we are unable to deviate from the habit of seeking happiness through external objects.

Therefore, we  should attempt to implement the revolutionary approach taught by the Buddha to induce happiness in the mind. This approach would guarantee the mental happiness and the Buddha-nature in the followers of the Buddhist teachings.