Santa Clara Meditation Empty Mind – Now I Know How To Rest My Mind
Yong-Chul Yoon / Office Worker
Children are playing on the dock of a fishing village in a small country town in South Korea. At one point, a four-year-old boy slips and falls into the sea. The children who were playing together begin to laugh and just watch the young boy struggling without trying to rescue him. At that moment, the drowning boy’s older brother, who is four years older than him, rushes to a nearby house. He tells his uncle that his younger brother is drowning, and his uncle runs to rescue the child who was about to drown. If my older brother hadn’t got my uncle to save me, I wouldn’t be alive today…
I Was Shocked to Hear I Could Cleanse My Mind
My older brother committed suicide when I was a sophomore in high school. The sudden death of my brother, who was serving in the military after finishing his freshman year in college, shocked me. It was more strange than sad to me, that the older brother who loved me so much and saved my life, no longer lived in this world.
It was heartbreaking to see my parents, who now looked at least ten years older at the time of his funeral. My parents had five boys and one girl and they were always especially proud of having many sons. My father was quite happy when the people of our village were envious as he went to work with his sons. But on the day of the funeral, after losing his third son, I never saw his smile again.
Since then, it made me wonder why people suddenly look so old when they have sorrow, and what happens when people die?
After I started to work and got married, I was looking for the place where I could solve these fundamental questions of life but it wasn’t easy for me to find the answers. Then, by chance, I saw an ad for this meditation in the newspaper. The words “The introduction to Truth is simple and clear” touched my heart. I felt like I finally found the place where I could learn how to clean my mind.
I signed up to start meditating immediately. Every day after work, I went to the meditation center and let go of my minds diligently. And it was not long before something seemed to be open up in my mind. I felt so good. The good mood continued on to the next day and the next day. I bragged about this feeling proudly to my wife.
Comfortable Mind Day After Day
It felt so good after each time I meditated and as I continued, each day was better than the last. What will happen if I keep feeling better and better? After about two months, what would happen to me? And people started to notice that I wasn’t as heavy and cold as I’d been in the past.
People whom I’d met at the meditation center also said that they never knew I was such a humorous and mild person. This is more like it! I was able to recover who I was back when I was an innocent young boy. My life has changed from my old routine. Previously, I would always go home feeling tired and sad.
Especially on a stressful day, my kids and wife would avoid me because I was too sensitive and I often showed my anxiousness to them. But now, I feel like I don’t ever get stressed. These days, I feel like going to work is as comfortable as when I take a walk through my neighborhood all day. There is no fatigue. My wife and my children always greet me with a bright face.
Also, before doing this meditation, I would always ask myself why I was doing this or that. I had a lot of remorse and regret that things did not happen differently for me. But, after meditation, after throwing away the debris, I always feel comfortable.
Even when I wake up, I always get up in a clear state so my body is really healthy. The fundamental questions of life that I had held on to since childhood were also solved like a puzzle. Now I am free from all kinds of anguish. I can’t help but to be grateful to live with such joy in my heart. Now I know that this is how my mind rests. My wife, who started meditating after seeing my changes, sometimes even says I don’t know how lucky I am to have found this meditation.”
