Happiness vs Pleasure

Dalai Lama: 'Now sometimes people confuses happiness with pleasure. For example, not long ago, I was speaking to an Indian audience at Rajpur. I mentioned that the purpose of life was happiness, so one member of the audience said that Rajneesh teaches that our happiest moment comes during sexual activity, so through sex one can become the happiest.' I thought of that idea. I answered that from my point of view, the highest happiness is when one reaches the stage of Liberation, at which there is no more suffering. That's genuine, lasting happiness. True happiness relates more to the mind and heart. Happiness that depends mainly on physical pleasure is unstable; one day it's there, the next day it may not be.

Howard: Heather was a young single professional working as a counselor in the Phoenix area. Although she enjoyed her job working with troubled youth, for some time she had become increasingly dissatisfied with living in the Phoenix area. She often complained about the growing population, the traffic, and the oppressive heat in the summer, She had been offered a job in a beautiful town in the mountains. In fact, she had visited that town many times and had always dreamed of moving there. It was perfect. The only problem was the fact that the job she was offered involved an adult clientele. For weeks, she had been struggling with the decision of whether to accept the new job, She just couldn't make up her mind. She tried making a list of pros and cons, but the list was annoyingly even.

She explained," I know I wouldn't enjoy the work as much as my job here, but there would be more than compensated for by the pure pleasure of living in that town! I really love it there. Just being there makes me feel good. and I'm so sick of the heat here. I just don't know what to do."
Her mention of the term 'pleasure' reminded me of the Dalai Lama's words, and probing a bit, I asked, ' Do you think that moving there would bring you greater happiness or greater pleasure?'

She paused for a moment, uncertain what to make of the question. ......She decided to remain in Phoenix. Of course, she still complained about the summer heat. But, having made the conscious decision to remain there on the basis of what she felt would ultimately make her happier somehow made the heat more bearable.

by Dalai Lama