Hector and the Search for Happiness Read Online Free PDF Page B

Chinese characters, but fortunately underneath it said in English: ‘Tsu Lin Monastery’. Hector was very happy. In monasteries, there are always monks, and maybe in this one he’d find an old monk who would be like Chang’s father and who would have interesting things to say about happiness.
    The path to the monastery grew steeper and steeper, but Hector didn’t feel tired any more because he was eager to arrive. From time to time, at a bend in the road, he would catch a glimpse of the monastery, and it was wonderful, just like in The Blue Lotus — the monastery looked really Chinese with its pretty curled rooftop and tiny square windows.
    He pulled on a rope and heard a bell ring and a monk came to open the door for him. He was young and looked more like Chang than Chang’s father, but his head was shaved and he wore a long orange robe. He spoke very good English and explained to Hector that the monastery was only open to visitors one day a week and that today it was closed. Hector was very disappointed: just when he was beginning to feel better there was some bad news.
    And so he persisted; he explained that he’d come a very long way, that he was a psychiatrist and was trying to discover what made people happy or unhappy and he couldn’t wait until next week for the monastery to open. The young monk looked uncomfortable, he asked Hector to wait, and left him standing in the little doorway.
    There were things for sale which the monks had made, statuettes, pretty saucers, and Hector told himself that he would buy one as a present for Clara.
    The young monk came back and Hector was very happy because he’d brought with him an old monk who must have been as old as Chang’s father! As soon as he saw Hector, the old monk began laughing, and said: ‘Hello. You’ve come from afar, so I hear.’ He said it just like that, no translation was necessary, he spoke Hector’s language as well as Hector!
    He took Hector into his office, where Hector expected he’d have to kneel on little mats because there’d be no chairs. But it wasn’t like that at all. The monk’s office looked similar to Hector’s, with a proper desk, chairs, a lot of books, a computer, two telephones, statuettes — but Chinese ones — and a splendid view of the mountains.
    The old monk explained that in his youth, long before Hector was born, he had spent a few years in Hector’s country. He’d been a student, and had earned money washing dishes at a big restaurant where Hector would sometimes have lunch. He asked Hector a lot of questions in order to find out how much things had changed in his country these days, and he seemed very pleased with everything Hector told him.
    Hector explained the reason for his trip. More and more of his patients were unhappy without any apparent reason, and he wanted to find out why.
    The old monk listened very attentively to Hector, and Hector told himself that he, too, was genuinely interested in people.
    Hector asked him whether he had anything interesting to say about happiness.
    The old monk said, ‘The basic mistake people make is to think that happiness is the goal!’ And he began to laugh.
    Hector would have liked him to explain this a bit better, but the old monk liked to say things without explaining too much.
    And yet, in Hector’s country more and more people were turning to the old monk’s religion (which wasn’t really a religion but it’s a bit difficult to explain that here). They thought it would make them happier.
    The old monk said that was true, but often people from countries like Hector’s didn’t really understand his religion, which they adapted to suit themselves — rather like the Chinese restaurants in Hector’s city which didn’t serve real Chinese food. But the old monk felt that, although in some ways it was a pity, it didn’t really matter because it could still help people to be less worried and kinder to others. On the other hand, he wondered why people from