THE PEACE OF MIND
Mr. Hải saw an interesting trail and decided to take a walk and find out where it ended. Finally, it led him to a bamboo gate of a simple thatched house. The gate was just half-open, so he slightly pushed it and went in. Going through a yard, he stood on a porch looking through an open door, and there came a man greeting and asking him:
"How are you? Is there something I can help you with?"
"How are you? Oh, no. I just took a walk and saw your very nice place, then came in."
Realizing that the unexpected guest seemed not to walk away, the man invited him to come inside:
"It may be our conditioned causality that led you here. So, please come in to have some tea."
The house was organized with many simple handmade things, and it was clean. Hải had a feeling the owner and the house were good-natured. The owner sat on the same side with Hải to have a view through the window. There was a field laying on the vast hill base. How peaceful it was! The owner served Hải the tea, then said:
"My name's Minh. I have lived here for 8 years. How about you? Were you taking a walk and enjoying the sights?"
"My name's Hải. I live in the city, running a real estate company. I'm really stressed with work. I began to lose control of myself, and got angry. Often, I offended my employees and I felt guilty. I have tried to control myself, but I failed. So, I decided to assign the task to my subordinate, then took an adventure to come here to relax. I hope to get some psychological balance."
"What kind of real estate business is it that you run?"
"Well, I don't have much money, so I don't expand my business too much, just enough to make some profit as soon as possible, by any well investment. My guideline is to aim at the middle class and low-income households who need a home to settle down. It's too difficult to do this kind of business. The price of houses can't be high, but the quality needs to meet the standard, and its utility should fill a basic requirement. Profit is also a need to reinvest, simultaneously. It's so hard to solve this problem that I've gotten stressed out. It's easier to buy houses at a cheap price and wait until the price of houses goes up, then sell."
"You're very kind. You must have been blessed by the Gods."
"I don't know for sure if I am. My mind is really depressed and stressed. I have had a lack of sleep, and lost attention to work. I'm not as smart as I was. You must be peaceful here."
"Maybe I'm here waiting for you. I practice meditation to get my mind unoccupied. If you want to practice meditation, I'll instruct you."
"Oh, good. I must be blessed by the Gods. Please instruct me."
Finishing a sip of tea, Minh asked Hải:
"Do you see that your breath is strongly disordered whenever you're angry or emotional?"
"Yes. You're right. I have been."
"Now you can do it to the contrary. You need to breathe smoothly then your mind will be easy. Mind and breath have a close connection. Mind affects breath, while breath also affects the mind. You can't control your mind, but you can control your breath to direct your mind. This is the first secret. You should breathe very smoothly and quietly. Don't try to breathe in too long, just a little. Try to breathe out a bit longer. Breathing out can help your mind become peaceful more than breathing in does. That's why breathing out should be longer than breathing in. Now you can try it."
Hải sat still on a chair, breathing smoothly. Five minutes later, he said:
"I haven't felt clear, but I feel a little easy."
"Let me ask you a question. When you lose control or when you feel stressful, does your body move constantly?"
"Yeah. It's right. Sometimes, I jump up and down."
"It's because the mind and body also have a connection. The mind is unoccupied then the body is moving. Now you should try to keep your body unmoved, but soft and smooth, and see if your mind can relax. Try it."
Hải sat still on the chair, quietly controlling his body. Some minutes later, he said:
"Yes, you're right. I paid attention to the control of my whole body, kept its muscles soft, not moving; then my mind seemed to be easy."
"One more thing...Where was your mind when you were thinking? And what did you think about it?"
"Well, I thought about everything in life, so my mind went around, too."
"Then your mind left your body. This means when your mind is moving, it leaves your body. If your mind is calm, it will come back to your body. If your whole body stays calm and controlled, your mind should go back in, and not go out anymore."
"Yes. You're right."
"It's uncomfortable for you to control your body and breath if you sit on this chair. Could you please move to the plank bed to sit in a cross-legged posture so that your spine is straight? At first, you might get a bit hurt, but your mind will be easily peaceful."
Hải went to sit on the plank bed. He couldn't sit in a cross-legged posture. Minh helped to massage his legs. After a short while, he could sit in the right cross-legged position. He kept his spine straight in silence, and controlled his breath and body.
Later, he stopped practicing, relaxed his legs straight, and he looked comfortable. Minh instructed Hải to massage his legs and body. They came back to sit on the chairs and drink tea. It was afternoon. Minh said:
"If you wish you can stay a night here, so that you can take a whole practice of meditation."
"If I don't have a business I'd like to stay here forever."
They went to the kitchen to cook dinner together. During their dinner, Hải asked Minh:
"Are you Buddhist?"
"Oh, no. I have no religion."
"I thought this practice of meditation belonged to Buddhism."
"As far as I know, meditation belongs to the whole world, not an individual. Anyone who has wisdom and morality can understand meditation. All of the Buddha, Jesus, Lao-tse, Confucius or Saints who have wisdom know very well about meditation. That's it."
"I should try to practice meditation to make my mind peaceful. When I have experience, I'll instruct my employees to take this practice, so they can feel peaceful, too. Life really causes us so much tiresomeness."
That night, they practiced meditation together, and talked with each other until midnight. The next morning, Hải said goodbye and left.
The peace of mind can bring benefits to people. The first benefit is that people can clear away stress, and feel relaxed, calm and happy. The second benefit is that it can help people get healthy, increase the resistance of their bodies, and create their powerful internal force. The third benefit is that it helps people's minds refresh so they have a smarter and better memory. The fourth benefit is that it can help control people's feelings of anger or excitement. The fifth benefit is that it helps to change people's view of life for the better.
Peace of mind and morality have a close connection. Moral people find it easy to get their minds peaceful. Almost all people who practice meditation are moral. Whichever religions the true Saints could be, they all had their special ability of the deep peace of mind. Our emphatic words of "true Saints" mean to talk about the Saints who are moral and wise. This doesn't mean to talk about a title of sainthood that is granted by any religion. Conferred saints can say nothing about their morality because they are titled by their senior who is not the "true Saint" yet. The true Saints have no need for any title or to be conferred. They have morality and wisdom that people can hardly understand.
In India, its government applies the practice of meditation to teaching in prisons, and they see prisoners changing for the better. Many Japanese and Korean companies encourage their employees to practice meditation so that they can get healthy to do their jobs well.
However, meditation is not easy to practice at all. People should be moral to get through the first difficult phase of practice that causes their feet so much pain and disturbs their minds. When they get their minds peaceful and their bodies soft, they can get true happiness from their practice of meditation. Many monks and nuns love to meditate, but some of them fear the practice of meditation.
When all people in the whole world love to practice meditation, then this will be the dawn of humankind.
Janna
Please read more:
https://jannaquotes.com/en/meditation/meditation-questions-and-answers-part-1
https://jannaquotes.com/en/meditation/answering-meditation-questions-part-2