(E12)-01-Introduction

Good evening to all of you. Tonight the topic of the talk is the search for happiness. I think all of us are interested in this topic because everybody is looking for happiness, right? So from young, we have been looking for happiness until we die. And unfortunately the Buddha says that suffering or dukkha is a characteristic of life. So because suffering is a characteristic of life, we try to distract ourselves from suffering by trying to find happiness or enjoyment. And we do all kinds of things to try to get happiness. We have ambitions from young. When we are young, many people think, if I find the right partner, I'll be happy forever and ever. But life is not so simple. To take the plunge, whether the partner is the right partner or not. So some people, they find the right partner, they're happy. But because life is anicca, sometimes they're also happy only for a few years. After a few years of marriage, some people get what you call the seven-year itch. And then people do other things, like try to study, go to the university so that you can get a good life, can have an enjoyable life. Some people even migrate, go overseas to find happiness. That also is a big gamble, yeah? But that is quite a drastic step, isn't it? To pull up all your roots and go so far away and meet different people. So we do all kinds of things to find happiness.

(E12)-02-How-to-Get-Happiness

But if you ask worldly people how to get happiness, what would people say? Money, isn't it? Especially Chinese. Chinese are always looking for money. Why do people think of money? Because with money we can enjoy a lot of things, isn't it? We can buy a house to stay in. The more money, the bigger your house. You can enjoy good food, drive a sports car even, if you have a lot of money, make up, etc. Even watch Astro or go overseas for holiday, if you have a lot of money. Nowadays, you look in the papers, you can even buy a wife with money, isn't it? This morning, somebody told me you can buy a wife in Siti Awan. Is it true? Very near. How much do they have to pay? What is the price? We have good husbands here, don't know. So people chase for money, chase after money. You have the lawful way to get money and you also have unlawful ways of getting money. Whether it's lawful or unlawful, people work very hard, doesn't it, to get money. Sometimes people happily work overtime, like those who are CEOs of big companies. They work the whole day, sometimes night or so. Come back so late, they don't see their children. Children are already gone to sleep. Next morning, children go off to school, they don't even get to see their children. So the whole day they are in the office. But they think it's worth the sacrifice because they want to make a lot of money. And even people who do unlawful things to make money, they also work very hard. For example, at night when you are sleeping, the thief is very busy, isn't it? 2 a.m. working, very hard working. Sacrifice his sleep.

(E12)-03-Why-the-Difference

You see, so we struggle very hard to make money. But we find in this world some people make a lot of money, some people make little money, and then some people even die trying to make money. So why is it that in spite of everybody exerting themselves, making a lot of effort, yet the result is different? So the Buddha says it all is dependent on blessings or merit. If we have the blessings or the merit, we can get what we want and we can enjoy more what we call Hokki, in Hokkien, Fok Hei in Cantonese. So the Buddha advised that we should create blessings for ourselves so that we can have an enjoyable life. And sometimes not only this lifetime, but future lifetimes. And the suttas, the discourses of the Buddha tell us that there are three ways to get blessings. And these three ways in Pali is called dāna, sīla, bhāvana. Dāna is charity or generosity. Sīla is moral conduct, keeping the precepts, not harming others. Bhāvana is development of the mind. So these are the three things. Dāna and sīla, that is charity and moral conduct, is the very basic things that we should do. Because if you don't do these two things, you are not acting like a human being. And because if you don't act like a human being, The Buddha says that in future you will not come back as a human being. People who don't practice charity and moral conduct, they are either reborn in the ghost plane or animal realm or in hell to suffer. So these two things are very basic. Now, the third one, bhavana, development of the mind, comes from doing two things. One is listening to the Dhamma, the Buddha's teachings, that teaches the skillful way to live our life, the right path to walk in life. And the second part of bhavana is meditation. Meditation to focus our mind. Because most of us have a very scattered mind. So when you have a very scattered mind, your IQ is not very high. You don't see things very clearly. But if you are able to focus your mind, you can concentrate, then whatever you do, you will do well because you have a very strong concentration, a very strong focused mind. So the Buddha says if we do these three things and we create a lot of blessings, we can either come back to the human birth or we go up to heaven.

