Teaching in Virginia Beach in 2016, Ven. Chuc Thanh was asked about meditation. He said “Meditation is not imagining. Some people think that sitting quietly and using their imagination is meditating. This is the wrong view.” In 2017 at a retreat in Virginia Beach, Thay Thanh shared this observation on meditation: “Do not use meditation to escape or avoid reality.”
How do you use the practice of meditation? Have you ever experienced these observations by Chuc Thanh? Take a look at some secular and non-secular definitions of mediation on line. Do you see your mediation practice contained in any of the definitions?
(Venerable Thich Chuc Thanh is the Dharma Master at Dong Hung Temple. These quotations were collected from 2015 through 2018 as he taught in Virginia Beach, VA and Southern Shores, NC. The quotation titles and commentary are by temple member Mark Palamara.)