Buddha sends a postcard home #3 of 7
Dear Gopa,
I hope you and Rahula are happy and well. In my last postcard I said meditation brings a calm mind resting in awareness free of suffering. Do you meditate with others in the palace? Are you teaching local villagers? My meditation is different from when we used to sit together. I will tell you about it so you can help others get started.
Our mind is usually busy with thoughts of regret, hope, anger, lust, memories, making plans… Then there is the mind that lets go of all that mental disturbance and rests in peacefulness and joy in the present moment. Thoughts still come but we let them go. We watch them come and we watch them go. If we hang on to them we lose our awareness and clarity.
This is why we meditate – so our mind can become clear and aware. It can help to focus on our breath, watching each breath come in and go out. Each time we notice we are holding on to a thought or feeling, we focus again on the breath and come back to the present moment.
This is the start of observing how our mind works, how holding on to thoughts and feelings pulls us out of the present moment and causes suffering. I look forward to sitting with you.
Yours with a joyful mind,
Siddhartha
Peter Limbrick, August 2025
