Success on the Path
January 13, 2009
To stay with the breath, you first have to want to stay with the breath. It’s the first basis of success in the practice. Some people object to the idea that there’s success and failure in the practice. But this is a path that leads to a goal. That’s something we always should keep in mind: that we’re going someplace. Willy-nilly, we’re going someplace. We’re heading to aging, illness and death—but you want to ask yourself, is that the place you want to head? Or the only place you want to head? The body does have to age, grow ill and die, but does the mind have to do that? Does the mind have to suffer from those things? Is there a place where you can go where you don’t suffer from those things? As the Buddha said, it’s not found by going anywhere in the physical universe. But it is found by going inside.