Meditation is like a single log of wood. Insight and investigation are one end of the log; calm and concentration are the other end. If you lift up the whole log, both sides come up at once. Which is concentration and which is insight? Just this mind.
Interpretation
Meditation involves both insight and calmness, which are interconnected elements in the process.
In this quote, Ajahn Chah illustrates the dual nature of meditation, comparing it to a log of wood that cannot be separated into distinct ends—insight and calmness. Both aspects are integral to a complete practice; when one engages in true meditation, both insight and concentration develop together, highlighting the unity of the meditative experience and the mind's role in achieving balance within.
In practice
In a public talk about mindfulness, one might reference this quote to explain the holistic nature of meditation.
Once you understand non-self, then the burden of life is gone. You'll be at peace with the world. When we see beyond self, we no longer cling to happiness and we can truly be happy. Learn to let go without struggle, simply let go, to be just as you are - no holding on, no attachment, free.
When sitting in meditation, say, "That's not my business!" with every thought that comes by.
If you haven't wept deeply, you haven't begun to meditate.
To observe and watch one's own mind is something really interesting. The untrained mind will run and follow its old habit patterns. Because it has not been trained and taught, it will get lost in all kinds of stories and issues. Therefore we have to train our mind. The meditation practice in Buddhism is all about training one's own mind.
The heart is just the heart; thoughts and feelings are just thoughts and feelings. Let things be just as they are.
Happiness and suffering do not depend on being poor or rich, they depend on having the right or wrong understanding in our mind.
Organize, agitate, educate, must be our war cry.
Do we dare be ourselves? That is the question that counts.
The wing structure of the hornet, in relation to its weight, is not suitable for flight, but he does not know this and flies anyway.
...inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened.
Most people think of peace as a state of Nothing Bad Happening, or Nothing Much Happening. Yet if peace is to overtake us and make us the gift of serenity and well-being, it will have to be the state of Something Good Happening.
The gulls who scorn perfection for the sake of travel go nowhere, slowly. Those who put aside travel for the sake of perfection go anywhere, instantly.
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