Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 46-minute talk, Lama Yeshe dismantles common misconceptions about happiness and examines why worldly pleasures fail to satisfy. He begins by challenging the Western assumption that life should be happy, showing how pursuit of temporal pleasure through work, wealth, marriage, or travel systematically produces frustration and anger instead. He explores three mental responses to experience: clinging to pleasure (generating attachment), aversion to pain (generating anger), and indifference to medium states (generating ignorance). Through concrete examples—the rich and poor equally unhappy, married and unmarried people equally discontent, even a simple cold triggering unreasonable cravings for specific food—he demonstrates that dissatisfaction arises not from external conditions but from the grasping, dualistic mind itself. He concludes that recognizing this pattern is the essential foundation for genuine meditation and the pursuit of lasting liberation rather than saṃsāra’s circular, suffering-based existence.
File metadata (for organising)
File: lama-yeshe-temporal-happiness-kopan-01-temporal-happiness
Teacher: Lama Yeshe
Collection: Temporal Happiness (Lama Yeshe — Kopan 1977)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Words: ~4,365
Meditative and seeking, you know, liberation or freedom seems, you know, seems kind of, you know, outlooking, know, kind of good looking, you know, good looking. Some kind of unusual, you know, you know, uncommon, you know? The Himalayan mountain family, coming meeting Himalayan gorilla monk, you know. So now, you know, the Himalayan gorilla, you know, monkey or point of view, you know, point of view, you know I’m saying, is for you some kind of, you know, unfamiliar, you know, you should expect them it is an unfamiliar, it is the gorilla, it is true, it is true. It is true.
Is extremely true. Festival, you know, new people come, you know, seeking liberation, you know, liberation, you know, wanting that person wanting, you know, meditation, you know? Just quietly, it’s not easy. We gorilla people think it is not easy, you know? This is it, you take it, you know?
Big responsibility, You know? Big responsibility. This is not joking. It’s kind of serious, you know? Seriously, you know?
You understand? You know, big eyes, you know? We need big eyes, you know? This is not something kind of, you know, we do trip, you know? We need big eyes and open, you know, to see some kind of totality of, you know, life.
First of all, you know, we we seek liberation, the quality of liberation. What is the quality of liberation? You know? Liberation means, you know, you know, I can go holiday everywhere and travel for world, want to drink do trip everything, or plenty plenty everything, you want to drink? This is a wasteful conception, you know, of the, you know, freedom, you know, common sense.
Course, individually, you know, freedom has different, you know, because individual mind makes fixed, you know, such idea. So, yeah, what is it, you know? What is the liberation now? Or would you use seeking, you know? And, you know, acting, meditation?
This goal, you know, the destination liberation, one should understand, you know, one should understand clean and clear. Then one know when it is a the nature or not the nature of liberation. As long, you know, we have been grasping attitude grasping attitude, the temporal pleasure temporal pleasure is the goal, you know, happiness. Not possible to have, you know, this, you know, consider it is, you know, of liberation. The the grasping, the temporal pleasure temporal pleasure, temporal happiness is the, you know, kind of, you know, function of ego and acting, you know, reacting is again miserable.
When lama say miserable, you people think some kind of, you know, miserable. I’m not miserable. You understand? To understand the true miserable is difficult. True.
You know? True. That’s why Lord Buddha, found the truth, you know? And there’s a true suffering. True suffering.
Why call true suffering? We think it normally, you know, okay, sun is shining, today happy. You know, everything I have something, you know, some kind of trouble, you know. You make up, you know. You make up.
This make me you know, some kind of, know, attachment, you know, picks up such such way, you know, this is the happy we do, isn’t it, normally? Actually, those are the ways, you know, those are the ways, you know, not perfect, you know, it major ease, they suffer. And, you know, of course, you know, reacting or miserable. You see, the the viewpoint, you know, the western viewpoint, you know, life should be happy. Life should be happy.
You know, I talk about, you know, I’m making generalization, you know, generalization that life should be happy. You know, we have we consider always we’re living for life happy. Everybody try to be happy, you know, and have pleasure. In this life, pleasure means temporal pleasure. We’re living for temporal pleasure.
No. With, you know, with grasping attitude. This nature is, you know, this nature is miserable. As long you have this attitude, not possible. We think human life has no consideration.
