Chapter 11 Human Beings Are Deceived by Happiness

The Essence of Happiness and True Freedom

2.2-The.Essence.of.Happiness.and.True.Freedom Chapter11 Human Beings

We know that happiness is the Suffering Of Change and is a temporary relief from suffering.

The more painful, the happier one will be when the suffering is relieved.

Some might argue that we could be happy without the relief from suffering (the Suffering of Change). For instance, I am in quite a good mood today, full of energy, no worries, no pain in the body; a masseuse massages my back, and I feel very at ease and happy.

The reality is, your body is still suffering. Why are you going for a massage in the first place? This is because, at your age your muscles are already easily fatigued, or the Qi meridians in your back have been blocked; through massage you could relieve the discomfort and feel comfortable and happy (the Suffering of Change).

Nevertheless, if you go to a healthy five or six-year-old child and massage their back, they won't be at ease, in contrast, they might be in pain and feel uncomfortable. With the passage of time, we begin to age and experience the Suffering Of Aging. This type of suffering may not be severe enough to affect our lives or work, we can still endeavour to persevere.

Through careful observation, we discover many desires within our mind of which we might not be aware of. Our worry about personal gains and losses, are often inexplicably irritable, sad, complaining, losing our temper, and even feeling anxious. When our desires are not satisfied, we tend to divert our attention to satisfy our other needs so to temporarily forget about our desires that cannot be realized.

In another possible scenario, when our desires are not fulfilled, we endure the difficult feeling that is accompanied, while working hard to learn and manage whichever situation in which we find ourselves in order to meet the conditions to satisfy the desire later.
Most human beings are ignorant, they are after happiness (the Suffering of Change); in actually, they are deceived by happiness.

When human beings obtain happiness (the Suffering of Change) by satisfying their own desires, greed will continuously be practised and the karmic habit of greed will be strengthened. As the karmic habit of greed increases, the Suffering of Not Getting What One Wants will increase. So, they have to frequently satisfy their desires in order to alleviate the Suffering Of Not Getting What They Want. The growth of the Suffering of Not getting what One Wants , the Suffering of Separation from the Pleasant，the Suffering of Association With The Unpleasant, and many other negative emotions intensifies. This creates a vicious circle.

In this way, human beings are constantly in the transition of suffering and the Suffering Of Change (happiness), experiencing the worries about personal gains and losses, fluctuating from happiness to worry. The worst thing is that this situation will often become out of control and lead human beings into the abyss and become as inextricable as the devil himself.

In reality, it is serenity that human beings are searching for, not happiness (the Suffering Of Change).

What is peace (serenity)? As mentioned in the previous chapters, serenity is a state of pure and ease. When a person has less greed but rather more contentment, and suffer less, unsullied by happiness (the Suffering Of Change), then they will be healthier, with intrinsic tranquility, fewer worries, and negative emotions. This is relatively more serene.

When a person is less greedy, healthy, and more at ease the body and mind will be as well, serenity will reach a higher level. To improve one's own serenity, one must have the guidance of a wise person, so that they may be able to see the truth of life, to see oneself with clarity, to open innate wisdom, and to improve their dimension of life.

In order to obtain serenity and increase it, we must first find the source of suffering - greed, and then use the correct method to reduce greed, to truly eliminate suffering, rather than blindly satisfying the greed to temporarily relieve the suffering. This is the biggest mistake of most human beings: by satisfying greed to relieve suffering and gain happiness (the Suffering Of Change), this will only result in increasing the sensation of greed, which may bring more suffering that has to be relieved, creating a vicious circle, and a deeper and deeper entrapment.

Now the key is how to master the correct ways to reduce greed, we shall briefly explain the following methods to apply:

Firstly, learn and master the law of causality; to know the relationships between karmic cause and karmic effect, karma and the karmic habit; to realize that when human beings satisfy their desires incessantly, the bitter consequences of habitual karma of greed will be more detrimental, and this is the beginning of endless troubles. try your best to restrain greed and stay away from the people and external environments that trigger greed.

Secondly, practice yoga or meditation; recuperate the body and mind, adjust the breathing, which can subdue greed.

Thirdly, follow the wise, learn wisdom and recognize the source of suffering and the essence of happiness (the Suffering Of Change). Definitely knowing that everything is impermanent, all things are like the flouting clouds - it is impossible to explain in detail at this moment.

To attain the beneficial methods, further discussions expound how to eradicate our habitual karmic greed and eventually eliminate and remove it completely so to thoroughly achieve equanimity.