Zen Master: "Happiness is a problem?"
Zen Student: "No. The problem of how to achieve Happiness. How to hold on to it. How to make it last."
Zen Master: "Oh... First you must weep."
Zen Student: "What?"
Zen Master: "Oh yes. You must weep.
Then you must become angry. Very very angry.
And then you must feel very very sad.
Then you must feel enraged!
And Lost.
And Frightened.
And Guilty, Jealous, and Ashamed...
Then you must feel Hopeless.
Like you are emptied out of ALL of your willfulness.
Like you cannot go on living like this for one more day.
Then... Your ego must drop!
That is most important...
Your ego must drop.
Then, when ALL that you have been holding back - when ALL that poison is finally gone from your mental soup - you will see: THERE is HAPPINESS!
Happiness is right there. In the emptiness. In the absence of Ego...
It was there this WHOLE time. Waiting to be discovered.
But that is the thing!
We can only Dis-cover something if it is Already There!
Happiness is already there.
So why talk about it?
It is only covered up and obscured by your Ego.
So... You are right. I don't talk about Happiness.
I talk about Meditation and the obstacles to becoming empty...
I talk about Zen.
That is to say: I don't talk.
I listen to what YOU say. And I try to find the Truth beneath it.
I listen.
I answer questions.
But there is nothing to teach that creates Happiness.
I merely teach you how to relax and feel and listen...and breathe, maintain posture; do not fall asleep.
I talk about Meditation.
Happiness takes care of itself.
As we say in Zen: 'There is Nothing to teach.'
So all Zen Masters have a lot to say about Nothing."
~ Pahka Dave