The teacher explained the great teacher's teaching, "organize the mind through meditation," given more than twenty years ago: if we sit in meditation every day, the mind grows familiar with the center of the body, familiar with stillness, and its refinement gradually increases. This helps organize our thoughts, speech, and actions into something systematic, orderly, and effective — thinking well, speaking well, acting well — even amid the constant pull of worldly temptations arriving from every direction through the media. We can still keep the mind strong.

Building Familiarity Through Daily Practice He taught that whatever we do often, we grow familiar with; whatever we do rarely stays difficult to master. So we must sit often — every day, morning, midday, afternoon, evening, and night — continuously. If we fail because mindfulness slips, we should set up reminders: small stickers placed where we will see them, on the steering wheel, on the car-door handle, on every door in the house — so that the instant we see the symbol, we pause for a moment and gather the mind still at the seventh base, the center of the body. But a reminder that is seen and ignored accomplishes nothing — we must actually stop when we see it, and try, right then, to settle the mind.

He told the story of a senior monk the great teacher once described: while walking, this monk suddenly stopped in the middle of the road, for no reason anyone else could see. In truth, his mind had slipped from the center of the body, so he had to halt everything and gather it still again; once settled, he continued walking. This is a model of serious, sustained practice — done again and again until it truly works.

When the Mind Stops Still, the Wholesome-Dhamma System Takes the Lead A mind that stops and settles is essential, because it means the wholesome-dhamma system steps in as the one directing us, guiding us, and drawing in the pure energy called merit to flow through. That merit is then used to resolve problems, obstacles, and every kind of impurity. As impurities lighten, confusion and disorder recede, and the mind becomes orderly — because the wholesome-dhamma system can govern down to the level of a fraction of a second, holding our thoughts, words, and actions into something systematic, orderly, and effective. When the wholesome system holds things this finely, the unwholesome finds it hard to intrude; even where it manages to slip in, it isn't enough to cause real disorder. Order arises: we know what to do first and what to do after, what to say and what not to say, what to think and what not to think. The wholesome side inserts good thoughts and good words for us — speech becomes brief, to the point, easy to understand; work improves, grows more skillful, faster, more effective, even artful.

The Finer the Mind, the Deeper the Connection to Wiser Knowers This fineness of mind, measured in fractions of a second, has many layers — from one-hundredth of a second down to one-millionth of a second and beyond. The finer the mind becomes, the more deeply it can connect with inner knowers who are subtler still and more powerful. These knowers help refine our thoughts, speech, and actions into something effective. External distractions can no longer disturb us, because the mind is established and balanced.

Purifying Impurities With the Power of Merit From Meditation When we meditate, the stream of merit flows in to balance the mind, purifying the impurities and defilements that disturb that balance. The pure merit drawn in through cultivating right mindfulness purifies the impurities that cause problems and obstacles in the many forms of the hindrances — the very source of difficulty in living, in practice, or in work. Impurity and purity are natural enemies. Without meditation, impurity simply remains fixed within each dimension, continuously disturbing us into confusion and disorder. But through meditation, pure energy purifies the impurity within each dimension until it is exhausted; once the impurity belonging to that dimension is gone, a subtler dimension draws us onward into itself, without our even being aware of it happening — though we will feel it through a growing sense of ease, relaxation, and a lightening of whatever felt oppressive. Whatever had been stuck, whether in our work or in the body, gradually eases and improves.

Resting the Right Way The teacher advised that after finishing our duties and work, we should also learn to rest the mind properly — bringing the mind to join the body, then resting at the center of the Triple Gem, at the center of the wholesome-dhamma system, at the center of Nibbana. Pure energy is drawn in, refining our underlying elements even during that rest. Many good things arise this way, if we learn, understand, and train ourselves to abide continuously within the wholesome-dhamma system.