(E12)-04-Heavens

Heaven is the best place we can be reborn in. The Buddha says there are five destinations of rebirth. The best is the heavenly planes. Second best is the human plane. These two are called happy destinations of rebirth. Below us there are three woeful planes of rebirth called the ghost realm, the animal realm, and the hell realm. Many of us, because of not knowing the Dhamma, we act in very selfish ways. And because of that, most people, the Buddha says, will be reborn in the ghost realm. Not because they do any great evil, but because they don't do enough blessings, they don't create enough blessings to be reborn in a higher plane. And then the animal realm is for those with great anger, and lust, because that is the nature of animals, to be very fierce and to have a strong lust. And people who harm others, cheat others, kill animals and all that, or kill human beings, they will be reborn in the hell realms to suffer for a very long time. So if we do these three things to create blessings, this charity, moral conduct, and development of the mind, then we can be reborn in the heavenly realms where life is very, very enjoyable and lasts a very, very long time. The heavens also, there are three levels. The lowest is the sensual desire heavens, and above that is the form heavens, and above that is the formless heavens. Now the sensual desire happens, we can be reborn there if we do these three things. And there are six heavens in there, the lowest heaven of the four great heavenly kings. These are the lowest devas, heavenly beings, which includes snake spirits, nagas, river spirits, mountain spirits, tree spirits, cloud spirits, datukong and all that. Here, the life is not so very enjoyable. Sometimes they have to kill to survive, like snakes and yakkas and all that. But higher than that is the heaven of the 33 gods, Tavatimsa heaven. what Hokkiens call thị công, their life is better, very enjoyable and for a very long time. and then above that is the Yama heaven, then above that is the Tusita heaven, then the fifth heaven is called the Nimana-rati heaven. This Nimana-rati heaven, their blessings are so great that whatever they think of, they want, they just have to wish for it, it appears. And the sixth heaven above that, the sixth heaven, one heaven above that is the Paranimitta-Vasavati heaven. Also the blessings are so great that they can get whatever they want in this world just by thinking about it. But they use these other devas to make this for them. So the fifth and the sixth heaven, they have such great blessings that anything they want in the world, they just think only, they can get. For example, you want a girlfriend or a boyfriend, just think on it, whatever shape, size you want, whatever food you want to eat, also you can. So because their psychic power is so great that they can even assume whatever form they want. That's why you see like Indians pray to the elephant god. Probably this Deva, He remembered the previous life. He was an elephant. It was quite a pleasant life. So he liked to go back to the elephant form. So whatever form you want to assume, you can. So this fifth and the sixth heaven in the sensual desire realm, the blessings is so much that they can have anything they want in this world just by wishing it only. You could say the world is at their feet. So you probably think they are the happiest beings in the world, but they are not, you know. The Buddha says there are higher devas above them, where life is even more pleasant, more enjoyable. The next one above them is the form heavens. The form heavens is a place where you can be reborn if you attain the rupa jhāna, form jhānas, states of meditative absorption, where you meditate and your mind becomes one-pointed, what Chinese we call rūting, and you can be absorbed in this state of bliss. and just enjoy it. It's like being high on drugs. But you're on drugs, it doesn't last very long. But this state of meditative absorption can last a long time. So if you attain the skill of attaining jhāna in the human lifetime, when you pass away, you have a chance of being reborn in this form heavens. And these form heavens, these devas, their body is like a ball of light. Because when you attain jhāna, your mind brightens, becomes bright. So they are reborn there with a bright body like a sun. And their body is extremely bright, brighter than even our sun. because the Buddha says the lowest of them, their light can shine to 1,000 world systems. One world system is a star, a sun. So they can reach 1,000 stars. And the best of them can reach 100,000 stars. Their light can shine to 100,000 stars so far away. So they are very happy here because their mind It is their mind that gives them happiness. In the second jhāna heavens, there are four jhāna heavens here, the first jhāna, second jhāna, third jhāna, and the fourth jhāna. In the second jhāna heavens, the Buddha says they are so happy that every day they say sukha, sukha, sukha. And you see, this happiness does not depend on outside things. It just wells up from within them. And then the third jhāna, heavens, they are so happy that they are blissed out, cannot utter a word. And they are so happy there for millions and millions of years. So that is the higher happiness, and the fourth jhāna is even more pleasant. And then the formless heavens, they are called formless because these beings there cannot be seen by any other beings. Some people think they don't have a body, but actually according to the suttas, all beings must have a body. Once you have consciousness, the five aggregates must come together according to the Buddha's teachings. So other beings cannot see them, but their body is so huge and so fine, so extremely fine, subtle, that other beings cannot see them. And they enjoy even higher happiness for a very, very long time. So you see here, why is it that this form realm and the formless realm beings, their happiness is higher? and they don't need outside things to make them happy.