You are not seeking liberation. Because you caught into the, you know, kind of, you know, piece of pleasure, you know, pleasure, transient pleasure. That’s not happening, you know, you understand, not happening, you know, worldwide. Good example, you know, West is incredible, you know, incredible West life, you know In the West, West life is from beginning, from study school up to end of day, I mean, you know, I make general idea Most people is completely dedicated to being happy in this life. This life is completely dedicated, isn’t it?
You know, you can see. You can see. I don’t need to tell you. You know, Everybody don’t believe me. Getting job, everything.
Everything. Everything. No matter what trip you’ve done. Kind of, you know, pleasure. Pleasure.
But but you can see, know, there’s there’s two, you know, maybe two things, you know, other rich or other poor, poor family. You know? Rich people happy, not happy. That here, rich people, life itself is miserable nature, you know, unhappy nature. Not that, you know, because of life.
The thing is that, you know, the grasping attitude, grasping attitude, grasping attitude. Seeking such a narrow, narrow, you know, place in each destination. And that is the goal of happiness, you know, which is which will never make you happy. So there there are rich people also miserable. You know?
And more worried how to how to keep. So that’s why many people kidnapping. Many you know. They’re shaking. They’re so worried.
I think, you know, it is simple. Well, this is the lie. You should know this. So same thing for people. You know?
For people are seeking again, you know, misconception. You want to dreaming. Poor people dreaming. Oh, see which people, they should be happy. The rich rich life is misconception is rich life is happiness.
So they they seeking, they putting, you know, effort. You understand? All this is, you know, not happy. So, rich not happy, poor not happy. Oh, same thing.
married people happy and not married people happy, same thing. Married people not happy, ego complex. Expecting permanent happiness from the wife or husband. Not possible, isn’t it? I mean, not possible, you know.
Someone someone, you know, you know, with a grasping, you know, grasping, you know, uncontrolled, know, this this mind to to, you know, to bring you happiness, you know, is not possible, not possible, you know. So tremendous effort taken, you know, your intent. And then dissatisfaction, you know, not fulfill your desire. Okay. So so complex suffering, you know.
In other words, we are not, you know, in a kind of, you know, realistic. Not realistic. In other words, we are not realistic. You understand? If you, you know, your wife, you know, when you know your wife’s nature and the potential, how her, you know, characteristic in this situation, in this, you know, moment, How much he can give you, you should take that one.
You should not expect that one. Simple. But you’re expecting more standing or you’re expecting more from the husband. They cannot give everlasting everlasting satisfaction. So you expecting something everlasting.
This is a misconception. Misconception. You know? The reasonable if you’re expecting you know what saying? Reasonable expecting from each other.
There’s no ego complexity. There is no ego complexity. We know his ability. You know limitation of other people’s situation. So you can understand.
The same thing, single people in the West. Oh, you you understand? No name is miserable. No name is miserable. You know?
Almost like it becomes the kind of a hard case. You know? You understand? And weak mind. When they become single, they become weak.
You understand? They cannot save life. You know? They cannot extend their life, you know, some kind of blockage. It’s true.
Some reason. So, so, you see, so the situation, lifestyle, your own lifestyle, even your own lifestyle, you know, since you go from up to now, up to now, how many trip you do, you understand, for a seeking pleasure, you know, happy, you know, all this trip is it brings happiness or no. You must check. Almost, I can say, you know, what you think what you think since you’ve been up to now happy, you know, up up to now, to bring happy, it is the actually, you know, itself is, you know, complexed complexed, you know, kind of, you know, situation, you know, and it brings results, you know, unhappy. It’s true.
If you check up, that’s why I say gorilla going to tell you, which is totally you disagree. Type one. The attitude also, you know, we we have wisdom, you know, I grow, I’m happy, look, I grow, you know, look, philosophy is wrong. Wasting philosophy means, where philosophy is? It’s completely wrong philosophy.
Look, I grow, I have, you know, my birthday, I celebrate, I grow, this all, you know, this happiness kind of All this is a wrong conceptions. You understand? Having having birthday produce birthday, when it’s beginning your birthday, you know, becomes you, you know, changing changing all all all all, you know, running to death running to death. But don’t want to think about death, you know. You understand?
And thinking life is some kind of pleasure. It itself is a wrong conception. It’s not true. Unless, you know, some kind of, you know, maybe, you know, significant other other way significant. But but just, you know, grasping mind, you know, ignorant mind, just being alive or gaining life is something special.
