Meditation is like a single log of wood. Insight and investigation are one end of the log; calm and concentration are the other end. If you lift up the whole log, both sides come up at once. Which is concentration and which is insight? Just this mind.
Interpretation
Meditation involves both insight and calmness, which are interconnected elements in the process.
In this quote, Ajahn Chah illustrates the dual nature of meditation, comparing it to a log of wood that cannot be separated into distinct ends—insight and calmness. Both aspects are integral to a complete practice; when one engages in true meditation, both insight and concentration develop together, highlighting the unity of the meditative experience and the mind's role in achieving balance within.
In practice
In a public talk about mindfulness, one might reference this quote to explain the holistic nature of meditation.
Once you understand non-self, then the burden of life is gone. You'll be at peace with the world. When we see beyond self, we no longer cling to happiness and we can truly be happy. Learn to let go without struggle, simply let go, to be just as you are - no holding on, no attachment, free.
When sitting in meditation, say, "That's not my business!" with every thought that comes by.
If you haven't wept deeply, you haven't begun to meditate.
To observe and watch one's own mind is something really interesting. The untrained mind will run and follow its old habit patterns. Because it has not been trained and taught, it will get lost in all kinds of stories and issues. Therefore we have to train our mind. The meditation practice in Buddhism is all about training one's own mind.
The heart is just the heart; thoughts and feelings are just thoughts and feelings. Let things be just as they are.
Happiness and suffering do not depend on being poor or rich, they depend on having the right or wrong understanding in our mind.
Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before.
Be mindful of the words that you use and the actions that you live and who you are and how it is you use your power. Keep clear at all times that you are what you say you are.
I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that every-thing will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more.
We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.
The search for truth is more precious than its possession.
Forgive but do not forget, or you will be hurt again. Forgiving changes the perspectives. Forgetting loses the lesson.
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