As Ajahn Chah would say, “Looking for certainty in that which is not certain you’re bound to suffer.” The nature of calm is that it comes and goes. The nature of the full moon is that it waxes and wanes. The Buddha called impermanence “the portal to the deathless.” When we start to align with refuge, when we commit ourselves to non-harming, that is a great blessing. Even greater and more fruitful is even for a few seconds to allow the mind to be kind, to open up and let our wellbeing include what’s around us. But one of the deepest blessings is holding in the mind the perception of change.
Kittisaro
Spirit Rock Residential Teacher
Kittisaro is a core teacher at Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts, guiding teacher of Chattanooga Insight in Tennessee, and a member of the Teachers Council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California. He is co-founder with his wife, Thanissara, of Dharmagiri Sacred Mountain Retreat in South Africa, and Sacred Mountain Sangha, a public charity in Sebastopol, CA.