The Happiness Project: Transforming the Three Poisons That Cause the Suffering We Inflict on Ourselves and Others

The book is organized into four broad movements. The introductory chapters discuss the secrets of happiness, the reconciliation of science and religion, and the case history of a typical sufferer. “The Buddhist View” presents the Buddhist framework of view, path, and fruition; the Buddha and his teaching; the First Noble Truth of suffering and the three facts of existence; the Second Noble Truth of desire; self and identity as basic bewilderment; and neurosis as a meeting point between Buddhist and Western thought. “Western Views of Suffering” examines suffering through science, medicine, psychotherapy, Western religion, Genesis, the Book of Job, Oedipus Rex, Jesus, and politics. “Western Views of Desire” studies desire as the basis of the happiness project, sin, crime, ethics, morality, hidden wishes, neurosis, and civilizational discontent. “Western Views of Self” traces the evolution of self, the emergence of the personal “I,” and the mythic polarization of paradise. The final section, “Transforming Suffering,” presents meditation on happiness as the practical culmination of the work.