Making a Candle Plate

During the last Awakening Period of early summer at the 12th year of training at MAPLE, Soryu asked that we start using a melted wax on a plate as the “candle” for interviews. An Awakening Period is a time of intensive meditation practice at MAPLE and Interviews are an opportunity for a student to receive personal practice instruction from Soryu. Part of the structure of interviews come from how the physical environment is set. During interviews, there’s always a brightly lit candle, usually in contrast with a dimly lit room.

While we usually use actual candles, Soryu had decided it was less wasteful to make our own. Because I didn’t know how to make candles, Soryu instructed me on how to create a makeshift candle setup. I melted beeswax on a plate and then tied cotton string into tightly bound knots shaped like pyramids, which could be used as the wicks. Each time a pyramid was lit, it could last around 2 days.

During this particular Awakening Period, the first plate of wax had been fully burned. It was my responsibility to create another plate. I had to spend considerable time cleaning the small amounts of burned beeswax and ash stains on the plate, reheating new beeswax on the plate, and positioning the plate in a way that allowed the beeswax to dry in the correct position.

When Soryu saw the new plate of wax he asked “How long did this take to make?” I told him, “around 45 minutes.” He then expressed that the plate was beautiful, but that this was way too much time to spend on it. Soryu explained that next time, I should simply pour new beeswax over the plate.

I then reflected on what the mind was prioritizing with deciding how to spend time during an Awakening Period.