Matthieu Ricard

By happiness I mean here a deep sense of flourishing that arises from an exceptionally healthy mind. This is not a mere pleasurable feeling, a fleeting emotion, or a mood, but an optimal state of being.

like well-being, is essentially an interior state. Understanding that is the key prerequisite to a life worth living

phenomena exist in an essentially interdependent mode and have no autonomous and enduring existence.

Sukha is the state of lasting well-being that manifests itself when we have freed ourselves of mental blindness and afflictive emotions

Ignorance, in the Buddhist lexicon, is an inability to recognize the true nature of things and of the law of cause and effect that governs happiness and suffering

true happiness: clarity of mind, loving-kindness, the gradual withering of negative emotions, and the disappearance of selfish whimsy.

In order to strengthen our determination to meditate, there are four points we should think about:

The preciousness of human life.
The fragility of human life and the transitoriness of all things.
The distinction between beneficial and harmful deeds.
The unsatisfactory quality inherent in many of the situations of life.

Human life has incalculable value, but it doesn’t last for ever. Reflecting on impermanence makes us realize the value of time.

A person who takes advantage of every moment of his or her life to become a better person, one who is better able to contribute to the happiness of others, can die in peace