A Handle on the Body & Mind
August 10, 2018

Focus on your breath and tune into the breath. There are lots of different channels the mind could tune in to right now, but choose the breath. It gives you a handle on the body and through the body gives you a handle on the mind. In other words, you can breathe in a way that brings things into balance in the body: not too hot, not too cold, not too heavy, not too light, just like Goldilocks porridge, just right. And when the body’s just right, then it gives the mind a good place to stay. It can have a good impact on the moods of the mind.

Otherwise the mind goes tuning into all kinds of other things which can really irritate its peace of an inner sense of well-being. A lot of that is just random stuff that you don’t really need to know. There’s so much information out there that’s totally useless, especially from the point of view of putting an end to suffering. Yet the mind picks up all kinds of things and is afraid of missing out. Especially now with the Internet available, it seems like the whole world of information is out there. It’s all happening all at once all the time. There’s no way that anybody can keep up.

So the question is, is it worth keeping up with the stuff outside? Why don’t you keep up with things inside? What’s going on in your mind right now? When greed comes in, how does it come? How does it take over? Do you know that? Lust: How does that take over? Have you figured that one out? How about anger? These are the real problems in your life, and yet you let yourself get distracted by all kinds of other things on a little screen. So come in here. This is the point where you can see important things as you get the mind to settle down.

This is the channel you tune into, the channel of the four noble truths, the channel of the Buddha’s teachings, where suffering is recognized as a problem that arises inside but also can be cured from inside. This is what you want to keep up on. Stay current on the events of the mind.

As for the events outside, even though we’re staying here at the monastery we still pick up a fair amount just from what people have to say, even without trying to. So don’t be afraid that you’ll miss out on important things, because the really important things are happening right here.