Every life is born with a purpose — dwelling within the cycle of existence, wishing for happiness above all. But most don't know that happiness comes in three kinds.

Three kinds of happiness: unwholesome, neutral, and wholesome

Unwholesomeness, too, can grant gain, status, and praise. Work for it, and it will give — opening liquor and beer halls, intoxicating people, breaking up families, causing accidents and disasters, and still receiving admiration and acceptance in society. It can give all that. But the happiness of unwholesomeness comes with an attachment: once its value is spent, it destroys, and imprisons in the great hells. As for the happiness of neutrality — eating, playing, dancing, wandering about — it brings pleasure, but that pleasure has a cost, and it eventually reaches a dead end. We watch a movie or listen to music and grow bored; bored of this song, we need a new one; a movie ends, we're bored, and need another; a place grows tiring after a while, we need somewhere new — it's a dead end. The happiness of wholesomeness, however, is different: it is happiness composed of ease, peace, solitude, dispassion, liberation, and purity, leading toward Nibbāna. But this happiness requires first knowing and understanding purity. Our late teacher used to say: "Child, when you sit in meditation, it must have three things — knowledge paired with happiness and purity. Don't forget purity."

Worldly education gives only knowledge paired with happiness, never purity

When we send children to school, has any teacher ever taught about happiness? No. Do children know what happiness is? They have knowledge paired with happiness, but they don't know what purity is, because no teacher ever taught it — schools teach only knowledge leading toward happiness. So people of the world don't know what purity is. Not knowing it, their lives revolve mostly around the happiness of neutrality — eating, playing, dancing, wandering, showing off possessions to one another — never once knowing what the happiness of peace, solitude, dispassion, liberation, and purity actually is. Since no teacher taught it, they must go searching for it themselves. After graduating, people scatter, traveling across oceans, coming to Asia or elsewhere, searching for truth. But truth lies in each present moment, not somewhere over there or over here. To reach the truth, we need only set our intent, still the mind, and go inward — subtler and subtler, stiller and stiller — and the state of Dhamma will gradually appear in each present moment.

The mind must be wholesome first, before it can induce pure energy

As the mind becomes subtler, wholesomeness comes to cleanse defilement, clearing away the obscuring elements. As these lighten, the state of Dhamma gradually appears, the fruit of mental factors that bring bodily and mental tranquility (passaddhi) — a subtle body, a lightness of body and mind, as if floating, until one truly does float; a refined, gentle, soft body and mind — all fruits of tranquility. Since this mechanism already exists, we simply need to enter into it: set the mind at neutral, still, without delight or aversion toward whatever image or sound appears — just remain still. The mental factor of equanimity of mind (tatramajjhattatā) will then induce pure energy to cleanse and clear away the obscuring elements and defilements, so that our mental factors — a light body, a light heart, a calm body, a calm mind — can work efficiently. The mechanism already exists; we simply need to align ourselves with it, and the result will show itself. Otherwise we wonder why, after sitting with eyes closed for so long, nothing seems to happen — it's because we don't understand the mechanism of how mind and mental factors work. The mind must be wholesome; if it is not wholesome, it cannot induce pure energy at all. Without inducing pure energy, defilement cannot be cleared, and the obscuring elements that ignorance uses as its tool of concealment cannot be uprooted. So we must rely on wholesomeness to perceive the truth in each present moment — not in the near or distant future, nor the near or distant past, only in each present moment — by developing right mindfulness, according to the teaching: "Monks, you should clearly know body, feeling, mind, and dhamma, in order to eliminate covetousness and grief toward the world."

Form and quality: every wholesome sphere shares the same package

A wholesome state can only arise through setting intent. Set the intent on loving-kindness, and loving-kindness appears; once it appears, we sustain that state. Our role is simply to set the intent and then sustain it — loving-kindness will reveal its own qualities on its own. Wherever we extend our heart, loving-kindness shines and covers that far, dispelling ill will and defilement in every particle, both without and within, until they are gone entirely — this is the nature of loving-kindness. In truth, every kind of wholesome Dhamma shares the same form — form being the package, the container — appearing as a clear, bright sphere, identical in shape; but within, each contains a different state, a different quality, which we can put to use for benefit. We name these differing states after their qualities — this is their designation (nāma), named after the inner state. Form and designation work this way — like when we have a friend named Daeng: when we mention "Khun Daeng," someone we know well, we immediately recall his character. The name carries the quality. His appearance is the form; his temperament is the designation. Everything is composed of form and designation.