(E12)-05-What-Creates-Happiness

Because if you really think about it, you realize that happiness is a feeling. It's just a feeling, right? Just like sorrow is also a feeling. So that is a very important point, that happiness is a feeling and it does not depend on outside conditions. Not that some people think, oh, when I become a millionaire, I'll be very happy. But after you become a millionaire, you want to become a billionaire. It's never satisfied. So that is a very important thing to realize, that happiness is a feeling and it does not depend on external conditions. As long as you know how to create the conditions for happy feeling to arise, and to prevent the conditions for suffering or sorrowful feelings to arise. That is the way to happiness. So from my understanding of the Dhamma, I have set forth here five conditions that will make us happy, really happy. happy for a very, very long time, not just like worldly happiness where the happiness is just fleeting. For example, you think of satay, you want to eat satay, you go and find the best satay stall in town, you go and makan. How long is your enjoyment? Short while only, that's enough. Half an hour, habis. After a few hours later, you're hungry again. But this formula here, if you practice according to this, what I'm going to talk here, you will be happy for a very, very long time. So what are these five steps to happiness? The first one is contentment. Contentment is a very important quality to cultivate. Contentment is not dependent on external things. In the Buddha's teachings, contentment is one of the steps that a monk has to cultivate in the spiritual life. And to put it in another way, contentment basically means having few wants, having few desires. When we have a lot of desires, sometimes it's very difficult to achieve those desires. Hokkien say, how many? Au kiu koi tau kwan, yeah? Sometimes like a man marries a woman or a woman marries a man. If your expectations are too high after marriage, you're not going to be happy, right? But if you're contented, then you're happy, isn't it? Sometimes a man, after a few years of marriage, he might see the wife getting a bit fat. then he's not so pretty already, his eyes start to roam. Or the other way, a woman after marrying a man, she says his income is not so high, not satisfied with his income. So this is all because of not knowing contentment. If we are contented, we are happy. If we are not contented, we are like somebody very thirsty, wanting to quench our thirst, always thirsty. You quench your thirst for a short while, then you're thirsty again, or hungry for something. So this is the first quality we need to practice. You know, our Chinese, maybe it's in our genes that we struggle very hard. And because we struggle so hard, you find, for example, in Malaysia, the race with the highest cancer is what? Chinese, right? Because we give ourselves a lot of stress, right? I stay in Temo, which is near Tapa. There we have a lot of orang asli, you know. Have you ever heard of orang asli having cancer? You ever heard? Because they take life very easy. If they have no money, they don't worry like us. They go and sleep. So that's why they never get cancer. So contentment is the first step to happiness. The second step is to know the way not to allow unhappiness to come to us. We can attract unhappiness according to the Buddha's teachings. How do you attract unhappiness? When you give unhappiness to others. When you give unhappiness to others, it comes back to you. Because as the Christians say, as you sow, so shall you reap. What you give to others, you get back in return. So when we create unhappiness to others by killing, by stealing, by committing adultery, by cheating and all that, we give unhappiness to others, it naturally comes back to us. So to prevent this, the Buddha taught us to keep the precepts. When we keep the precepts, we refrain from killing, we refrain from stealing, from committing adultery, from lying, from carrying tales and all that. So we don't cause others to suffer. So suffering does not look for us. So the second step is to keep seal, moral conduct. If we have moral conduct, then people will appreciate us, people will look up to us. The third way to get happiness is to give happiness to others, to practice charity, generosity. This is dāna. So charity is not only giving money, you know. As Hokkiens, we say, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh give tuition to so many students so that they attain this benefit. So that is the third way, to give happiness to