“Teacher, you have said, ‘Truly happy is the one who desires happiness for others and not self.’ How can one find happiness if one doesn’t desire happiness for themself?”
“‘Whatever suffering there is comes from desiring happiness for oneself.’ All phenomena that one seeks to find happiness in will eventually be source of misery, this very realization is itself cause for renunciation, the cessation of suffering. The life span of an ant is insignificant when compared to that of man. The lifespan of a man insignificant when compared to that of Earth. The span of the Earth insignificant compared to the cosmos, and further there are infinite universes, impossible to comprehend. So what is there to be attached to but the path that leads to transcendental awareness? Why waste this precious existence on anything other than peaceful realization? One with diligent awareness is not attached to what is temporal. Freed from miseries, that one desires only this same realization of the path to happiness for all unaware beings. Only one self-liberated and devoted to liberating others of their miseries is steadfastly happy.”
Upon reflecting on his master’s lesson, the student replies, “One must realize causality to be freed from causality.”
“Good. Good. Very good.”