Hi, welcome back to

your Daily Mindfulness.

In today's session, we're

going to talk about real peace.

I'd like to read a passage by

the great teacher Ajahn Chah.

He says, "Within itself, the

mind is already peaceful that

the mind is not peaceful these

days is because it follows moods.

It becomes agitated

because moods deceive it.

Sense impressions come and

trick the mind into happiness,

suffering, gladness, sorrow.

But the mind's nature

is none of these things.

Gladness or sadness is not the mind,

but only a mood coming to deceive us.

The untrained mind gets

lost and follows them.

It forgets itself.

And we think it is we who are upset

at ease or whatever, but really this

mind of ours is already unmoving

and peaceful, really peaceful.

So we must train the mind to

know these sense impressions

and not get lost in them.

Just, this is the aim of all

of this difficult practice

that we put ourselves through."

And of course, that last line of difficult

practice is referring to meditation.

So notice how that passage lands for you.

Does it resonate?

Do you feel resistance?

Or maybe even some confusion?

The idea of the mind already being

peaceful requires that we go beyond

our usual conceptualization of

the mind, which tends to just be

thoughts, beliefs, or emotions.

In the meditation traditions.

Mind is used to describe the part of you

that is aware of all of these things.

The Zen folks call it big mind,.

Big mind cannot be touched by

what is arising in our experience.

It's not caught in what is happening

and it's the part of us that we're

connecting to in our meditation practice.

Most of our pursuits of happiness

come from the arrangement of

moods asAjahn Chah talks about.

But there's a different kind of peace we

experience, a different kind of happiness

when we identify more with our big mind.

We'll explore this more in

our meditation practice today.

But as you go about your day, see

if you can feel the difference

between big mind and small mind.

The real peace comes from more and

more moments connected to big mind.

Thank you for your practice

and I'll talk to you soon.

Take care.