Be Happy in Chinese / Japanese...

幸せである is a way to express the idea, "be happy" in Japanese.

Japanese grammar is far different than English, so the word order is kind of the opposite of English. If you translated directly, you'd have something like, "Happiness hence forth", or "Happiness hereafter". Basically, the idea is to be happy from this moment on.

Note: Because this selection contains some special Japanese Hiragana characters, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.

安貧樂道 means "It's better to be happy than rich" in Chinese.

Even if you are poor, you should still feel satisfied in your life...

...Satisfaction, happiness, and the meaning of your life come from within yourself and not from money or riches of the world.

In Chinese, there are a lot of four-character proverbs which express some very old philosophies.
Though there are only four characters on this scroll, in Chinese the meanings often surpass the dictionary definition of each character.

In this case, you should not set your expectations too high for the amount to money or riches you wish to have. One who sets their expectations too high is almost always disappointed. Instead, you should cherish what you have, and seek to improve yourself from within, and not measure your personal worth by the size of your bank account.

See Also:  A Sly Rabbit Will Have Three Openings to Its Den

樂天 is about being optimistic and also making the best of whatever life throws at you.

樂天 / 楽天 is hard to define. One dictionary defines this as, "acceptance of fate and happy about it". There is one English word equivalent which is sanguinity or sanguinary.

You can also say that this means, "Be happy with whatever Heaven provides", or "Find happiness in whatever fate Heaven bestows upon you". 樂天 suggests being an optimist in life.

Note: 樂天 / 楽天 is sometimes a given name in China.

Please note that Japanese tend to write the first character in a slightly-different form (as seen to the right). Let us know if you have a preference when you place your order.