Sometimes on this journey we are on the path of truth & awakening and in the now. Other times we get distracted by the illusions of time that take us away from what is real. Sometimes we fall off the path only to be reminded that the path is where truth is and we instantly want to get back on it. In this past week I have been distracted by thoughts outside of the now, as well as fears that I know are not even really relevant in the present moment. While I teach yoga almost on a daily basis, my own practice of conscious silence was not consistent or long enough & I could feel that imbalance with in. Not judging everything as all bad or good.. just not as centered. I found that I was a bit more sensitive to the external doings and sayings of others. I know that when I am so grounded in the now and in my love for myself, nothing or no one outside of me has the power to shake my ground. Which got me thinking about Zen and the power of being in the now...
The whole essence of Zen consists in walking along the razor's edge of Now - to be so utterly, so completely present that no problem, no suffering, nothing that is not who you are in your essence, can survive in you. In the Now, in the absence of time, all your problems dissolve. Suffering needs time; it cannot survive in the Now. The great Zen master Rinzai, in order to take his students' attention away from time, would often raise his finger and slowly ask: "What, at this moment, is lacking?" A powerful question that does not require an answer on the level of the mind. It is designed to take your attention deeply into the Now. A similar question is the Zen tradition is this: "If not now, when?"
I invite you into this moment right now... where you are.... to just simply be in it.. feel it....embrace it....this precious now moment is all there really is...
Posted
Jan 31 2008, 12:28 PM
by
Tammy Lynne