About This Teaching
Two years after encountering lay meditation retreats, Luang Por Chah praised the effort of those who attended but warned of a practice built on retreats with no continuity between them. Short bursts of intensity followed by long heedlessness could not lead to real progress; retreats should change how people live afterwards.
He likened that approach to a thief who hires a good lawyer, is acquitted, returns to thieving, and repeats the cycle. The aim of meditation is not temporary respite but investigating the causes of suffering and uprooting craving.
He also compared practice to a house: building it does not take long, but maintaining and cleaning it lasts the rest of your life. Developing concentration is not hard; looking after it is. People who grow bored and drop practice, he said, were not sincere enough to persevere until results appeared. Asked how he prepared his mind to meditate, he said he just kept it "where it always is".