perfect happiness

Perfect happiness is described as success. When the ancients spoke of success, they did not mean the symbols of rank and honor; they meant by success the state wherein one's happiness was complete. The modern man means by success the badges of rank and honor. But the badges of rank and honor on a man's body have nothing to do with his original self.They are things that are accidentally loaned to him for a period. You cannot refuse them when they are loaned to you, nor can you keep them when they are taken away from you.Therefore, one should not forget oneself over such insignia of authority, nor should one do what the world is doing because of failure and poverty. He is happy in failure as well as in  success, and therefore, he is without sorrow. If a man is unhappy because things loaned to him have been taken away from him, then it is clear that when he was happy, he had lost his true self. Therefore, it is said "Those who lose their selves in material things and lose their original nature in the material world may be compared to people who stand on their heads.  --The Wisdom of Laotse, 94-95    Gratitude to Master Alex Anatole