Grace, Stillness, and the Gong: Lessons from Tea with Gagan

Tea with Gagan on Sunday, June 28th, 2026, was an event at Fountain House that presented teachings on the roots of Buddhist practices, namely through the art of meditation. Gagan, a Buddhist monk from a religious order based in Korea, led Fountain House participants through meditative practice, reflection, and discussion. He began by saying that there is a center of the mind—a part that cannot be easily disrupted. This part, which enables us to meditate mindfully or be in the “here and now,” was the focus of attention in today’s practice.

Gagan continued by explaining that mindfulness, or being in the mind’s center, does not require us to ignore the chatter of other parts of the mind. Instead, it gives us the chance to fully engage in the present. By first introducing the “ohm” (a humming-like vocalization that goes back to ancient times and is said to reverberate primordial vibrations that soothe the nervous system; while typically done in yoga, it is also part of meditative practices), the room’s energy was brought to a heightened unity. As the audience chanted ohm in turns, alternating between one side of the room and the other, the room eventually settled into a quiet stillness, generating an aura that was peaceful and calm.

Engaging in ohm allowed us to fluidly enter a meditative experience afterward. Gagan then guided the audience to break down isolated parts of the body to allow relaxation to deepen. He used a gong to signal the beginning of this process. By striking the gong as our cue to relax each body part, Gagan led us to collectively release tension in each area. He began with the legs, then the arms, then the eyes or mind’s eye, then the spine, and lastly anything that still was not fully relaxed.

There was also fruitful discussion about how context and guilt for our actions can become barriers to mindfulness. Gagan playfully began talking about the Silk Road and how it eventually led to the spread of Buddhism into present-day Nepal. He then quickly had us repeat the word “silk” three times. He followed up with the question, “What do cows drink?” and almost everyone replied, “Milk.” Though some of us felt somewhat foolish, we recognized that even though we all know cows drink water, the prior word conditioned us to say “milk.”

Much like this example, Gagan encouraged us to grant ourselves grace when contextual factors don’t allow us to make the best decisions possible. He said that even when guilt sets in, we sometimes have to believe that we are all trying to make our lives more livable and striving for happiness in the best ways we know how. This gave me the idea that life, while complicated, is filled with external factors that influence our decision-making. Sometimes we just have to let go and trust the process. Gagan also gave an example that we are not isolated from nature but change with it. He said that much like context in life, we aren’t the same as a picture of ourselves from when we were teenagers. Everything changes with time, which is certainly true.

After some Kung Fu movements with the audience and a Q&A, I gathered that meditation is a practice that can offer us some freedom from complicated life decisions. Meditation has sometimes confused me because of the mind’s ability to wander, but during this practice it felt concrete and tangible. Being instructed to focus on relaxing isolated parts of the body felt more realistic than envisioning obscure imagery, as some meditation styles may require. There were sensations that guided the meditator to do exactly what Gagan instructed, making the practice purposeful and meaningful for both mind and body.

Note: Contact Dan Frey for future events like this: 929-884-3564 or daniel.frey@fountainhouse.org