You understand? And to grow is something special. Not realizing going is, you know, growing is to death. You know? We are come from dead energy and going to dead energy.
Now, good example, also, in in this, you know, the moment in the world, you know, that your your supermarket is you should be proud, isn’t it? You know what I’m saying? We should be proud, you know? We have supermarket. We have everything kind of, you know, proud object, you know?
Proud object. Now, all supermarket food is now become poison and killing and cancer. You know now? You know? It’s true.
It’s scientifically discovered, you know? Okay. Okay. Not gorilla information, you know? So, so we should now, now, this proud, you know, proud, wasting, wasting proud object is everything is turned into miserable cause, you know?
You understand? It’s true. It’s true. Look at now. All this technology, you know, technology is killing, Natural killing, human being killing, you know, what is it?
It’s true, you know. So why is proud now? It miserable. Miserable. You know?
That your superficial superficial mind, you know, ego mind always want you same, you know, kind of beauty or handling or you understand what I mean? You know? Characteristic. But instinctively instinctively, you understand? The nature of your entire your body, your body, speech mind is the instinctively.
The moment, moment, one second degree, changing, changing, changing, changing. Okay, so we should recognize this. You don’t need to believe. When we realize this characteristic of, you know, the one second changing of this body, you understand, then it’s, you know, kind of, you know, softening, softening the concrete conception becomes soft and slowly, slowly can release So, you can see, even that point of view, that concrete conception, the permanent conception itself is extreme, which is nothing to so even to do with the with the reality of, you know, life. The life changing, life changing, you know, is changing The physical, this, this, you know, changing, mind is changing is automatically non stopping, non stopping it is, you know, it is changing, you know, in a second, one second changing changing So so my point is that, you know, whatever you think happy life, you know, you understand?
You understand? Normally, you know, you understand? If it is a life, you have some idea. You you you know, happy life. I’m sure when you come this, you know, seminar, you know, here, you understand?
Immediately comes, you know, kind of memory of your happy happy life. You know, happy of wasting, you know, wasting. You want to know what I mean? Wasting. Pleasure.
Pleasure. You know? Why I not be, you know, have good time somewhere, you know, beach, and lie down, sunshine, have have, you know, plenty of plenty of girlfriend, plenty of boyfriend. And you want to know why, you know, kind of why it’s click click click click So, you understand, you know, going beach, you know, know, breaking, you know, sun you know, by sun shining. It’s happy or not happy.
You must check up that now. You know? You are sitting here. You check up all your life experience. This is the meditation.
Domestic. Domestic. Especially you people come, you know. Most people, these people are traveling whole world, you know, and they’re seeking something happy. You understand?
Wherever you go, which place you’re happy, you must check out. I think nothing is happy. Nothing makes you happy. Any place you go, I can make guarantee paper. That’s all.
Not possible. With this grasping mind, you know, your ego complex mind, doesn’t matter wherever you go. You go underneath the, you know, earth or an ocean or sky or or or, you know, holiday, whatever, you know, you imagine, whatever you imagine, whatever you imagine, with this, you know, grasping, uncontrolled mind, never this happens. All you think, all you think, you know, going in a village or holiday, all this becomes miserable. Miserable.
Okay. That’s all. So, so, you know, having well, let’s say, you know, you understand, if everything you have, you want to experiment, you can go right now you can go one nightclub down there, you know, Kathmandu and have, you know, nightclub and you drink wine, you must check up if you want, you know? If you don’t understand, you can go there. You understand?
Night club? This is happy. You understand? Some people dancing, some people are moving, is it happy or not? You must check up.
You can see. You know, don’t need so many kind of logical argument, explanation. You can experience, you know, simply. So the whole question, what I mean, you know, what makes you happy? You know, the action, you know, you know, which does not bring, you know, real miserable.
What is that action? We must single out, we must check up, clean, clear. Know, either we happy, some kind of, you know, sentimental happy, you know, either we are not happy, either we are medium. But these three these three both you know, is actually, you know, not correct, not correct, not perfection. No.
Sentimentally happy, you know. When the the What I told you, normally we consider this make me happy. Happy, you know. Okay. Going to that club and this, this, you know.
Whatever you think, maybe in the world, whatever you may, you understand, makes you happy, you know. You understand? With the with the grasp of your mind. Okay, happy. But each time you experiment with this, you know, and time that this moment when you experiment is happy.
