According to the Buddha’s teachings, the most basic condition for happiness is freedom. But freedom from what exactly?
This isn’t a reference to physical bondage, though that would be an intense form of sadness and misery. Instead, the freedom he speaks of is that of the mental formations of anger, despair, jealousy, and delusions.
These mental formations poison you and poison your happiness. If any of them dwell in your heart you can never be happy. Reflect for a moment and ask yourself if you feel any anger, despair, jealousy or delusions, and if so ponder on the root causes for each. To cure yourself of these poisons you must understand their source.
