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I have a bad smelling zen confession from the bah humbug collections..

When our mentality reduces one's worth in the world to whether we are happy or not, serious suffering is already in play.

Here, even the "May all beings be happy", sounds like more soporific twaddle.

I think the word "happiness" is very vague, especially when thought of as something that's good and worthy of being sought after. It's just an emotion. It will come and go. It is morally neutral and may very well be a cause of one's wider delusion & suffering.

A Meditation teacher that I respected used to say, "A dog asleep in the sun is happy. If that's really all you're after, please don't hesitate to take that snoozing somewhere else."

Society today chases after happiness like junkies tweaking after stimulations that will never be enough.

Did the Buddha teach anything more than how to awaken from such dreaming's.

@Jeroen you might find it interesting to read a bit about research into subjective well-being (SWB). From what I gather, SWB increases with wealth, up to a certain point where it does not any more. So the 'intuitive' answer that we need to have the basics covered but don't need Ferraris appears to hold true.

A friend on another forum said to me, “You seem to want to idealise poor people. Would you ever choose to live long-term as a poor man in India?”

I would wish for them to have happiness, which cannot be bought, but which can be found in Freedom. I don’t think that’s idealising people, just acknowledging that the quest for happiness is universal.

Often it is people’s desires that make them unhappy, whether they realise it or not. People who think they are too fat, lonely and wanting a rich husband, envious of the status of others, it all is desire and part of the mind.

So I think whether you are rich or poor, there is a way to happiness, as long as you know the art of being satisfied with life’s small pleasures. A cup of tea, or a favourite piece of music on the radio.

As a child, your expectations are small. As an adult, things get out of hand. Your desires get large, until you start on the spiritual path and let it all go again, recognising the ultimate futility of the thing. And in the end you are satisfied with a cup of tea again.

In Poonjaji the other day I read “this is the discrimination of the burning ghat: in the end there is nothing left of your body but a few ounces of ash.” And you can’t take possessions, money or family with you when you go.