You are right, there's actually two and a half millenia of people in eastern traditions dedicating their entire lives to 1. Achieving happiness, and 2. Developi

You are right, there's actually two and a half millenia of people in eastern traditions dedicating their entire lives to 1. Achieving happiness, and 2. Developing a methodology for achieving that state to others. It's called Buddhism, and if anyone, they are the happiness experts. The western scientific tradition is just starting in this journey (about 50 years of scientific studies exist on people that are considered high meditation achievers). One of the main ideas of buddhism lacks a good translation, but it is in the fact that understanding something intellectually is NOT the same as understanding something experientially. That's apparent in the way this article is laid out. Just because you have been studying happiness doesn't mean you experience it. This difference in types of knowledge is key, and so foundational at the highest levels of buddhist tantra that working with the intellect is often seen as an impediment. That's why Buddhism is seen as a practice above a religion or philosophy.