Think of Everything as Already Broken

In his book Thoughts without a Thinker, psychiatrist Mark Epstein recounts this teaching by the Thai meditation master Achaan Chah. “You see this goblet?” Achaan Chah asks. “For me this glass is already broken. I enjoy it; I drink out of it. It holds my water admirably, sometimes even reflecting the sun in beautiful patterns. If I should tap it, it has a lovely ring to it. But when I put this glass on the shelf, and the wind knocks it over or my elbow brushes it off the table and it falls to the ground and shatters, I say, ‘Of course.’ When I understand that this glass is already broken, every moment with it is precious.”

Notes:

A liberating perspective.

Folksonomies: meditation change acceptance

Taxonomies:
/food and drink/beverages/alcoholic beverages/wine (0.577349)
/food and drink/beverages/non alcoholic beverages/coffee and tea (0.576126)
/society/unrest and war (0.565980)

Keywords:
Achaan Chah (0.967383 (positive:0.327153)), master Achaan Chah (0.917023 (positive:0.327153)), Mark Epstein (0.623429 (negative:-0.507821)), book Thoughts (0.601891 (neutral:0.000000)), lovely ring (0.599099 (positive:0.678020)), beautiful patterns (0.578741 (neutral:0.000000)), Broken (0.461830 (negative:-0.443470)), glass (0.426196 (negative:-0.453450)), goblet (0.398787 (positive:0.226089)), psychiatrist (0.391736 (neutral:0.000000)), elbow (0.377982 (negative:-0.626030)), Thinker (0.374807 (neutral:0.000000)), shelf (0.371164 (positive:0.255175)), moment (0.371152 (neutral:0.000000)), Thai (0.362643 (positive:0.327153)), perspective (0.355585 (negative:-0.443470)), teaching (0.349486 (negative:-0.507821)), water (0.349134 (positive:0.630427)), meditation (0.348520 (positive:0.327153)), sun (0.346618 (neutral:0.000000)), wind (0.345588 (negative:-0.626030)), course. (0.344958 (neutral:0.000000))

Entities:
Achaan Chah:Person (0.987355 (negative:-0.232997)), Mark Epstein:Person (0.412640 (negative:-0.507821))

Concepts:
Theravada (0.970224): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc | yago
English-language films (0.896824): dbpedia
Ajahn Chah (0.780934): website | dbpedia | freebase

 Meditation For Dummies
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book:  Bodian, Stephan (2012-07-19), Meditation For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, Retrieved on 2013-09-10
  • Source Material [books.google.com]
  • Folksonomies: body