August 19, 2026

The Glass Is Already Broken

You see this goblet? For me this glass is already broken. I enjoy it; I drink out of it. It holds my water admirably, sometimes even reflecting the sun in beautiful patterns. If I should tap it, it has a lovely ring to it. But when I put this glass on a shelf and the wind knocks it over, or my elbow knocks it off the table and it falls to the ground and shatters, I say, 'Of course.' When I understand that this glass is already broken, every moment with it is precious.

Ajahn Chah was a Thai forest monk who taught mostly through simple objects and everyday images, so that Western students unfamiliar with Buddhist philosophy could grasp difficult truths quickly. Holding up a drinking glass, he explained that he already saw it as broken, so using it fully today and losing it later were both received the same way. The passage points to equanimity as an orientation set in advance rather than a reaction summoned after the fact, so praise and blame, gain and loss, arrive without knocking the mind off balance. In the Buddhist tradition equanimity, or upekkha, is one of the four immeasurable qualities of heart, cultivated by remembering the changing nature of things before they change, so that when they do, the mind stays steady like a mountain. This is not indifference to life; it is loving fully while holding loosely, since nothing keeps its shape forever.

A principle of Eastern Wisdom: Equanimity →