{"id":6178,"date":"2016-09-16T22:12:04","date_gmt":"2016-09-17T04:12:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/?p=6178"},"modified":"2016-09-16T22:24:37","modified_gmt":"2016-09-17T04:24:37","slug":"venerable-dr-yifa-on-stilling-the-mind-with-meditation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2016\/09\/venerable-dr-yifa-on-stilling-the-mind-with-meditation.html","title":{"rendered":"Venerable Dr. Yifa on stilling the mind with meditation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"harvest-moon\"
2016 Harvest Moon, photo \u00a9 \u200eJustin Whitaker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

In the following video, one of my wonderful teachers, Ven. Yifa, discusses the Buddha\u2019s teaching on the effect of meditation on the mind.<\/p>\n

The mind is like a pool of water. Quite often it is filled with mud that is constantly stirred up. If we look at the reflection of the moon in such water, the image is distorted. So too when we look out at the world with a muddied mind.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the pond might have surface ripples and agitations that distort the moon. And again, our mind is like this: agitations on the surface of our perceptions distort our understanding of the world.<\/p>\n

With meditation, the water becomes clear and still, developing a mirror-like quality that can \u201creflect things as they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ven. Yifa goes on to break down the aspects of meditation into three parts:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. the body (practicing yoga or tai chi or doing walking meditation)<\/li>\n
  2. the breath (coming to the breath to calm down, doing this any time)<\/li>\n
  3. the thoughts (not getting rid of thoughts but letting spaciousness develop around them)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n