Happiness vs. Unhappiness

So are you saying that you can let go of happiness easily, while unhappiness is difficult to let go of?

And you think that the things we like are easy to give up, but you’re wondering why the things we dislike are hard to give up-but if they’re not good, why are they hard to give up?

It’s not like that.

Think anew - they are completely equal. It’s just that we don’t incline to them equally.

When there is unhappiness, we feel bothered, and we want it to go away quickly, so we feel it’s hard to get rid of.

Happiness doesn’t usually bother us, so we are friends with it and we feel we can let go of it easily.

It’s not like that; it’s not oppressing and squeezing our hearts, that’s all. Unhappiness oppresses us. We think one has more value or weight than the other, but in truth they are equal.

It’s like heat and cold. We can be burned to death by fire. We can also be frozen stiff by cold, and we die just the same. Neither is greater than the other.

Happiness and suffering are like this, but in our thinking we give them different value.


Extract from: The Exhaustion of Doubt, by Venerable Ajahn Chah