No Happiness Other than Peace
October 09, 2009
N’atthi santi param sukham, there is no happiness other than peace. This saying of the Buddha has an interesting history. Over time, the translation turned from “there is no happiness other than peace” to “there is no happiness higher than peace,” which totally changes the meaning. Perhaps people thought that there are other kinds of happiness not related to peace at all-—the happiness of winning out over somebody else, the happiness of sensual desire, even the happiness that goes along with being angry. People like to be angry. There’s a certain amount of pleasure with that and all the other defilements, and there’s certainly no peace there.