Pursuing The Past/losing Yourself In The Future

[phetaroi]

Camerata posted:

"Do not pursue the past.

Do not lose yourself in the future.

The past no longer is.

The future has not yet come.

Looking deeply at life as it is

in the very here and now,

the practitioner dwells

in stability and freedom.

We must be diligent today.

To wait for tomorrow is too late.

Death comes unexpectedly.

How can we bargain with it?

The sage calls a person who knows

how to dwell in mindfulness

night and day

"one who knows

the better way to live alone."

- Bhaddekaratta Sutta, translated by Thich Nhat Hanh."

Interesting Sutta. I guess I might differ with the first line..."Do not pursue the past". I think it's very difficult to know yourself, to know where you are, to know where you are going, if you do not know from where you came. I might agree more with the phrase if it instead said, "Do not obsess about the past" or "Do not become attached to the past".

Thoughts?

[sabaijai]

Flame and response deleted. If you don't have something constructive to post, please don't post at all.

[Svenn]

Interesting Sutta. I guess I might differ with the first line..."Do not pursue the past". I think it's very difficult to know yourself, to know where you are, to know where you are going, if you do not know from where you came. I might agree more with the phrase if it instead said, "Do not obsess about the past" or "Do not become attached to the past".

I think the Sutta is referring to the very specific arena of mindfulness in the present moment, in other words, while doing a certain activity, one should not be imagining or reflecting on past or future events. We all know how it is when you're trying to follow your breath, and you start replaying and replaying events of yesterday or a month before, etc. The Sutta isn't discouraging occassional reflections on the past, which are certainly meretorious as you say. It is fascinating how most of the time our mind is 'somewhere else' throughout the day... all of which cements the notion that the past and future have concrete realty (which they obviously don't, they're theoretical and imaginative concepts in the hominid brain).

There is a related Zen koan I believe: a woman selling tea at the base of mountain asks a monk holding this very Sutta I believe, "If you are not dwelling on the past mind, future mind, or present mind, where are you?" (awful paraphrase, I can't recall it)... to which the monk did not know how to respond.

[phetaroi]

Interesting Sutta. I guess I might differ with the first line..."Do not pursue the past". I think it's very difficult to know yourself, to know where you are, to know where you are going, if you do not know from where you came. I might agree more with the phrase if it instead said, "Do not obsess about the past" or "Do not become attached to the past".

I think the Sutta is referring to the very specific arena of mindfulness in the present moment, in other words, while doing a certain activity, one should not be imagining or reflecting on past or future events. We all know how it is when you're trying to follow your breath, and you start replaying and replaying events of yesterday or a month before, etc. The Sutta isn't discouraging occassional reflections on the past, which are certainly meretorious as you say. It is fascinating how most of the time our mind is 'somewhere else' throughout the day... all of which cements the notion that the past and future have concrete realty (which they obviously don't, they're theoretical and imaginative concepts in the hominid brain).

There is a related Zen koan I believe: a woman selling tea at the base of mountain asks a monk holding this very Sutta I believe, "If you are not dwelling on the past mind, future mind, or present mind, where are you?" (awful paraphrase, I can't recall it)... to which the monk did not know how to respond.

Good post...I understand what you are saying. That's the value of this group...seeing nuances that others see.