There are a lot of things for me to feel joy with myself for having done. How many of you are sitting here today? That's 30 odd reasons for me to feel Sympathetic Joy with myself right here in front of me. 6,000 or more reasons throughout the world for me to feel joy with myself and my efforts, and I can also include the friends of those people who have also benefited from the teachings. Feeling Sympathetic Joy with my growth over the years and with overcoming the difficulties in the path. In this retreat I feel Sympathetic Joy with myself, for being sick and still teaching, thus bringing forth the Paramis. There are ten other reasons I feel Sympathetic Joy with myself, the development of my Paramis over the last 22 years while I have been teaching. Yes, ten reasons for the development of the Paramis over the last 22 years. Ten reasons over the last 30 odd years that I've been practicing meditation. And then thousands of times when a person comes into the interview and finally understands something, I feel Sympathetic Joy with them, and I feel Sympathetic Joy with myself.
Now, it's important not to develop a lot of conceit when having Sympathetic Joy with oneself. Do you know how I don't become conceited about it? I pass it on to the Buddha, because nothing that I could do, could have happened without having been given the Buddha's teachings. And so we don't become conceited about the good things we have done, rather we are just being truthful. And by reflecting on the good things that I have done, and by passing it on to the Buddha, seeing how it came to be, I then also have Sympathetic Joy with all the assistants, because I couldn't be here today and teach without the assistants help. So I have Sympathetic Joy with them. I have Sympathetic Joy with Mae Chee Ahmon for allowing us to use this place. You know what Steve and I call this Meditation Hall? We call it "The Giving Hall". Wonderful!