Questioner:I’ve always been very interested and impressed by Buddhism and what it has totell us about reality. I can’t imagine a superior outlook on life—but I can’tseem to find time for meditation. I want to meditate and I often promise myselfI will get going with daily meditation, but then when I do get going it getsinterrupted and I let weeks or months slip by. Can you give me some advice onthis?
Ngak’chang Rinpoche: How much do you want to practice?
Q: It’svery important to me.
NR: That’sinteresting. I wonder why that is? [pause]Let me see if I understand you correctly. You want to do something. It’simportant to you—but you don’t do it. Have I understoodyou correctly? Was that the gist of what you said?
Q: Yes.
NR: Well,the answer is fairly simple then. When you want to meditate more than you wantto use your free time in other ways, you’ll find less difficulty. I mustapologize if that sounds somewhat blunt, but it’s a simple statement of themanner in which motivation functions. We could look at it another way. What ifI told you, “I want to get thinner, but I keep eating too much and don’t exercise.” Your response might be the same: “You obviouslylike eating and not exercising more than you’d like to be thinner.”
Khandro Déchen: We’re not making a value judgment here either—we’re just saying, “Enjoythe roundness of your belly as much as the taste of your food.”
NR: Orenjoy your moderation as much as your envisioned thinness.
—from the book Roaring Silence/aromeditation.org
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