The Art of Happiness (3 page)

One of the factors fueling the Happiness Revolution has been the startling research in the past decade revealing the many benefits of happiness, benefits extending far beyond merely “feeling good.” In fact, cultivating greater happiness can be seen as “one-stop shopping” for those seeking greater success in every major life domain. Scientific studies have shown that happy people are more likely to attract a mate, enjoy stronger and more satisfying marriages, and are better parents. Happy people are also healthier, with better immune function and less cardiovascular disease. There is even evidence that happy individuals live up to ten years longer than their less happy peers! In addition, happiness leads to better mental health, greater resilience, and an increased capacity to deal with adversity and trauma.

There are some who believe that happy people tend to be shallow and a bit stupid, a notion shared by the French novelist Gustave Flaubert, who once wrote: “To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.” Recent research, however, has proven this idea to be nothing but a myth, finding that happiness leads to greater creativity and improved mental functioning.

The benefits of happiness extend to the workplace, as well, with happy individuals performing better and enjoying greater personal success on every level, including higher income. In fact, studies show that higher income is more directly related to one's level of happiness than to one's level of education. Extensive research has also shown that organizations with happy employees are more successful, consistently demonstrating greater profitability; this isn't surprising considering that happy workers are more productive, more loyal to the company, take fewer sick days, show up to work more consistently, have fewer conflicts with coworkers, quit their jobs less frequently, and generate greater customer satisfaction.

So there is no question that happiness brings tremendous personal rewards. But it is also critical to point out that
cultivating greater happiness benefits not only oneself, but also one's family, community,

and society
In fact, this is one of the key principles underlying The Art of
Happiness,
a principle supported by a growing body of scientific evidence. For example, a stunning recent study has shown that happiness is highly contagious, spreading in social networks just like a virus. Other lines of evidence have found that happiness and positive emotions act as an antidote to prejudice, causing changes in the brain that prevent the instinctual bias against those we perceive as different, ultimately breaking down the barriers between Us and Them! The beneficial effects of happiness extend to the broadest level of society
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another study, for instance, found that increasing the average level of happiness among the population of a nation will result in an increase in freedom and democracy in that country!

The Happiness Revolution has led increasing numbers of individuals to seek happiness in a more systematic and direct way. There have been some critics of the positive psychology movement who have characterized their efforts as being nothing more than a self-absorbed, self-indulgent luxury, concerned only with personal gratification. In view of the above evidence, however, it could be argued that if you are truly concerned about the welfare of others and building a better world, it is your duty to be happy, or to do what you can to become happier.

—The influential British historian Arnold J. Toynbee

 

 

One of the goals of
The Art of Happiness
is to present an approach to achieving human happiness that combines the best of East and West, integrating traditional Buddhist wisdom with modern Western science. Following a recent talk in which I spoke about this approach, an audience member asked:

“If scientists have conducted research on happiness and studies have now proven how to become happy, what do we need the Buddhist theories or the Dalai Lama's views for? Shouldn't the scientific proof be enough?”

Good questions. And as a great admirer of the scientific approach to happiness, I think it is safe to say that the checks and balances of the scientific method generally result in highly reliable and useful information. At the same time, however, all scientific findings are not some kind of Absolute Truth or Eternal Law. Scientific knowledge is a dynamic, living thing—and scientific theories are always being refined, modified, or revised as we gather new data. And in evaluating the validity of any study, there's always the possibility of methodological errors, flaws in experimental design, statistical analysis, and so on. One also needs to consider how many subjects were studied and whether the study has been replicated. With this in mind, it's important to recognize that the science of human happiness is still in its infancy. While we have learned a great deal, there is a lot that we still don't know.

The key question is: Does Buddhism have anything to contribute to the scientific investigation of happiness?

In considering this question, it is important to understand that Buddhism is not a faith-based system in the traditional sense. In fact, when the Buddha first began to teach, he advised his disciples not to blindly accept his teachings out of faith, but rather to investigate the validity of his theories and test his methods for themselves. This reliance on empirical investigation, the uncompromising commitment to truth, and a total dedication to discovering the nature of reality are things that both Buddhism and science have in common. In fact, the Dalai Lama has demonstrated his total commitment to these principles, stating, “If science was to conclusively prove that some part of the Buddhist scriptures or basic beliefs turned out to be untrue, then the Buddhist scripture or belief would have to change.” Such a shocking statement would seem to be almost inconceivable coming from any other religious or spiritual leader in the world!

For 2,500 years, Buddhists have been practicing techniques to “train the mind” and develop their inner resources. And one would guess that after more than two millennia, ineffective techniques and methods would have been gradually abandoned, while only the most effective and reliable methods would have survived. It would seem reasonable to assume, therefore, that Buddhism might have much to contribute to our understanding of happiness and how to achieve it, and some remarkable recent developments certainly suggest that this is the case. When
The Art of Happiness
was first published, there was little scientific research available that related to the Dalai Lama's fundamental views on human happiness. It has been very gratifying for me to see that since that time there has been an explosion of research on happiness, and even more gratifying to discover that the growing body of scientific evidence has consistently supported the views expressed by the Dalai Lama in this book. One example that illustrates this is the research on happiness and compassion discussed below.

