One day, as Achaan Chah was teaching, one of his students asked him, "How can you be happy in a world of such impermanence, where you cannot protect your loved ones from harm, illness, and death?" He held up a glass and said, "Someone gave me this glass. I really like this glass. It holds my water admirably and it glistens in the sunlight. I touch it and it rings! One day the wind may blow it off my shelf, or my elbow may knock it from the table. This glass is already broken. Even as I hold it in my hand I know it is already on the floor in pieces, so I enjoy it incredibly."
— Wayne Muller, How, Then, Shall We Live?