others, to give kind words to others. Be kind in our actions, be kind in our thoughts to others. These three kamas, the Buddha said, we must always practice loving kindness or metta to others by our thoughts, by our words, by our actions. So when you give love to others, the love naturally comes back to you, so you get happiness. So this is the third way, by practicing dhāna, charity or generosity, helping others in whatever way we can, so that people are happy with us and we get back, you know, wherever Now and then, I come across Buddhists who don't understand much of the Dhamma. People who don't understand the Dhamma, they like to bantang, yes or not? So sometimes your friend passes away, or some relative passes away, and they say, better don't go, and then chong jok. All this bantang is not the Buddhist way. That is something from long time ago inherited from China. What is not worthwhile to keep, we throw away. What is good to practice, even if it's from other religions, we can practice. For example, Christians are known to have a lot of Christian love. When one of their friends is sick, they go and visit and give comforting words and sing some hymns and all that. We can do the same. We should do the same. Support each other so that we give each other mutual support. So when you need support, people will come and support you. So this is giving happiness to others. Now the fourth thing is to understand that a lot of our suffering comes from the mind, mental suffering, and it arises because of five hindrances, the Buddha says. There are five hindrances that obstruct our mind, cover us, that make us not see things clearly and give us a lot of mental dukkha. What are these five things? First one is sensual desire. Second one is ill will or anger. Third is sloth and topper, making us sleepy, making us lazy. Fourth is restlessness and worry. The fifth is doubt. So these five things give us a lot of mental dukkha. You see, sometimes in the newspapers you find an old man raping the daughter or the granddaughter, because the sensual desire makes him so difficult that he does these things. Anger is another one. If you have a lot of anger, you cannot be happy. People say something against you, even a small matter. You get so angry that night you cannot sleep. Tomorrow you still think about it. But if you don't have anger, people say something to you, you just laugh it off. The Buddha says we should not listen to everything. If the words come from a wise person, you value it, you listen to it, and you think about it. But if it comes from a fool, the Buddha says that is the practice of fools, not worth listening, not worth paying attention. So some things you must let in one ear and go out the other ear. So this is anger. Then sloth and torpor. You have sloth and torpor. You're always sleepy and no energy to do anything. So you're unhappy with yourself. People are also unhappy with you. And then restlessness. You're restless, you can't stay still. Some people always have to do something, go out. Even at night also go out. Nowadays very dangerous to go out at night. And then doubt. You have a lot of doubt, then you're always doubtful. You listen to something, you're doubtful. You want to make a decision, so you're doubtful. You're asked to make a decision A, B, C. You don't know which one to decide because your mind is not clear. So these five things causes, give us this mental suffering. So the Buddha says to overcome this, we have to meditate. And when you meditate, you practice samatha, tranquility of mind. So you learn to focus your mind. And meditation is something that's very difficult to master. Very difficult to master. So you keep practicing day after day, after a few years, then you get some skill, you are able to control your mind, get a hold of your mind, and then you are able to reduce your five hindrances, and they don't give you so much suffering. If you are able to practice samatha meditation until you get the jhanas, one-pointedness of mind, then your mind becomes a source of happiness, a source of bliss, instead of a source of suffering. The Buddha says, an uncontrolled mind is a source of great suffering. A controlled or disciplined mind is a source of great bliss. So it is worth all that effort to learn meditation and discipline our mind. Then we become a very happy person. If you are able to focus your mind, when you attain what you call threshold concentration, which is very near to jhana, one-pointedness of mind, you notice two things drop very fast. One is your anger. The other one is your lust