This could produce more gratitude, know, repeated attitude, you know, so deep imprint, deep imprint Example here, you people come here with you you you you you know, you know, certain idea, you know, what is happy, what is unhappy, you know, should be killing this, you know, facility this, and at least should have, you know, you know, good bathroom. So you take gorilla too. Now you see. Oh. Oh.
All this, you know, all this you missing, good bathroom, you know, good, you know, good, you know, what do you think? You know? What’s the, you know, kind of, you know, good thing? Missing is because before you have this kind of pleasure, pleasure, you understand? Pleasure, just thinking, you know, this should be this way, you know, my life should be this way, you know, life you can never predict it.
It is positively changing, changing and experience, you know, different state, you know? So, okay, so the reason why you are unstable, miserable, this situation of your intent is because reaction of grasping mind. I’m joking. Too much joking, man. It’s grasping mind. Okay? I think that’s all, I think.
Okay. It’s true, you know. Those Nepalis, they’re happy. Those Nepalians, it’s true, they’re all humiliating. They’re also humiliating, you know.
They’re happy. They always do bathroom worse than we have, you know. They’re just everywhere. So the reason know? This is also dualistic.
Good example. This is the dualistic mind. Dualistic mind. Because this is that, so I’m in there. So the conflict, conflict.
Oh, you know, you can see. So, okay, happy. Whatever you think is happy is the cognition of miserable. Okay? Reaction is miserable.
Check up this, you know. It is difficult, you know, to accept such, you know, the information, you know. You understand? But it’s profound, profound. If you check up this, it is can see, you know.
Then when you see that there’s no ambition, there’s no ambition, emotional, you know, emotional, ambition We all so much, you know, some reason wasting, you know, wasting, you know, some kind of society or culture or know, that is self sensitive, that makes you happy Maybe somebody somebody gives you like, you know, this is my chocolates and he says, I’m so happy with this and like that, you You understand? And somebody doesn’t give me chocolates, you miserable, I’m unhappy. So this is the sure thing. The mind shows, you know? It’s not something body, physical energy, object energy.
The mind making you like this, know? Okay. You understand? So therefore, meditating is a need to understand the mind making trick. Mind making trick, not the physical subject, you know, this body and this thing.
Okay. Just you want to what we call maybe, you know, whenever we have experience, you know, some sort of experience, pleasure, you know, you want to understand? You understand? Not knowing, not knowing exactly, not knowing, you know, not knowing exactly this reality is, you understand? Okay.
You understand? Expecting it won’t last more, more, more, more, more, you understand? Want lasting, which is not possible. Its nature is not made that way. Okay.
So this is the Okay. You can see, producing, you know, more attachment. And, you know, happy. Now, unhappy, you know. Unhappy is you know.
I don’t need to explain. When unhappy comes, actually, more anger comes, hatred comes. Look, a good example, people who are sick, you know, you know, when they physically sick, you know, you understand? Then they become, you know, very sensitive. Anger easily.
Before he is okay, you know, you know, when he is sick, you know, you cannot talk words, things, you know, incurable, you know, tense, you know, easily anger. Okay. So so therefore oh. Mhmm. So unhappy unhappy.
Anytime. Anytime. You know? Whenever you have unhappy feeling, produce anger anger dislike. One is dislike this unhappy feeling.
So then dislike is kind of, you know, convert, you know, for everybody. I dislike this my disease, you know, this is what happened eating me, I dislike. So this life is, you know, this life and state is kind of, you know, generic. So your parents or, you know, your friend, your dear friend comes all the attention. This line.
This line. This line. Incurable, you know. The mind makes such a trigger. When I was, you know, in in retreat, sick, I had this this here.
Here is cold. You know? One time, I had a cold. I have some reason comes in my mind. I want some soup, you know, soup.
Tibetan soup, I want. You know? One time I told my brother to bring sugar. He brings something else. You know, I have incredible addiction, ideas, dissatisfied mind.
Such a super, you know. You know, and he brings something else. Incredible, unhappy. Unbelievable, you know. I couldn’t believe, you know, even myself, you know?
So ridiculous, absolutely so ridiculous. You understand what I mean, you know? When the time you sit, you know, sit, you know, and your will, your determination, it becomes some kind of sensitive sensitive sensitive. It’s ready to say, I don’t like, you know. So such small things, you know, make it unbearable for you.
