..续本文上一页less, I got interested in dharma at a very young age, and for many years, I have been following my guru and dedicated myself to learning, researching and practicing dharma. So in certain aspects, I can briefly report to you some of my own experience.

　　I. Classifications of Human”s Sufferings

　　There is a variety of classifications within the Three Realms and the Six Destinies. For us human beings, there are suffering of suffering, suffering of change and all-pervasive suffering, which are the three root sufferings. It can also be categorized into eight branch sufferings, i.e., the suffering of birth, the suffering of old age, the suffering of sickness, the suffering of death, the suffering of being apart from those you love, the suffering of being together with those you despise, the suffering of not obtaining what you seek, and the suffering of the flourishing of the five skandhas.

　　Bodhisattva Aryadeva, the great scholar in India, pided human”s sufferings into the physical suffering and the mental suffering. He said in his Four Hundred Stanzas on the Middle Way, “The High have mental suffering, and for the Commons suffering comes from the body. Both kinds of sufferings overwhelm people in the world each day.” People at higher levels mainly suffer from the mental sufferings, such as pressure in work, anxiety from competition, the loneliness and bitterness of being at the top. On the other hand, people at lower levels mainly suffer physically, such as lack of food and clothes, extra hard work and so on. Regardless rich or poor, people in the world are all overwhelmed by these two sufferings.

　　In the past, many people thought money could bring happiness. Once they were wealthy, they found that happiness was still far away. In fact, they experienced more sufferings. The Gallup poll shows that, Happiness Index for the Chinese consumers was 69 out of 100 in 1994, then it reached 71, the highest, in 1997. Ten years after the first poll, however, it dropped down to 67 in 2004. What does this mean

　　 During the economic development in the past ten years, people initially felt happier, but shortly after that, their satisfaction with life started to decrease, and consequently, their happiness index was even less than the start.

　　Not to say the whole world, a survey showed that, in China alone, approximately 287,000 people died of suicide and two million people attempt to commit suicide each year. It is equivalent to the fact that every 2 minutes one person kills him- or herself. As we can see, many people are dressed nicely and looking very happy, but deep inside, they are suppressed and exhausted by many sufferings.

　　II. Recognizing Suffering Is the Nature of the Three Realms

　　However, experiencing more sufferings than happiness is inevitable in our lives. If you have doubt, you may read the first eight chapters of the Four Hundred Stanzas on the Middle Way, which talk about all kinds of sufferings in mundane life. Then you will realize that sufferings are everywhere in our lives. As the Buddha states in the Lotus Sutra, “There is no peace in the Three Realms, it is more like a burning house.”

　　Of course, some of you will not agree with this statement, and may think, “I don”t think life is full of sufferings, because I am always happy.” I used to know a guy who likes drinking very much. He once told me, “You believe samsara is suffering, actually it”s not that painful. Like myself, I feel very happy with drinking every day.” The pleasure caused by drinking, however, is just a crazy and abnormal delusion, not true happiness at all.

　　Darrin McMahon, an American history professor, once wrote a book called The Pursuit of Happiness: A History from the Greeks to the Present. It took him six years to search for the true meaning of happiness by exte…

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