Living in the Present



In an online Sunday Dhamma talk, the speaker had discussed the importance of living in the present. Someone had then asked if living in the present means not doing anything for the future. Then, in the Net, I read that this verse is from the Dhammapada: Munca pure munca pacchato, majjhe munca bhavassa paragu, sabbattha vimuttamanaso, na punam jatijaram upehisi which is said to mean: Let go of the past, let go of the future. Let go of the present. Having gone beyond becoming, with mind completely freed, you will never again come to birth and aging. All seems not important at all; past, present and future. I thought living in the presence does not mean forgetting the past and forsaking the future. The past may be a past but it is a lesson to be learned; and today's karma probably will influence the future. Perhaps; past, present and future are all just as important then. Just that perhaps, to live well, we just have to let go. While it is easy to see the viability of letting go of the past, sometimes it is hard to imagine that letting go of the present will allow us to embrace the future. Knowing that the past is the precusor of the present and the present the precusor of the future however; that is our present becomes our past; and our future, our present; maybe it's easy to let go and just live in the present!

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