“Our different postures hide pain. When you’ve been sitting a long time and then switch positions because of the pain, the pain disappears. That’s why we don’t see the pain. It’s like youth hiding old age inside. The mind is taken with the looks, the sounds, the smells, the tastes of youth, but if you stay with it for a while, old age starts to show its face.
The mind is like a fish in water. When you catch it and bring it on land, it’ll squirm and struggle to get back into the water. If you simply let it go, it’ll be at its ease. But if you catch the mind and make it sit in meditation, it’ll see pain. If you simply let it go as it likes, it won’t see pain—like the fish in water. But when you try sitting in meditation, it’s like a fish caught and placed on land. It’ll see pain immediately.”