Sometimes when we teach meditation it sounds like all we’re doing is repeating the same thing over and over. However, when students come to us with a problem, we have no choice but to give them the right answer. We can try our best to repackage it to make it sound more interesting but it doesn’t make sense to say something totally off the mark just to avoid being boring. One of the most appealing features of the Buddha’s teaching is its simplicity.
Our teacher Ajahn Tong Sirimangalo explains that the path to freedom and satisfaction enunciated by the Buddha can be boiled down to his admonishment to us to pay attention. That is, mindfulness is the key to the eightfold path. Venerable Ajahn said that if the eightfold path is like a car then mindfulness is like the key. One doesn’t need to know the details of how a car works in order to start it with a key. In the same way, one does not need to know the vastness of the Buddha’s teachings in order to make the highest use of it.
What we provide as teachers and operators of a meditation centre is an environment conducive to practice and regular reminders about how to pay attention correctly and how to train the mind to make mindfulness into a habit. We wholeheartedly hope that you will make good use of the opportunities for practice that we are offering.