Recently, the happiness and well-being of individuals, as well as that of whole nations, has begun to be taken into consideration. The International Day of Happiness (20 March), adopted by the United Nations in 2012, is proof of the increasing concern for happiness and well-being. The country with the greatest influence on the adoption of the International Day of Happiness was undoubtedly Bhutan. In the 1970s the Bhutanese Fourth King Jigme Singye Wangchuk (b. 1955) advocated the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH) and the concept became the policy of the country. When discussing GNH, researchers focus mainly on its political or administrative aspects such as GNH Index and GNH Commission. On the other hand, they scarcely discuss what the concepts "National" and "Happiness" really mean for Bhutanese people in most cases. We thus need to direct our attention to their spirituality and its history, which form the basis of the GNH, as well as the political and administrative aspects of the GNH in order to realize what the concepts of happiness and well-being mean to the Bhutanese people. This paper analyzes the concepts "National" and "Happiness" as seen by the Bhutanese people with reference to Bhutanese history, thought, and ethics, while also exploring its application to society.
