We meditate to train ourselves to concentrate, and  when we’re able to concentrate, even our memory improves.

Supreme Master Ching Hai gets tired when she works with the disciples because, as she says, they “can’t concentrate well, and then they can’t remember well; they don’t have enough intelligence; and their wisdom is not open. That’s why I can only use half or even one-third of their ability.  To me, it’s not good enough. When I talk to them, it’s like talking to children; I keep explaining, and they still can’t understand. This is why I get tired.  Giving initiation doesn’t make me tired, nor does giving lectures or bearing the disciple’s karma.  But working with a poor instrument is the most tiring to me.”

“In Tibet, we see two kinds of statues of Quan Yin Bodhisattva, one benevolent-looking, and the other fierce-looking. How come the Bodhisattva has two different looks?  Have people made a mistake?  No one made a mistake; it’s just that we imagine her wrong.  We love to imagine things.  That’s how we deal with worldly things, and that’s why we have so much suffering. Before you got married, you loved to imagine your girlfriend being so perfect, so gentle, and so on. You didn’t want to look at her other side, and you didn’t want to admit the fact that she had another side. But after you two have lived together for a period of time, she starts to reveal her other side even if you don’t want to admit it. And then you have problems in your marriage. This is all because you imagine things too much.”