Hearing many discourses of the Buddha Dhamma in English by various non Sinhala speaking Buddhist monks from around the world a question arises in my mind. Is the Buddha dhamma about maintaining happiness in the mind? If happiness exists there wll be unhappiness at the other end as the happiness will eventually wear away, decay or change. This then is a duality. To maintain one state, to try to stay happy all the time is attachment to happiness and shunning unhappiness. If one is in the pursuit of happiness, constantly looking for ways and means of maintaining ones happiness, isn’t this a delusional state? If one has to work to maintain ones happiness the moment one stops working the happiness will start to decay, the same way the kettle starts to cool the moment the fire is extinguished. Isn’t the Buddha Dhamma about not tilting in either direction but to be detached from both happiness and unhappiness? This is the state of Upekkha. Upekkha is a tranquil state of mind which is neither happy nor sad nor anything in between. Most say that this is the middle path but if one looks at it clearly one can see that the middle of ANYTHING is only a maintained condition of BALANCE as long as there is no other force acting upon it. The slightest imbalance in either direction will break the balance. One extreme from the middle is Sukha or the fruits of raga/attachment/love etc. The other extreme is Dukkha or the fruits of repulsion/anger/hate etc which is called Dvesha. Dvesha means the second state (devani veshaya ), always springs as a result of loosing love/Raga or loosing whatever you attached yourself with love, effection etc (Raaga). The middle which is a balance of Raga/Dvesha is called Adukkamasukha which is the center from  where one is constantly wrongly measuring either side ( Raga and Dvesha ).  Majjima Patipada which has been wrongly translated as the middle path, is not about anything to do with the middle. Majjima means to detach from intoxication and stupor. Intoxication and stupor brought about by attachment(Raga – desire/happiness), conflict ( Dvesha – Repulsion/unhappiness, Sadness, anger,etc which springs from loosing what one loves,is attached to etc.) and Delusion (MOHA). Majjima Patipada is the path of 8 steps one need to follow for one not become intoxicated by delusion and to free oneself from the bonds of the material world. Anichcha which is NOT Anithya means one is unable to maintain any state of mind continuously. When must realize/experience that one CANNOT maintain any state of mind continuously /permanently (to be permanently in a happy state of mind or stay permanently away from an unhappy state of mind – nichcha), and that happiness and unhappiness both ends in Dukkha (Sukha Dukkha and Duka Dukkha) and that due to this one is destitute/forsaken/helplessly lost in Sansara(this is the true meaning of Anathta which does not mean Anathma.) This is the Thrilakkhanaya. Thri – three, khana – to sever. One needs to sever and totally obliterate the three bonds of Nichcha ( thinking that one can maintain a permanent state of mind), Sukha (believing that which is happiness/good can be maintained), Aththa (thinking that this is a stable, fulfilled state of mind), to be truly delivered from the bonds of Sansara.