How Can Buddhists be So Happy if Self is but an Illusion?

my reading of the east, in general, including buddhism, in particular, seesno threat to either personal identity or personal development (including ablissful afterlife)

the denial of a self as an immortal soul does not necessarily (or evenordinarily) entail a lack of continuity for one's personal identity

instead, it is the rejection of a synchronic substantival identity in favor of adiachronic processive identity, not terribly different, as i've always receivedit, from hartshorne's nonstrict identity or from the characteristicallybuddhist middle way of neither self nor no-self

for the buddhist, ultimate reality, albeit impersonal, is still friendly andjustice via karma remains in play - karma, in fact, is one element that helpsprovide continuity of personal identity

in short, the practical implications of the monist account, in general, andeven buddhist account, in particular, needn't be considered that muchdifferent from the perspective we take in our everyday phenomenalexperience (and this is true for much of buddhist teaching which,characteristically, first encounters reality in everyday experience, thenprescinds from any uncritical engagement of same, only to return toordinary reality with renewed clarity of vision and purity of purpose

in fact, the buddha truly honors the unfathomable depth dimensions of bothultimate reality and of our personhood, maintaining a respectful silenceregarding much of their character (even while affirming unitary being)

authentic buddhist practitioners are some of the happiest and mostpeaceful humans alive (consistent w/many neuroscientific studies)

the nondual has epistemic and ontological meanings but also refers tophenomenal experiences, which, as 'realizations,' don't necessarily entailmetaphysical conclusions but rather convey vague sensibilities of deepsolidarity leading to profound compassion

1