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What 10 Days At A Buddhist Monastery Taught Me… Part 1
Devote not yourselves to negligence;
Have no intimacy with sensuous delights.
The vigilant, meditative person
Attains sublime bliss.
Hard to perceive extremely subtle is this mind,
It roams wherever it desires.
Let the wise man guard it.
A guarded mind is conducive to happiness.
~ The Buddha’s Words in The Dhammapada~
The first time I was introduced to meditation I was twelve years old. I was at a boarding school in India, a Catholic convent. Along with three other girls I lit a candle, sat cross-legged on the floor of our dormitory, and lasted no more than 25 seconds before I fell over in frustration trying to figure out what this Zen thing was all about. I had read that it offered peace within the chaos, some escape from the madness of life, and a “feel good” state of nirvana.
And I desperately wanted to commit to something that would get me to Nirvana.
Fast forward to today. The thought of meditating and finding peace is exciting, and even though I’ve returned to meditation often I never recognized the true life-changing benefits of meditation until I spent ten days at a Buddhist monastery.