reduces a lot so that even people around you will notice, suddenly this person doesn't have such a big temper anymore. So that is the fourth thing to practice meditation to reduce that suffering in our mind that comes from the mind. The fifth one is to attain the highest happiness. What is the highest happiness? Nibbana. The Buddha says, Nibbanam paramam sukham. Nibbana is the greatest bliss or happiness. But the suttas say, nibbāna is a state where the sixth consciousness stops, our consciousness ceases, because the world is created from consciousness. Although we think that the world is so real to us, actually it's only because of our seeing consciousness that we see the world. Because of the hearing consciousness, you hear the sounds in the world. Because of the Smelling consciousness, you can smell. The taste consciousness makes you taste, and the touch consciousness makes you aware of tangible things, contact in the world. So these five consciousnesses make the outer world, and the thinking consciousness makes up the inner world. So these six consciousnesses make up the entire world. So when the sixth consciousness stops, the whole world disappears. For example, a lot of people, they misunderstand, they think that the eye sees, but it is not the eye that sees the world. Because if it's the eye that sees the world, I can do a quick operation for you, take out your two eyes and put on the table. Can the two eyes see the world? Cannot. But at night when you go to sleep and your eyes are closed and you see another world as real as now, And you're convinced that it's a real world. That's why you get very excited in your dreams. You can get frightened in your dreams. So you see in your dream state, you don't need to use your eyes and yet you can see. That's why it is consciousness that conjures up the world. And then when this sixth consciousness stops, that is the state of Nibbana. So it's very perplexing to a lot of people. How come when there is no consciousness, the Buddha calls that the highest happiness? Because when you have no consciousness, you have no feeling, isn't it? So how is it the highest happiness? Now to understand this, we examine the state of sleep. When we go to sleep, there are two types of sleep. One is the dreaming state. One is a deep sleep where there is no dreams. Even scientists, they have a name for these two states. So in the dream state, it is not a very blissful sleep because you might be frightened in your dream, you might be excited, you might be worried. But the other type of sleep where it is so deep and there is no dreams at all, and you're not even aware of anything, that is a very blissful state. And in that state, you're not even aware that you exist at all, yes or not? It's because you are not aware of yourself that it is so blissful. The Buddha says, when that I arises, that self arises, suffering arises. When the body arises, that is the source of suffering. When the mind arises, that is the source of suffering. Once you have a self, You are worried about yourself. You want to protect yourself. From the moment we are born until we die, we worry about this self, trying to protect this self. So in the process of trying to protect yourself, you dare to do anything. Sometimes when your life is in danger, you will kill yourself. and the life of your child is in danger, you'll kill also. You'll do anything just to protect the self. But when there's no self to protect, that is happiness. So in the deep sleep state, they're not aware of anything. Sometimes people go and sleep in this old rest house. They get pulled down from the bed by the ghost. They're not even aware, such a deep sleep state. So it gives you an idea of Nibbana. But this state of Nibbana in the Kevada Sutta, even though the six consciousnesses have stopped, there is still another type of consciousness. It's like an inactive consciousness. The normal six consciousnesses arise with an object. When you are conscious, you are conscious of something, isn't it? That is nama-rupa. Viññāna arises with nama-rupa. Viññāna is consciousness. Nama-rupa is mentality, materiality, the physical world and the mental world that you are conscious of. But in the state of Nibbāna, this inactive consciousness does not need an object. It is pure consciousness. That's why the Hindus call it pure consciousness. They say that ultimately we are all pure consciousness. And this pure consciousness pervades the entire universe. All of space is consciousness. So the fifth step here I'm trying to explain is to try to attain Nibbana.

