What is wrong with happiness and excitement?
The answer to this question is, it leads to "Wanting", "craving" and "attachment."
The truth is, if we look at life closely, we will see that once we want happiness and excitement, and if we cannot have it, we'll suffer. On the other hand, once we have happiness and become attached to all the nice feelings that come with it, we will also suffer as all things are impermanent.
It is said that the more we want and crave, the more we are attached to, the more we will suffer. My next story illustrates this well:
There once lived a King, who inspired to be the Buddha. And so he went to his advisors and asked them to tell him how he could become one. "Your Majesty", his advisor replied. "Buddhahood is within you." No one can give you it. It is something you must learn and practice to gain yourself." He then pointed to the stars in the sky and said "It is like the stars in the sky. Can you order your men to bring you one of those star?" "No, absolutely not, it is impossible" Replied the King.
The advisor added, "Your Majesty, there are many in the World who has deep faith in the Buddha. Some look to him for protection, some for fortune, some for happiness and some look to him for enlightenment."
"So how many people in the World has come to know the Buddha?" The king asked his advisor, "How can I too get to know the Buddha?" His advisor replied, "You have to learn and practice the Dhamma (his teaching), to learn to lessen your wanting and craving. It is this wanting that is the obstruction to you gaining wisdom. Without wisdom, you will never get to know the Buddha."
When the king heard, he sighed hopelessly. "So then, there is no hope for me". "Yes there is, your Majesty", the advisor said. "You just have to walk on the path to purification, by learning and practice to free your deluded mind."
"So why is it that you want to become the Buddha, your Majesty?" The advisor asked. "Because I want to be more powerful than all other beings" said the King. "But you are the King, is this not enough?" The King fell into silence.
This story is an illustration of an "endless wanting." Human beings crave for more and more, just like the King in our story. He rules over his own Kingdom and is master of all his land, yet he craves for more. His want for power has no end and because of this, he can never feel content. He will never be able to know the Buddha.
Believe it or not, if we stop wanting, craving and attachment, we will get to know the "ultimate" happiness and this is nothing like the happiness that we have come to know in the conventional sense but happiness based on calm and peace from none attachment.
