Teachings on Two kinds of Happiness (AN 2.64 - 76)

Teachings on two kinds of happiness

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Contrasting happiness born of the flesh v/s one that is not born of the flesh

2.64

“There are, mendicants, these two kinds of happiness. What two? The happiness of laypeople, and the happiness of renunciates. These are the two kinds of happiness. The better of these two kinds of happiness is the happiness of renunciates.”

2.65

“There are, mendicants, these two kinds of happiness. What two? Sensual happiness and the happiness of renunciation. These are the two kinds of happiness. The better of these two kinds of happiness is the happiness of renunciation.”

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Contrasting sensual happiness v/s happiness from renunciation, letting go

2.66

“There are, mendicants, these two kinds of happiness. What two? The happiness of attachments, and the happiness of no attachments. These are the two kinds of happiness. The better of these two kinds of happiness is the happiness of no attachments.”

2.67

“There are, mendicants, these two kinds of happiness. What two? Defiled happiness and undefiled happiness. These are the two kinds of happiness. The better of these two kinds of happiness is the happiness of no defilements.”

2.68

“There are, mendicants, these two kinds of happiness. What two? Happiness of the flesh and happiness not of the flesh. These are the two kinds of happiness. The better of these two kinds of happiness is happiness not of the flesh.”

2.69

“There are, mendicants, these two kinds of happiness. What two? Noble happiness and ignoble happiness. These are the two kinds of happiness. The better of these two kinds of happiness is noble happiness.”

2.70

“There are, mendicants, these two kinds of happiness. What two? Physical happiness and mental happiness. These are the two kinds of happiness. The better of these two kinds of happiness is mental happiness.”

2.71

“There are, mendicants, these two kinds of happiness. What two? Happiness with rapture and happiness free of rapture. These are the two kinds of happiness. The better of these two kinds of happiness is happiness free of rapture.”

2.72

“There are, mendicants, these two kinds of happiness. What two? Happiness with pleasure and happiness with equanimity. These are the two kinds of happiness. The better of these two kinds of happiness is happiness with equanimity.”

2.73

“There are, mendicants, these two kinds of happiness. What two? The happiness of immersion and the happiness without immersion. These are the two kinds of happiness. The better of these two kinds of happiness is the happiness of immersion.”

2.74

“There are, mendicants, these two kinds of happiness. What two? Happiness that relies on rapture and happiness that relies on freedom from rapture. These are the two kinds of happiness. The better of these two kinds of happiness is happiness that relies on freedom from rapture.”

2.75

“There are, mendicants, these two kinds of happiness. What two? Happiness that relies on pleasure and happiness that relies on equanimity. These are the two kinds of happiness. The better of these two kinds of happiness is happiness that relies on equanimity.”

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Contrasting happiness relying on pleasure v/s happiness relying on equanimity

2.76

“There are, mendicants, these two kinds of happiness. What two? Happiness that relies on form and happiness that relies on the formless. These are the two kinds of happiness. The better of these two kinds of happiness is happiness that relies on the formless.”

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The Buddha offers a series of contrasting sources of happiness in these teachings and shares which one is better.

If one connects all the teachings of the Buddha, the Buddha is sharing the happiness born from two different sources as:

• Happiness of lay life, of attachments, of sensual pleasures, of physical, of form
• Happiness born of renunciation, of immersion, of rapture (1st and 2nd jhānas), of equanimity (3rd and 4th jhānas)

Ultimately, the Buddha shared a way to unconditioned happiness. The way to that relies on freeing oneself from grasping of the different aggregates to enjoy more refined states of happiness in progression.

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