Happiness

Happiness is feeling that you are on the right path … you are happy right here and right now.

This … also makes the people around you happy … people benefit from being around you.

If a nun is happy, it is not because she has power or fame, but because she knows her presence is helping…

People asked the Buddha how to be happy, and he said that all buddhas teach the same thing…

The bad things, don’t do them.

The good things, try to do them.

Try to purify, subdue your own mind.

When you refrain from doing bad things, you are practicing compassion … you refrain from bringing suffering to yourself and other people.

To do good things … try to do whatever brings peace, stability, and joy to you and other people … all the great spiritual teachers have told us to love … to refrain from causing suffering … to offer happiness.

To purify your mind is to transform your way of perceiving things, to remove wrong perceptions … when you remove your wrong perceptions, you also remove your anger … hate … discrimination, and your craving.

—Thich Nhat Hanh, The Art of Power