Home > Quotes > Happiness

Our personality doesn’t determine our happiness or unhappiness, rather it is the substance of how we’ve lived our lives that decides.

By helping other people become happy, we too become happy. How can those suffering in the depths of hell, who have lost the will to live, get back on their feet? Merely thinking about our own problems often causes us to fall even deeper into despair. But, by offering a hand to someone who is also suffering, we ourselves regain the will to live. More
Our personality doesn’t determine our happiness or unhappiness, rather it is the substance of how we’ve lived our lives that decides.
There is no one in this world who can sail through life without any hardships. Unless we take action happiness will not simply come to us. Reality is tough. That’s why, instead of allowing ourselves to be tossed around by our circumstances, we must choose to face reality squarely, using such struggles to strengthen our lives.
Someone once said, “There are people who are just happy drinking water. On the other hand, there are some who sink in sorrow while dressed in luxury.” Whether a person is happy or not cannot be judged by their appearance. When you look back on your life, sometimes, you realize that the toughest times were the most fulfilling and happiest moments.
Relative happiness is happiness that depends on things outside ourselves, such as affluence or social standing. While the happiness such things bring us is certainly real, it shatters easily when external conditions alter. Absolute happiness, on the other hand, is something we must find within. More
A smile is not a sign of happiness but the cause of happiness.
The exclusive pursuit of one’s own interests cannot bring true happiness. It is in striving for the sake of others that the great path to genuine happiness is opened.

Stories of Hope

What is Happiness?

Happiness remains the most cherished yet elusive of all human desires. Ikeda asserts that life can be complete with or without the usual requisites of happiness—family, wealth and recognition. The key, he says, lies within. Read here ...

Stories of Hope

Life and Death

Buddhism holds that life and death are indivisible, a dynamic continuum that eternally alternates from one state to the other. Discover a new appreciation for life through a redefinition of death. Read here ...

Stories of Hope

The Teachers of My Childhood

Even as the storms of war darkened his childhood, Ikeda recalls those who helped brighten his life by planting the seeds of hope and courage.