“When you construct a house, then when it’s finished, only the construction of it is finished, right? The next step is that you have to live in the house and always keep cleaning it. It’s not the case that when you finish constructing the house you can rest at your ease. That’s not the case at all. You have to keep cleaning the house continually.
It’s the same when you practice concentration. When you do concentration, you can’t think that you’ve finished doing it and now you can stop. You have to use your knowledge and mindfulness to be aware of the preoccupations that will disturb and destroy your concentration. You have to know these things.
When standing, walking, sitting, and lying down, you have to keep mindfulness in charge at all times.
When you finish constructing a house, you can’t say that you’ll just lie down and rest, you know. When the house gets dirty, what will you do? You’ll have to wipe it down and sweep it out, all kinds of things. It’s the same when you practice concentration. Getting the mind into concentration isn’t hard. But to keep maintaining concentration is hard. Constructing a house isn’t hard. In just a few years you’re finished. But you have to keep on cleaning the house for many, many years until it falls apart. As long as you live in it, you have to keep on cleaning it. That’s the normal way it is.”