Contentment
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Contentment (santuññhã) is the ability to be happy and fulfilled in ones’ present state. The Buddha says ‘Contentment is the highest wealth’ (Dhammapada 204), meaning that when we are content we do not need to get anything, go anywhere or be anything to be happy because we already are, and thus, contentment is more valuable than any possession or accomplishment. The Buddha describes the monk’s contentment like this, ‘He is satisfied with a robe to cover his body and alms food to satisfy his stomach and having accepted no more than is sufficient he goes his way, just as a bird flies here and there taking with it no more than its wings’(Digha Nikaya 1. 71).