Another fascinating line of evidence is based on some cutting-edge research conducted by Dr. Richard Davidson, a highly regarded neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Using the latest technology, Dr. Davidson and colleagues identified a specific area in the left prefrontal cortex of the brain that is associated with states of happiness. He then measured the average level of activity in this “happiness” region among a large group of ordinary Americans. Later, he invited some Tibetan Buddhist monks into his lab and performed the same studies. He was astonished to find that their levels of activity in the happiness area of the brain were the highest he had ever seen, and
by a huge margin—
so far above the others that they were essentially off the chart! Of course, this may not be
proof
of anything, but nevertheless such extreme findings are highly suggestive of the potential value of Buddhist practices in the quest to find effective methods of increasing individual happiness.

If there is a fundamental principle in
The Art of Happiness
with the greatest potential to make a significant contribution to the new science of human happiness, it is this:

There is an inextricable link between one's personal happiness and kindness, compassion, and caring for others. And this is a two-way street: increased happiness leads to greater compassion, and increased compassion leads to greater happiness.

In other words, studies have found not only that happier people tend to be more caring and more willing to reach out and help others, but that by deliberately cultivating greater kindness and compassion, a person will experience increased happiness.

It is easy to see how such principles could have a profound impact on any society if people adopted them on a widespread scale. However, since it is unlikely that most people in the West will “convert” to Buddhism as their primary spiritual path, if these principles are to be widely adopted in Western society they need to be presented in a secular context, which generally means investigating them from a scientific perspective. Thus, in the following pages you will find experimental evidence showing that happy people tend to be kinder and more compassionate. At the time I was writing the book, however, I could find no research showing the reverse principle, that cultivating greater compassion makes people happier—one of the Dalai Lama's most cherished beliefs. But today such evidence exists, showing that the practice of kindness and compassion is a powerful strategy to increase personal happiness.

In one of my favorite experiments, Dr. Davidson brought a French Tibetan Buddhist monk into his lab to study the effects of compassion. This monk was a highly trained adept who had spent many years in the Himalayan region, meditating on compassion (and who acted compassionately, as well, dedicating his life to charitable activities in the region). Davidson began by monitoring the monk's brain function in a resting state to measure baseline brain activity
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then he asked him to perform an intensive Buddhist meditation on compassion. The results showed that during his meditation on compassion, there was a dramatic leftward shift in his prefrontal function, lighting up the “happiness region” of the brain. Davidson concluded: “The very act of concern for others' well-being creates a greater sense of well-being within oneself.” What could be more conclusive evidence of the link between personal happiness and compassion?

In another study, conducted in “the real world” outside the laboratory, Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky at the University of California at Riverside asked a group of subjects to choose one day each week in which to perform five “random acts of kindness.” After six weeks, the subjects in the study experienced a significant increase in their overall levels of happiness and life satisfaction.

For me, one of the most rewarding aspects of this book's success were the many wonderful and moving letters we received from readers describing how the Dalai Lama's words helped them, and the positive impact
The Art of Happiness
had in their lives. In some of the letters, readers expressed interest in a sequel, pointing out various topics that had not been included in the book. After hearing how the first book had been of such benefit to some individuals, the Dalai Lama agreed to collaborate on a sequel
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so after reviewing the readers' requests, I prepared a list of topics. We quickly realized, however, that there were more topics than could be covered in a single volume, so we divided the topics into a series of volumes. Our first follow-up book,
The Art of Happiness at Work,
was published in 2003. Like the first volume, it was very well received and became a bestseller—and more important, feedback from readers indicated that it was of practical value in helping them find greater happiness at work, the activity occupying the greatest part of our waking hours.

Focusing on the theme of inner development, the first two volumes were generally directed at the level of the individual. We realized, however, that individual human beings do not live in a vacuum—we interact within a community, a society, and the world. And our world has many troubles: violence, terrorism, war, prejudice and hatred, poverty—the list is long. So the question arose: How can we live in such a troubled world and still remain happy? And what can a single individual do to try to overcome these vast problems? These were the questions we sought to answer in the next volume of the series,
The Art of Happiness in a Troubled World.

It seems that
The Art of Happiness
is every bit as relevant today as when it was published a decade ago. In the intervening years we have seen some dramatic developments in the science of human happiness. And as the body of research grows, it appears that Buddhist principles are beginning to converge with Western science in many ways. But in the following pages, no matter whether the approach to happiness is seen through the lens of traditional Buddhist wisdom or the lens of modern scientific research—the purpose is the same: it is our hope that you can apply the ideas presented in this book to your own life, and thereby discover a way to transcend suffering and adversity, and find a life of genuine and lasting happiness.