作者：十七世大宝法王噶玛巴     

     每一个前来听法的人们，都怀着获得宁静与快乐的目的和心愿，同时也希望能免除痛苦。不管我们是不是佛法修行者，这对于我们来说是普遍的愿望，无论我们身处何方，我们都关心着类似的问题。

    既然每个人都有此获得平静与喜乐的心愿，假若一名修行者能够真的得到快乐，或者因为他们的修行而带来了一些好的结果，这应该是一生中非常大的成就。

    身为修行者，应该一直努力追求修行的成效。如果你达到了你一直以来所渴求的结果，那非常的好！但如果你的思想与动机一直没有改变，那就不好了。一般，一知半解的人们会认为西方社会的技术更先进，西方人认为应该拥有更好的物质条件，因此把物质条件的提高视为他们修行的成就。

    然而，当你观察这些修行者，你会发现他们并非总是平和的，也不能总保持快乐。修行者也有必须要面对的问题，但通常，因为他们更关心内心的世界，因此不会为外在条件而感到那么的沮丧。

 “格旺”，或曰“平和、宁静”，是可以在一个人的脸上被看到的。“格旺”是暂时性的平和，而真正的宁静与喜乐是持久永恒的。真正的大乐我们现在还不能触及，但它会在未来出现。

   当我们试图分析他人心中的快乐，我们会发现，并不能仅仅通过物质条件或者外相去判断。内心的快乐仰赖每个人的内在状况而非他们的物质外相，平静与喜乐深存于内心，却并不依赖外物或一个人的物质条件，而应全赖于他们内在修持的圆满。

   在西方，生活似乎更优越，但同样充满挑战与竞争。人们每天要做非常多的事情，他们筋疲力尽，特别是在生活中没有精神修持的情况下，更为糟糕。事实上，对佛法感兴趣是非常好的，这能令你在日常生活中得到一丝宁静。当你得到一些内在的进步，这将会增加你的平和。通过这些内在的改善，会最终带来甚大的收获。

   因此，无论一个人是否佛教徒，也无论你对佛陀以及佛陀的教法是否虔诚，在获得证悟的究竟大乐与安宁之前，你必须认识到内在的喜悦是究竟大乐的因。为获得内在的平和与喜乐，你必须明白，无需要通过物质外缘，相反更需要的是去除所有的负面行为。通过这样的修持方法，你会在未来得到永续的喜悦。

   总而言之，要在内心以及生命里获得你所希望的喜悦与平和，你要明白，所有的痛苦都来自于三毒：贪、嗔、痴。因而你还需要知道去除此三毒的方法，并在生活中运用之。如果这样做，你将永远拥有快乐。每个人都可以在他们的嗔恨、贪欲、无明不那么炙盛的时候经验到喜悦。

    也许我们会想象那是一种镇定的状态，当然不是像喝了浓茶的那种状态，在那种状态下，我们没有三毒的存在。然而事实上的意思是，我们必须通过更多的善行、喜悦以及为利他而解脱的愿望，或者通过菩提心而减少三毒，因为这样我们将变得调和，并最终得到我们的究竟成就。我们要在日常的基础上不断的自我提升，直到获得证悟。举例来说，我们现在在此集会，如果你去观察身边的人，你会发现没有一个人处在过分傲慢、自大或是愤怒的状态，然而我们都知道，三毒仍然存在，并且需要继续努力去除掉三毒，因为我们内在仍然有着这些特质。

Everybody has come here because they have the intention and wish to achieve peace and happiness, and also want to avoid their sufferings.  This is a common intention for us all, whether we are doing Dharma practice or not because no matter where we live we all have this similar interest.

Since everybody has this wish to gain peace and happiness, if a practitioner does happen to get some happiness or if some good things come as a result of their practice then this is a great achievement in one's life.

In being a practitioner, one should always strive for results.  If you achieve some of the desired results then, that's very good.  However, if there's no change in your thinking or motivation, then that's not good. Common people who have little understanding say that those in the West are more technologically advanced. They think it is better to have good physical conditions and so they aim for these as a sign of their achievement in their practice.

Yet, if you take a look at practitioners then sometimes you'll find that they are not always peaceful and happy either. Practitioners also have problems that they face but, usually, because they are more concerned with their internal life and are not so upset by external conditions.

“GE-WA” or peace can be seen in the face of the individual. 'GE-WA' is temporary peace whilst true peace and happiness is everlasting. True happiness cannot be touched now but will be seen in the future.

If we try to analyze the happiness in the heart of another individual then we know that this cannot really be judged merely by their physical condition or appearance. The happiness in the heart depends on an individual's internal condition and not by their physical appearance.  Peace and happiness lies deep in the heart and is not dependent upon external things and or one's physical conditions. It lies in the accomplishment of their internal practices.

In the West, life seems easy but it also has many challenges and is very competitive. The people have to do so many things everyday and so they gets totally exhausted, especially if they have no spiritual practices in their daily life. Actually it's very good to have some interest in the Dharma because then you can have some peace amongst the busy-ness of your life. When you have an internal programme then that will bring you some peace. With this internal improvement it will bring great results.

For this reason, whether one is a Buddhist or not, or if you have devotion to the Buddha and the Buddha's teachings or not, until the ultimate happiness and peace of enlightenment is achieved, you must have the common understanding that internal happiness is the cause of ultimate happiness.  To achieve internal peace and happiness, you need to understand that you won't be able to get them just from physical objects but rather you'll need to avoid all negative actions. Through practicing in this way then you'll achieve everlasting happiness in the future.  

In essence or summary, to get the happiness and peace in one's mind and life that you wish then, you need to understand that all suffering comes from the three poisons of anger, ignorance and desire. Thus, you also need to know their antidotes and then adopt them into your life. If you do this then you will always have happiness. Everyone will always experience happiness when their hatred, desire or ignorance are not so strong.

We might like to imagine that we are in equanimity and that we don't have the three poisons, but that's like not drinking strong tea. Really it means we have to adopt more virtue, happiness and the altruistic wish for enlightenment or the Bodhichitta heart because then we will become more balanced and will finally get our ultimate result. We have to keep improving ourselves on a daily basis until we get enlightened. For instance, if we take this present gathering and look around you'll see that no one here is in an excessively arrogant, proud or angry state. Yet we all know that these three poisons are there and have to work on getting rid of them because we all still have these qualities inside.

 
          十七世大宝法王噶玛巴法相