The Glass Room

Close your eyes and settle in. Make this your home base. Make this your default mode: that you’re with the breath energy in the body.

As for things happening outside, you can watch them from inside. It’s like having a glass room. You don’t have to go outside to see what’s going on. And the fact that you’re inside the room means that you can control the temperature, you can control the climate. Even though things outside may be very hot or very cold, you can be comfortable inside your glass room. In other words, even though things of the world may be pretty disturbing—and they are very disturbing right now—you’ve got to have your safe place.

Some people say that you’re just looking after yourself. Well, there’s looking after yourself in the wise way and looking after yourself in an unwise way. And we’re doing it in a wise way. After all, what are you responsible for most in the world? You’re responsible for your actions. Your actions come from your state of mind. So to give a good contribution to the world, you have to give careful thought to what your state of mind is right now—and care for it. That’s where your real responsibility is. You protect yourself so that you’re not on the receiving end all the time—so that you can be more proactive in a positive way.

So give yourself a good place to stay inside. Notice how the breathing feels in the different parts of the body. Wherever it doesn’t feel good, you can ask yourself, “What would make it feel better?” Use your imagination a little bit.

We’re told that we should simply be with things as they are. But things as they are have already been shaped a lot by the way you breathe, by the way you talk to yourself, by the perceptions you hold in mind, by the feelings you focus on. These saṅkhāras, these fabrications that you do, are already shaping things. What you want to see is how you shape things, how things function.

The Buddha said that his awakening was a matter of seeing cause and effect. And the only way you’re going to understand cause and effect for yourself is if you do some experimenting. So experiment with these things. Experiment with the way you breathe. Experiment with the way you talk to yourself, the perceptions you hold in mind around the breath, the feelings around the breath that you can cultivate.

This is a way you can be more proactive, and then you can have a positive impact not only inside, but also into the world outside as well. The world may resist your impact, but at the very least you’re sending out good energy. That’s what you’re responsible for. So take care of your responsibilities. Look after yourself well. And then you’ll be in a better position to have a good impact both for your own sake and for the sake of the people around you.