Harvard scholar Randy Rosenthal’s essay on Buddhist conceptions of happiness argues rightly that government policy and economic factors cannot be ignored. This definition has strong affinities with the Bhutanese and Thai schools (and increasingly, the emergent Euro-American study) of Buddhist economics.
Similarly, good public services are those that improve lives while using fewer scarce resources.” (World Happiness Report) As this year’s UN World Happiness Report (which was released on 20 March and was the subject of the Global Happiness Conference) notes: “At the most basic level, good government establishes and maintains an institutional framework that enables people to live better lives. When people are confident in the ability of their country’s leaders to provide an environment that generates a high quality of life, regardless of economic or social background, leadership at all levels-governmental, business, and civic-becomes a facilitator of happiness, not a hindrance to it. Obviously, every country or region is different, but we cannot overlook how conditions beyond the individual play a part, such as cultural values, economic policy and competitiveness, and social and historical forces. This indirectly promotes a spirit of public cooperation and concern for the communal good, which is fostered by the country’s leaders. As many know, in these nations the governments play a positive role by providing subsidized childcare, healthcare, and tertiary education. The consistent top rankings of Northern European countries in UN happiness surveys demonstrate that one cannot simply discount environmental factors. One cannot ignore social, cultural, and economic factors in models of happiness. It is also a confused mass of jumbled contradictions: at once personal and social, subjective but also researchable, and both in and often out of the control of each individual. That they were held around the same time is a meaningful coincidence, because happiness is a central human question. The theme, which centered on the role of mindful, thoughtful leadership in realizing peaceful and sustainable societies, coincided with the Global Happiness Conference at Harvard Divinity School, held on 13 May. The first was the 16th United Nations Vesak Celebrations, which was held from 12–14 May in Hanoi. This month I was following two important events.
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