When you go to the pagoda, the mind calms down and become peaceful. You go to a party, the mind becomes hot. You go to the bar, the mind is different again. The object and mind are related.
The object overwhelms the mind of normal people. But for the meditator, the mind can be peaceful whether the experience is good or bad.
That’s why people go to a peaceful surrounding when they’re upset – because they cannot change their mind, they try to change the environment first, and then the mind calms down. It is not necessary for meditators because they can change their mind immediately in any situation.
The object is not important. Actually, the mind calms down because the mind quality has changed. But people think that it’s the object that makes the mind calm down.
When I was depressed, I went everywhere but the depression couldn’t go away. I tried to go to the mountain and the beach, but the mind was still depressed. They couldn’t change my mind because the depression was so strong. Whatever I saw and whatever I heard, I became depressed.