(E12)-06-How-to-Attain-Nibbana

and how to attain Nibbāna, the Noble Eightfold Path. Sometimes people say the Buddha taught 84,000 Dharma doors. It's not true. The Buddha only taught one, one way to Nibbāna, that is the Noble Eightfold Path. So this Noble Eightfold Path consists of eight factors that we have to practice, and it also can be grouped into three things. Sila, samadhi, paññā. Sila is moral conduct, samadhi is concentration, and paññā is wisdom. So we practice these three things and we strive for Nibbāna. And then even though you don't reach Nibbāna, if you attain some steps along the way, that itself will give you great happiness. Actually, when you strive for Nibbāna, there are eight steps you can attain. What are these eight steps? The eight stages of Āryahood. The first one is the first path, then the first fruit. The first fruit is called Sotapanna, then the second path, and then second fruit. Second fruit is called Sakadagamin, once-returner. Then the third path and the third fruit. The third fruit is called anagamin, non-returner. That means does not come back to be reborn as a human being anymore. And then the fourth path and the fourth fruit. The fourth fruit is an arahant, which includes the Buddha also. So these are the eight Aryans, the eight noble persons, the eight holy men. So when you strive for Nibbāna, you will attain these stages along the way.

(E12)-07-Summary

So these are the five steps to permanent lasting happiness. The first one is, the lowest is practicing contentment. The second one is keeping moral conduct so that you don't give happiness to others, so that happiness does not come looking for you. The third step is to give happiness to others in whatever way you can. so that happiness comes looking for you. The fourth step is to get a hold of our mind, train ourselves to control our mind so that the mind does not give you so much suffering. so that you suppress the five hindrances. The fifth step is to practice the Buddha's path to eternal happiness, namely the Noble Eightfold Path, and you will achieve permanent happiness. So these are the five steps. Are you all practicing these five steps? A lot of people, they are practicing the worldly way. looking for money. But money is not inside these five steps. That's why you find a lot of rich men are not happy. You all look in the papers, what do you see? Every now and then you see this, what's her name? What Hilton? Ah, Paris Hilton. Poor little rich girl, yeah? So much money, but she's not happy. Millionaire or billionaire, but not happy. In one of the discourses of the Buddha, the Buddha, being an ascetic, he used to sleep in the forest. And then when you sleep in the forest under the trees during the winter nights, it gets very cold. So one layman came up to him and then looked at the Buddha. He asked the Buddha, are you happy? The Buddha said, in this world, if you think there is any happy man, you can say I'm the happiest, I'm the happy man in this world. Then he was scratching his head, now come this ascetic, not ascend to his name, sleeping under the tree, begging for his food, he's happy. So he thought somebody like the king of the country must be a really happy person. He got a palace to stay, so many wives and slaves to look after him, having everything he wants. He thought the king must be the happiest man in the world. But Buddha asked him, can the king, without doing anything, abide in unbounded happiness, unbounded bliss for one day and one night? He said, cannot. Why? Because of greed, hatred and delusion. We have angry feelings, we have lustful feelings, all these disturbing us. Anger, greed always gives us suffering. So the Buddha asked, can the king abide in unbounded bliss and happiness for two days, two nights, up to seven days, seven nights? He said, no. But the Buddha says, I can abide in unbounded bliss without doing anything. I can abide in bliss and happiness for seven days and seven nights without stopping. And what is this bliss that is unbounded? That is the state of Nibbāna. the Buddha can attain the state of Nibbana in this very lifetime. And what is that state? It's called Nirodha Samapatti, where his sixth consciousness can stop, and he's in bliss for seven days and seven nights. But you see, even though the sixth consciousness stops, there must still be another type of consciousness, right? Because without the other type of consciousness, how can the body be alive? So, you see, the Buddha can, because of that, he's the happiest person in the world. Now, who is walking the path, these five steps? I'm asking you, who is practicing these five steps to permanent happiness? Who in this world? The monks, monks and nuns. A lot of people, when you ask them to become a monk, suffering. Outside you see suffering, but inside here, happiness. You exchange the worldly happiness for the happiness within. That happiness within is a deeper happiness, lasting happiness. Just now I was saying that in this world, life is a gamble, they say. Choosing a partner is a gamble. You don't know whether you're going to be happy. So when you ask people to renounce, to become a monk, they do not take the plunge. They want happiness here and now. Because you become a monk, you don't know whether you're going to be happy or not. But they want happiness here and now, so they refuse to take the plunge. But a monk like me, I'm willing to give up everything, my life as a layman, what people think is a happy life. and become a monk. So, you see, a monk like me is a big gambler, you know. They say, lay people, when you buy, you buy $1, $2, $10. But if you know your number is coming out, you put a few hundred ringgit, isn't it? No money, so you go and borrow, isn't it? Put as much as you can. So a monk is like that, give up our whole life in exchange to get eternal happiness. So monks are big time gamblers. So this is the way to happiness. So I'm inviting you all to become monks and nuns. We still have a lot of vacancy in Thermal. Just now I said lay people, you want happiness immediately. That is a normal person's life. So in Hokkien we say, thao tee boi khor. But a monk's life is thao khor boi tee. The first year I became a monk was a lot of suffering, a lot of suffering. So much suffering that the first year, at one time I broke down and cried. But then, as the Buddha says, When you practice the spiritual path, even though it's a lot of suffering, you know that it is worth it. So the Buddha says you should grit your teeth and bear it. So I bore it. After one year, less and less suffering. Now after 24 years, I can see some happiness. Today is Saturday night. A lot of people have gone to karaoke, the bar and all that. You're all coming here to listen to Dharma talk. They have a lot of wisdom. So you're also walking the way to happiness.