On the Street Where You Live

Ayyā Medhānandī

When a river flows into the sea it acquires one taste, the taste of salt. As our meditation deepens, regardless of age, health, race, gender, culture or social status, delving into the mind, we discover one taste, that is the taste of truth. The world is full of suffering, not what we want it to be. And on the street where you live is your monastery, your garden, the thorns and the flowers, the compost and the field of cultivation – from feeling hopeless despair to the dawning moment when you understand the origin of suffering and the way to the Deathless. Letting go in the very marrow of the moment, spread peace and compassion in all directions – on the street where you live. Given at a 10 day retreat, Bodhinyanarama Monastery, Stokes Valley, New Zealand, 2005.