A few comments on happiness...
“By stilling thought one kills
Both good and evil deeds:
Self-stilled, abiding in the Self,
One wins unalterable happiness.”
Maitri Upanishad
“People often suppose that the realization of nirvana means the annihilation of all forms of existence. This is not true. What really transpires is that the illusions arising from our ignorance are extinguished, and we know true happiness, independent of any causes or conditions. And we continue to exist.”
The Dalai Lama - Reflections from the Journey of Life
“…[A]ccording to Aristotle, ‘it is necessary that there should be an eternal unchanging substance’ (Metaphysics 12, 6). This will impart change to other things, but will not itself change. Moreover, it will be immaterial, since it is beyond any sort of change or corruption. … It cannot itself change, because all change would be for the worse. And it contemplates the most perfect and best of things, and so exists in pure bliss or beatitude. What is the most perfect of things? Well, it is, so it must be thinking of itself. So God enjoys contemplating the divine being itself, knowing that it is the best thing there is. ‘Its thinking,’ says Aristotle ‘is a thinking on thinking.’ That is, it is the object of its own knowledge, and in such knowledge lies supreme happiness.”
Keith Ward - God: A Guide for the Perplexed
“It is possible to live in a state of stable happiness only when we are completely free of ignorance. Awakening puts an end to unconscious rebirth, and then the conditions and causes of painful effects disappear. This is the realization of a state of happiness which no longer depends on our external circumstances, nor on our emotions.”
The Dalai Lama - Reflections from the Journey of Life