Story about happiness: The harsh lesson a king learned to obtain happiness

A long time ago, there lived a king who was very wealthy. He lived in the most luxurious palaces served by dozens of servants. He ate the best meals and wore the best clothes and jewelry. And yet he was unhappy. Often he would resort to drinking and womanizing in order to feel happy. But happiness still eluded him. He offered a reward to anyone who would show him how to feel happy. Many came and tried and all of them failed. Then one day a wise sage came to meet the king. The king explained his plight and the mage listened carefully. The king told the sage that he was ready to do anything in order to be happy. The sage asked him, “Are you sure that you are willing to make any sacrifice in order to obtain happiness?” The king without hesitation replied, “I am willing to make any and every sacrifice that I must to find happiness. No matter the price I am willing to pay it.”

The sage then explained that happiness was not in possessions. So the king was prompted to give up all his wealth and then he would be happy. The king was desperate and expressed his willingness to do anything the sage advised. The sage asked the king to gather all his valuables such as gold, silver, and jewels. The king collected all the valuables that he possessed and put them in a chest and brought it to the sage. The sage wanted to test the king’s resolve one more time. So he asked are you sure that these are all the valuables you have? The king replied that he had the land and the palaces but he was ready to leave them behind. But he had put all his valuables in the chest. Then the king asked the sage, “What should I do now?” The sage calmly replies, “Close your eyes for a few minutes.” And the king does as he is told.

As soon as the king closes his eyes, the sage picks up the chest of gold and jewelry and starts running. When the king realizes what had just happened, his feelings changed from that of unhappiness to anger. The king starts chasing the sage and yelling, “You are a cheat! You have cheated me and you are most likely not even a sage, but a charlatan!” After a short period of running the sage runs into a narrow alley and the king kept chasing him. After running around the town for about an hour, the king finally caught the sage and yelled at him, “You scoundrel! You are not a sage, just a common thief. You just wanted to steal my wealth. You didn’t come to teach me how to obtain happiness, you came here to steal my wealth.”

The sage calmly and with a serious look on his face asked the king, “Are you happy that you got your possessions back from the cheating sage?” The king replied, “Yes!” The sage then replied, “Don’t you see it? I just gave you the formula for how to obtain happiness! Think about it. Just about an hour ago you had all your wealth, the silver, the gold, and the jewels. But you were unhappy. Then I took them away from you. Now you have them back and you are happy! Where did the happiness come from? Did it come from the wealth? Or did it come from inside of you, because you achieved something you wanted to achieve?” The king realizes that the sage had done all this to teach him a lesson about happiness. He respectfully bowed at the sage’s feet and thanked him for the lesson.