Cause and condition: the three natures that control all beings

Beyond form and designation, there are also cause and condition — cause behind cause, cause within cause. The root cause behind all causes is the three natures that control all beings — this is the cause — and from it, various causes are created, called conditions, the elements that come together to function. What do they need to function? Energy — to drive their own system, so that humans or beings will act as they wish. Unwholesomeness, for example, is behind the quarrels we have, the family discord we suffer — all overshadowed by unwholesomeness, using un-Dhamma as its tool, possessing its own mind and mental factors, which are, in truth, ourselves at different levels. We have a self at the level of the subtle human body, resembling us in appearance; a self at the level of the celestial body, resembling us but more resplendent; selves at the levels of the Brahma body, the formless-Brahma body, and various levels of the Dhamma body, up to the Arahant body — eighteen bodies in all, all belonging to us. That is the higher order. There is also a lower order — wandering spirits, resembling us but belonging to the lower side, hell-beings, asuras, each with their own pattern. When the wholesome nature overlays the mind and mental factors of the subtle human body onto us, it must match the state of feeling we hold at that moment; good feelings from the subtle human body, which is wiser than the coarse human body, then arise, and thoughts and feelings appear in our heart. Since it possesses the heart, its thoughts and feelings appear there, and we perceive them, believing we are thinking them ourselves — but in truth they are the thoughts and feelings of that self at the level of the subtle human body, what is called the subconscious — the very same thing. The higher order aims to lift our mind and heart to be noble, but it too needs energy — merit — to drive it.

A story: the man who saw lottery numbers in meditation at Wat Paknam and lost his clarity to greed

The teacher told a story from the old days at Wat Paknam. There was a man who, sitting in meditation, reached the inner Dhammakāya through all eighteen bodies. A friend asked him whether meditating at Wat Paknam was the same as elsewhere — elsewhere, people claimed to see winning lottery numbers while meditating; could he see them too at Wat Paknam? He wasn't sure. His friend said, "Try it — if you see the numbers, tell me, and we'll buy tickets together." So he went to sit, and once he reached the Buddha image within, he wished to see the numbers, and they appeared. Once he had them, he went to tell his friend — and right at that moment, an unwholesome thought slipped in: "That's right, we'll get to split the winnings." His friend took the numbers and rushed to buy tickets — and they won. The money was split between them. Afterward, he sat again to meditate, but it was no longer bright; it was dark. He struggled amid the darkness to see, gazing into the gloom, but instead of seeing his own body as before, only fragmented images appeared, because of greed — he now saw himself from within himself, distorted. So he went to pay respects to his teacher, who immediately knew what he had done, and told him to ask forgiveness of the Triple Gem and undertake the precepts anew, then gradually train himself again. Starting from darkness, he had to begin from the beginning once more — it was never as bright as before, and he had to slowly rebuild it. This is the story shared to show that there is a body within the body, appearing at all times.

Checking who is master of the house through feeling

This is why the Buddha taught us to observe body, feeling, mind, and Dhamma — to clearly know body, feeling, mind, and Dhamma — because when a given nature seizes the chance to become master of the house of our heart, it overlays its own body, mind, and mental factors onto us. Once it possesses us, that body controls our body, and our behavior changes accordingly — it may become harsh and coarse if a lower body possesses us, causing outbursts and disturbances, all behaviors of the body within the body; or it may be polite and refined, depending on which subtler body within the body is present. Once we understand that this mechanism runs automatically, we can simply set our attention on feeling (vedanā) — feeling means sensation. We simply set the intent and ask ourselves: am I happy right now? At ease? If we're at ease, that means wholesomeness is master of the house. If we're not at ease, then ask: is there suffering? If so, unwholesomeness is master of the house at this moment. If we're not exactly at ease but not suffering either — not in a state that is hard to bear — that means it's neutral, and neutrality is master of the house. We can check, moment by moment, who is master of the house. Whichever it is, it will overlay its own mind and mental factors onto us.

