Timeless Practice

We close our eyes when we meditate because the big problem is inside. Even as we’re practicing generosity or virtue, it’s not just a matter of our words and deeds. It has to do with our intentions.

As the Buddha said, there are many layers of intention that you can have when you give a gift. The lowest level is thinking, “I’ll get this back someday, in line with the law of karma.” That’s better than not giving at all, but it’s the lowest level of motivations.

A higher level is just thinking of giving as good. On a higher level, you think that it’s not right that you have more than enough and yet you’re not sharing with others.

The highest level of all is when you don’t expect any return. You’re just doing it, in the Buddha’s words, as an “ornament of the mind.” So generosity is not just the act of giving. It’s also the motivation. That’s what we’re trying to train, to lift the level of the mind.

The same with the precepts: We lift the level of the mind through our intentions. We don’t want to harm anybody. We don’t want to harm ourselves. We don’t want to harm other people, other beings. It’s our intention that makes the precept a virtue.

Of course, with the meditation, we’re focusing directly on the mind, closing our eyes so that we can see what’s going on in the mind as we breathe in, as we breathe out—what thoughts would pull us away and why they might pull us away. You want to learn how to see through those distractions. So the problem is inside, but the solution is inside as well.

So. Pay a lot of attention here. Even as you go through the day, as you have other duties you have to do but make sure that your mind gets trained by the duties, that you do them well. In that way, the meditation can develop momentum.

As Ajaan Fuang said, most of us live our lives dividing each day up into times: time to eat, time to work, time to talk, time to whatever. So try to make your practice timeless, so that no matter what else you’re doing, you’re centered inside. And you’re very careful about the thoughts and intentions that come out. That way, you can be meditating 24/7. And when the meditation is timeless like that, then you can expect some timeless rewards as well.