LIAM CHAI

I was part of a private subreddit a while ago. It was created by a random old man who sent invites out to other users he saw post on places like /r/Meditation or /r/Buddhism. There were maybe 50 of us in total in the group, Every few days he would share a post – about pranayama or mindfulness of breathing or some teaching on impermanence. They were excellent posts. Incredibly insightful and pithy.

After about three years of this, he deleted the group and everything in it, leaving just this note. I never knew what he looked like, where he was from or what his real name was. He formed this group, made a ton of posts, asked us questions about our practice, served us, encouraged and inspired us, then just disappeared.

One thing I remember was his description of attending to the meditation object (say your breath) like you would hold jelly in your hands. It’s a brilliant metaphor. Holding jelly in your hands – not too hard or the jelly will break apart, but also not too soft that it just slips through your hands.