I took this photo around a month ago and like it very much. I call this photo “meditation”.
These days I am reading a book “The Sun my heart” by Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. I love the “apple juice story” in which he explains how meditation helps us to let our mind settle. For Nurturing Thursday this week I would like to share it with you all.
I got this version of story from internet which is slightly different than in the book but I hope you like it.
One day, Thuy (a five year old girl) and a few other girls were playing near the hermitage, and they came in to ask for water to drink. I had some organic apple juice a neighbor had given me. I offered each child a glass. The last serving of apple juice went to Thuy, who did not want to drink it because there was a lot of pulp inside. She left it on the table and went out again to play. About an hour later, she came back very thirsty, looking for water. I pointed to her glass of apple juice and asked, “Why don’t you drink that? It’s very delicious.” She looked at the apple juice and saw that it was now very clear, because after an hour or so, all the pulp had sunk to the bottom. She was very happy to drink it.
Then she asked me why the apple juice had become clear, and I answered that it had been practicing sitting meditation for an hour. And she understood! Because we left the glass there for one hour, it kept still and became clear. She said, “Now I understand why you practice sitting meditation—you want to be clear.” I said, “Yes, you understand what sitting meditation means. If you know how to sit, how to put yourself in a stable physical position, if you know how to handle your in-breath and out-breath, then after some time, you become peaceful and clear.” That is why we like to do sitting meditation every day. We imitate the glass of apple juice, or the apple juice imitates us!
