The Importance of Self-Reflection and Meditation : หน้า 90/164

"The first is the structure of the physical body. The head dictates to us that we need to open our eyes. And when we open our eyes, we look outside. We never look inside. So when we look outside, we only see other people: When we look outside, we do not see our own face, we only see other people's faces. And others do the same. We don't even realize that we don't see ourselves. When we look at other people, we see either the good or the bad in other people. But we need to train ourselves to see only the good. Even though we always find fault with other people, we need to recognize the good in other people. But because we tend to find fault with other people, we overlook the fault within ourselves. And, because we tend to see what is wrong rather than what is right, problems arise. "If we have something wrong with us, we never find it because we are always looking outside. So we need to always look at ourselves rather than at other people. First, we open our eyes, and we see other people. Then, we look into a mirror and see the reflection of our body. But the only way to really see who we are – to truly look at ourselves – is to meditate. "The second commonality is that no one is perfect. We are all imperfect. Each of us has goodness. But when we live together, we have to tell ourselves that we are not perfect, although we have to find goodness in other people. And we take that goodness back home with us. And how do we find that goodness in others? We meditate. We sit quietly, never seeking faults in others. The meditation mats are designed for sitting longer. If we don't sit straight, we cannot find the center of our body. We must train ourselves and follow the role model of Khun Yai, who was always perfectly straight as though she was leaning on air. Remember that our spine should be straight up, and that will make it is easier to find the center of our body. Animals cannot meditate, of course, because they cannot find their center. So, either sitting perfectly straight up, or lying down perfectly horizontal – those positions are really important. We need to learn from others about our meditation position. Most people cannot sit perfectly all of the time. They cannot walk perfectly or sleep perfectly. So we need to train ourselves in all of our activities. Many times we learn perfections from others, both physically and spiritually. Remember, we open our eyes, and we see outside of ourselves. So we learn what is appropriate from others. "On Magha Puja Day, 1,250 Arahants came to visit the Buddha. He spoke to them in order that they should then go out and talk to others. We need to be patient because everyone has imperfections. If we are imperfect, we must be patient to the pain, for ex-"