Happiness, 3

The Buddha referred to the pleasures of a kiss, a coffee, a visit or a sunny day as "sensual pleasures" - pleasures that derive from sense contact.

And he had this to say of sensual pleasures (edited from the Potaliya Sutta):

Sensual pleasures have been compared to a skeleton by the Blessed One.

Sensual pleasures have been compared to a grass torch by the Blessed One.

Sensual pleasures have been compared to a charcoal pit by the Blessed One.

[These sensual pleasures] provide much suffering and much despair, while the danger in them is still more.

While the Buddha recognized the dukkha inherent in sensual pleasure, this was not the end of his concern. He describes "the danger in them [that] is still more" in the Magandiya Sutta:

People who are not free from lust for sensual pleasures, who burn for sensual pleasures, who are devoured by craving for sensual pleasures, have faculties that are impaired.

Thus, though sensual pleasures are actually painful to touch, they acquire a mistaken perception of them as pleasant.

When we cling to the kiss, the coffee, a friend or anything that is inherently transient, we create the mistaken belief that these will produce pleasure.

This belief distorts our connection to reality and, thus, we fall away from the causes and conditions for genuine happiness. That is dangerous.

Comments

[jill i]

Ibnteresting fine line....enjoy sensual pleasures while you are experiencing but then move on to what's next without clinging and craving, right? Ah, there's that chocolate thing. But I'm working on it.
thanks barry!