The present moment

Dear Truth Seekers!

It has been a while since we connected, and what other best way it is to connect other than a Zen story!

I bring you a very small Zen story but very profound.

Let us read and contemplate on few questions before we read the actual story. Request you all to ponder over these questions for couple of minutes before you read ahead.

·   What is the present moment?

·   What is beyond this present moment?

·   Does life dwell in the past/future or in the present?

Let us read the story now.

A Japanese warrior was captured by his enemies and thrown into prison.

That night he was unable to sleep because he feared that the next day he would be interrogated, tortured, and executed.

Then the words of his Zen master came to him, 

“Tomorrow is not real. It is an illusion. The only reality is now.” 

Heeding these words, the warrior became peaceful and fell asleep.

 

 

The story is very profound and symbolizes the importance of the present moment. Is there any life beyond the present moment? Think about it.

What you wake up, you walk, read, write, eat or do any sort of mundane or important activity, you always find yourself doing it in the present moment. And that moment is very tiny. It goes away even before you realize it. It is just there, each moment, moment to moment. If you are not aware, you happen to lose it.

Try a little experiment. Sometime, take a break for 10 minutes and tell yourself that in these 10 minutes, I am going to live moment to moment. I am going to aware in the present moment.

Whatever may happen, I will not lose my focus. I will be in the present moment. Your mind will wander away due to its lifelong habit, but be in the present. Tell yourself consciously, there is no future or past. It is only this present moment that I have and then live in the present. See what happens after those 10 minutes of awareness. How do you feel?

In the story, even at the eve of death night, the warrior could sleep peacefully. How is this possible?

His mind must be wandering about thoughts of death, torture and brutality that was yet to come. But remembering the words of the master, he could sleep peacefully. He knew that tomorrow is yet to come, it may come or may not, or it might come in another way but this moment is all I have. This moment is here, with me, now but tomorrow has not happened yet.

This brought him back in the present.

Thoughts for contemplation:

·   What % of my time during the day is spent in complete awareness of the present moment?

·   What kind of thoughts drift me away from the present?

·   What is past/future?

Think about it.

Happy Thoughts!

Mohit