#platform/youtube #channel/bodhi-light  Happiness is not necessarily measured by success or the amount of money. Being successful is only satisfying a professional level, but not satisfying at the personal level. So, that's imbalance. In my previous 40 years, I was just busy pursuing money, fame. And actually, at some point in my life, I had everything I wanted. I honestly thought I figured out the secret path to happiness. And then everything changed. After my son was born, I became deeply depressed, tired, and frustrated all the time. My relationships with everyone around me were also strained. So, I lost everything overnight, over just a matter of like few weeks. So, that experience really taught me those happiness was not going to be forever. My happiness was entirely dependent on external conditions. In your case, being successful is only satisfying at business, a professional level, but not satisfying at the personal level. So, your professional success was not enough for you. So, that's imbalance. Spirituality is balance. Part of it is balance. And spirituality is taking care of the needs of your soul. You have needs from your body. You have needs for your mind. You have needs for your emotions. Those have to be met, but we neglect the needs for our spirits. Our spirits need to feel good about ourselves, not about our money, not about our marriage, not about our fame, but we need to feel good about ourselves because we judge ourselves. You approve of yourself that you are a good person. Good person. Mhm. That's spirituality. Because in Buddhism, we believe that intrinsically we have a nature, we call nature, our makeup, our essence, if you will, is goodness. So, when we do something professionally, emotionally, that goes against our core nature goodness, we disapprove ourselves. So, spirituality is to look at our needs of self-approval in the sense that because our nature is a nature of goodness, we judge ourselves, we disapprove ourselves, dislike ourselves. We violate our good nature. No one can help us because we disapprove ourselves. If someone praises us, it's temporary. Money is temporary. But deep inside, if you disapprove of yourself as a human being, nothing outside can really compensate for that. This is what most of us they have this conflict. When you go out and work, for example, a salesman needs to lie. That's the nature of the work. You don't lie, you're not going to make a lot of money. And you you might even get fired. And so, you need to lie. And that's against your nature. So, you May make a lot of money, you May be successful, but inside, you disapprove of yourself. This is internal conflict that having a drink or having fun, going spending the money cannot address this problem. So, spirituality is to try to maintain this balance between the outside world, intellectual world, emotional world, material world, and this inner life of ours. Inner life of goodness. They have to be in sync. Master, is it possible to be both moral and good inside and successful on the outside? I believe so. I've seen people who are like that. Oh, I see. Can I give you an example? Yes, please. I'm very curious about that. Warren Buffett, for example, I think is a role model, successful in business world, is a leader, is responsible person, generous person, and I know that he is also very spiritual in that sense. He is core spiritual. Whatever he does is based on the principle of goodness. It's a rare instance of a balance between worldly life and spiritual life. Happiness is not necessarily measured by success or the amount of money. It has to be fundamentally, do you like yourself? Do you approve of yourself? This is what I find so funny. People attach too much import importance to others approving of themselves and neglecting their having the approval of themselves. How do you approve of yourself? Make sure that you on the right track. It's not about approving yourself. It's about avoiding disapproving of yourself. This spirituality is something that everyone has, but don't pay enough attention to. I'm impressed with a lot of these small people, if you will. The farmer in Japan, traffic cop here in Orange County. You know, I met such people. I like them because they're decent people. And they said, "Okay, there are certain lines I will not cross." And I like that. And that's part of the spiritual fabric of this country. It's fantastic. Spirituality is not label. It's about you not crossing the lines of goodness. And that's good enough. If you go to work and you have to make a decision, let's say you're a salesman. Someone comes in, looks for a TV. And you know you have to lie a little. It's acceptable. But how far are you willing to go? So that line there that you need to set for yourself. I will not rob her of her life savings. If she's willing to buy a good TV, I will sell a good TV. But you don't want to sell a TV to someone who can't afford it. I don't mind if you sell a little and you lie a little, that's part of the game. But there's a line where you don't cross. That's spirituality in everyday. That's the balance I'm looking for. Fundamentally, you have the lines that I will not cross this line. There's a line in the sand here. I cannot not cross it. And you will cross it, you make mistakes, and you come back. We all make mistakes, that's normal. That's part of being human is to make mistakes. However, we always pull ourselves back eventually. That's a healthy thing. That's spirituality for you. I have I worry when people keep on crossing the lines and they make excuses, and eventually the line gets moved and moved again. No, there should be a standard that you don't move the line. So you learn first about what not to cross. That's the first level of spirituality. Second level of spirituality is what happens when you become successful by not crossing the line on the sand. As your success grows, now you have your spiritual needs also grow. Now I have responsibility. It's not enough for me not to cross this line, but this comes to me with this $100,000 comes a responsibility to use it properly to benefit others. Why? As a payback. Look at yourself. You're here because of others' generosity. We're here because of this country people's generosity. With the success you have, you have to pay back. You have to give. I have some siblings who are very successful business-wise. But they are so immoral. They cheat and they scheme and they steal and all those things. They are extremely unhappy. And they are very very sick body-wise. If you neglect your spiritual life, your body will not be in good shape. Master, if there's one thing you would like our audience to take away from this conversation, what would that be? Be a gooder person. Once you're a good person, be a gooder person. Don't stop. You want to be happier, be gooder. That's the foundation of happiness.