Emotion and thought must align: unwholesomeness competes for the heart every moment

If, upon setting our intent, we feel at ease, it means the mind and mental factors are wholesome; good thoughts and feelings will arise, and we can easily perceive that ease. Good thoughts appear as a voice of thinking — it can be an image or a sound. Mental factors are feelings, emotions, which align with the guiding thought. For example, if lust, an unwholesome state, arises and directs us to look at inappropriate images, the emotion of lust aligns with it. But if wholesomeness is present and we try looking at such an image, the emotion won't align — it won't want it, because the emotion doesn't match. We can test this ourselves right now: if we force ourselves to look more, unwholesomeness starts competing for entry — the unwholesome side of lust seizes the chance, and now the emotion starts to align. This competition happens at every single moment. Unwholesomeness induces sin to drive its own system, pressing our inner elements down from this dimension into a coarser one; the coarser it gets, the darker it becomes, and the more clouded the mind grows — the longer this continues, the further it sinks, and the more clouded it becomes. Wholesomeness works the opposite way: as we bring in merit, it lifts our mind and heart to be noble and leads to liberation; the proportion of wholesomeness grows, weakening the power of unwholesomeness and neutrality; the mind becomes noble, the merit induced becomes purer, and liberation becomes easier and easier as it continues.

Precepts, concentration, and wisdom lead to the sphere of liberation — but must be put into practice

This morning's teaching on happiness is meant to make us aware that there are three kinds, and that we need the happiness that leads to purity. But for that to happen, we need knowledge — knowledge that leads to purity. What helps bring purity about? Precepts, concentration, and wisdom (sīla, samādhi, paññā) — the spheres of precepts, concentration, and wisdom already exist within us, at the center of the Dhamma sphere, as the mechanism that refines our body, speech, and mind to be clean and pure. We must learn to use them. Once we learn to use sīla, samādhi, and paññā to bring real benefit, the sphere of liberation (vimutti) will begin to work for us. The sphere of liberation frees us from what is not good — laziness, fearfulness, irritability, drowsiness, and many other such defilements; the sphere of liberation carries out that release. The sphere of liberating insight-vision (vimuttiñāṇadassana) leads us toward a better, nobler life, making us want a new life that is more open and at ease. But we must learn about sīla, samādhi, and paññā and then apply them. If we learn the doctrinal content but never apply it, little benefit arises. Learning alone brings a degree of wisdom-liberation, but the freedom-of-heart that clears defilement does not yet arise — we must put it into practice for the benefit to occur. It's like owning a mobile phone: for it to be useful, we must actually use it, try it this way and that, and benefits arise. The benefit that arises is called "paṭivedha" — the fruit of realization, the purity that comes to be. The happiness and purity that arise are tied to the merit flowing through — the fruit of merit born from bringing the Dhamma into use for real benefit. Merit flows through, and we feel that openness and ease — this is the paṭivedha that has come to be.

Closing dedication chant

That is enough for today. Let us now pay homage to the Buddha; every time we do, let us recall the inner Triple Gem, to remember them — we will appear shining within them, and they will appear shining brilliantly within us, and both we and they will appear shining within Nibbāna, within the countless enlightened knowers of boundless power. The stream of merit from the deepest, subtlest part of Nibbāna will flow into us, into our heart, driving the wholesome system to refine and cleanse us, and we will be freed from one dimension into another, even while still feeling in the dark, whether aware of it or not — the wholesome system will manage this for us on its own. The talk closes with the chant of refuge in the Triple Gem (the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha as our refuge) and a dedication: may the boundless power of Nibbāna, together with the merit of the elder masters and teachers, protect and watch over everyone, freeing them from suffering, sorrow, and danger, granting the Eye of Dhamma and swift, easy access to the Dhamma, along with wondrous treasures to build inexhaustible great generosity and merit through every life, until reaching the ultimate end of the Dhamma.