Full Moon - How To Be Happy

Published June 30, 2015

These three ways lead to the heavens:
asserting the truth,
not yielding to anger,
and giving, even if you have only a little to share. 

Dhammapada 224

The Buddha is instructing us here on the ways that lead to true happiness. If we are misinformed on such matters we could, for example, think that intentionally distorting truth is OK. What lying actually does do is undermine our confidence by setting up self-doubt. We might think that hurting others will give us a sense of satisfaction, when in fact it just projects our inner pain onto the outer world, making things worse. With giving, we could make the mistake of thinking that the quantity of our gift is what matters. In reality it is the quality of our intention that is important and determines any outcome. Regularly studying and reflecting on these simple teachings by the Buddha has the potential to correct our wrong thinking and thereby create causes for genuine happiness.