Okay. So you can see it. However, however, that shows whenever we dissatisfy, dissatisfy, that nature is happy. Happy. Okay?
Okay. Same thing, our relationship, you know, people each other, you know. When we dissatisfied, we hate. You know, one doesn’t give you satisfaction, you hate. Okay.
So middle one, you know? You understand? You know? Not happy, not unhappy, you know? Some kind of miserable.
Then ignorant. Ignorant. You want just doesn’t want to take awareness. Just become dull. In all terms, dull attitude, you know.
Don’t wake up, you know. Don’t don’t want, you know, doesn’t want to see reality. So, you check up your own life when you have happy kind of, you know, sentimental pleasure, some kind of temporal pleasure, how your mind wants, you want long and go on there. More, more, more, more, more, you know? You know?
Imagine this pleasure is not meant for more, more, more, more everlasting. So expecting such way concrete, you know? So okay. And and there is, you know, kind of, you know, possible, you know, frustration, you know. By understanding, you know, these life situations, you know, the combination of mind, this life, life combination with the mind, in a situation, you know, then you can see, you know, life itself is some kind of, you know, you understand, is, you know, uncomfortable.
Actually, you know, not physical itself because unsatisfied is this, you know, the satisfied mind, you know, this make you miserable, you know. So the life is this life going itself is saṃsāra. Okay? Sanskrit saṃsāra. Oh, you know, circle, circle, you know, some kind of circle.
Actually, person who understands whole evolution of saṃsāra life, you understand? One can say, you understand? How can how can these, you know, people, you understand? And, you know, lie dedicated, you know, dedicated, you know, lie dedicated, from beginning up to end is dedicated for temporal pleasure. You understand?
How this interest to keep going? You want to or me? Without boring. Because ignorance. Because ignorance.
So, understand? The purpose of meditation, you know, the purpose of meditation or need meditation is, you know, ordained people, non-ordained people, you understand? You know, equally need. Seeking liberation is not something related to people. By understanding your own situation, lifestyle, you can see, you know, even if you are non related person, you can see your own condition, your own dissatisfaction.
You understand? Your own happiness, what you consider happiness doesn’t give you pleasure. Your only experience, you know, miserable gives you anger. Your only experience medium gives dull attitude. Ignore.
I don’t care. Understand? You know? Okay. Or this is the saṃsāra.
So so in other words, entire life becomes saṃsāra. Not only not only some becomes life, therefore saṃsāra. No. You understand? With the linked linked linked with the ignorance.
Want understand, this grasping attitude and dull attitude, combination, this life itself is the saṃsāra. And the circle repeatedly, repeatedly going. One time not knowing. So the so the meditation meditation makes you release this repeatedly. This is repeated, you know, repeated, by knowing this nature is the limitation pleasure you understand this this cloth, this cloth does not give me you know everlasting pleasure no I should know I should know Okay, all materials, all all physical energy does not give me, you know, everlasting pleasure.
I expect it. Same thing, we human beings, each thing, other. human beings, each other. Let’s say, human beings, know, can not give you, you know, everlasting pleasure. Not possible.
Your everlasting pleasure is responsible within you. Same Let’s say, also, you know, we waste it, you know, one way. We’re very ambitious, you know, wanting to help others. You know, everybody do. Some reason, wealthy people, really good attention.
Some reason, doesn’t matter you are a related person, non related person. You know, I feel something something wants to do something terrible. Somewhere, I don’t know. It can be egotistical too, you know? But some here, motivation, something wanted to do, you know.
But maybe if you do do, only anyway you are boring, anyway you are suffering, even. So you want to do something. Oh, okay. So so, you know, one thing help other. One thing help other.
You understand? You understand? I cannot give, you know, happiness and, you know, tell them to leave to leave release. No positive. No positive.
Miserable deed. And you not choose your own miserable emotional deed, which is not possible to help others. It’s just dreaming, completely dreaming. Why, you know, we feel, you know, we feel, you know, we feel, you you know, my life is happy. If you you gorilla say, you know, my life is miserable, you know, but I’m happy, my life.
In my country, I have job, I have house, I have garden, I have, you know, I can go, you know, I can move things in the television, I can do this, I can do this, do this, this, I do this. Your mind thinks that it is happy. You know? Another way, oh, okay. My and then I to the question, what you think is happy, is everything is happy, the reality of happy or not?
So my question is, what you think is happy is, you know, is necessarily happy or not?