Yes, absolutely. I linked this elsewhere in this thread, a Fresh Air interview [0] with the author of Why Buddhism is True [1] explains better than I can why having happiness be a permanent condition would not make any sense from an evolutionary perspective:

> I mean, natural selection built us to do some things - a series of things that help us get genes into the next generation. Those include eating food so we stay alive, having sex, things like that.

> And if it were the case that any of these things brought permanent gratification, then we would quit doing them, right? I mean, if you - you would eat. You'd feel blissed out. You'd never eat again. You'd have sex. You'd lie there, basking in the afterglow, never have sex again. Well, obviously, that's not a prescription for getting genes into the next generation. So natural selection seems to have built animals in general to be recurringly dissatisfied. And this is - seems to be a central feature of life, and it's central to the Buddhist diagnosis of what the problem is.

A key Buddhist teaching is that dukkha (often translated as "suffering" but I believe "dissatisfaction" is more accurate) is caused not just by pushing away negative feelings, but by trying to not let go of positive feelings.

Going out for a beer with my friends brings me happiness. If I chase that positive feeling, I might end up with a vicious hangover the next day, or long-term with a dependence on alcohol.

As an oversimplification, you can view any addiction through the lens of taking an ephemeral positive feeling, wishing for it to be permanent, and pursuing it over and over again, rather than accepting the nature of its impermanence.

0: https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?stor...

1: https://amazon.com/Why-Buddhism-True-Philosophy-Enlightenmen...

At the same time, Buddhism is about transcending samsara and therefore dukkha. It's hard to find a good word to describe the complete absence of all forms of dissatisfaction, but "happiness" is not a terrible first approximation.

For me, it's "contentment" - not the high of happiness per se, but more of a feeling of everything just being right.

Yes, even if "objectively" being wrong.

> complete absence of all forms of dissatisfaction

Peace?

Yes they are, but that's not a bad thing because there are less swings in emotion and more stability. Usually I'm not happy or sad, I am neutral, which is such a weird thing for Western society to be in because we strive to be happy constantly. I feel like the more I try to be happy the less happy I am, whereas when I am in the moment I find contentment.