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Achieving Happiness in Buddhism

Is it really possible to be truly happy here and now? Yes, the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin assures us
that we can achieve a state of great happiness whatever our present circumstances. The first thing to
say about happiness from a Buddhist perspective is that we are told that there are two sorts: relative
happiness and absolute happiness.
Relative happiness is made up of the things in our environment that might make us happy. When we say
things like: ‘I’ll be happy when I buy a new phone or I’ll be happy when I come first in my exams “, we
are expressing relative happiness. It means that our happiness is relative to our circumstances. When
our happiness depends on things outside of ourselves, perhaps our friends or family, our jobs or our
income, it is an example of relative happiness.
The aim of Buddhist practice is to make a basic change in our nature – to shift from relying on external
things which make us happy, and to discover the other sort of happiness: happiness which comes from
having a strong state of life which is not swayed by any challenge or adversity. In this way we can
experience happiness, regardless of our circumstances. President Toda used the term "absolute
happiness" to describe the state of mind in which we can feel that life itself is a joy.
Sensei Ikeda sheds light on this: “Absolute happiness is something we must find within. It means
establishing a state of life in which we are never defeated by trials and where just being alive is a source
of great joy. A deep sense of joy is something which can only exist in the innermost reaches of our life,
and which cannot be destroyed by any external forces. It’s eternal and inexhaustible. This kind of
satisfaction is to be found in consistent and repeated effort, so that we can say: “Today, again, I did my
very best. Today, again, I have no regrets. Today, again, I won. The accumulated result of such efforts is
a life of great victory.”
This absolute happiness certainly does not mean that we then stoically put up with unsatisfactory
situations, but instead we use the energy and creativity of this kind of happiness to do something about
transforming those situations.
The sea of life is never going to be completely flat and calm. There are always going to be waves and the
way to live a happy and fulfilled life is not to pretend that there aren’t. Instead, it is better to learn to
ride them and to enjoy the process. It is about recognising our own personal individual weakness, and
developing ourselves so that particular trait becomes our greatest strength. Buddhism provides us with
this ability to ride the waves of life.
President Toda has said : Our Buddhist practice boosts the power of our "engine," strengthens our life
force so that we can always declare, "I'm ready for anything!" When our engine is weak, even a small
slope will leave us gasping and struggling painfully as we attempt to surmount it.
How can we achieve absolute happiness? Our Buddhist practice helps us strengthen, purify and develop
our inner life. Just as we exercise our minds through study and exercise our bodies through physical
activity and sports; we also can exercise our life condition through daimoku. With vigorous daimoku our
inner condition of life changes revitalizing us. Daimoku charges our batteries. If we take care to regularly
charge our batteries, then we'll always be full of energy and vitality. If we fail to keep our batteries
charged, we won't have energy when we need it most and as a result may be defeated by our
environment.

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