The Buddha's Secret of Happiness

The Buddha's Secret of Happiness

It helps us a lot if we think of the fact that everyone, whether big or small, educated or uneducated, rich or poor, successful or unsuccessful, powerful or weak, man or woman, employer or employee has his or her own problems. Greater the success, the bar of problem is higher. Like the two sides of a balance, for the successful, the bar of physical problem lowers, but the one for mental becomes higher. For the less privileged, it is just the reverse - the bar for mental lowers but for physical shoots up.

Given that only when the external conditions come in contact with the internal condition of grasping at the self, the suffering flares up. As long as the internal condition is there, no matter what you do to make oneself more successful, the problems remain the same -  sometimes the physical greater and other times the mental.

Just as the sound of a clap does not happen with one hand alone, the external condition by itself cannot affect and inflict suffering in us, in the absence of the internal condition. It is this realization and thus fine tuning within us to remove the internal condition - the  grasping at the self alone -  will help. One can remain unaffected, no matter which bar goes up.

How tricky this samsara is; and yet how amusing it is. Just a play of your mind can change the perspective to sever the internal condition and thus reverse the suffering.

How compassionate the Buddha is who taught this secret of happiness.