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How can I live in the present moment?
banned_crab
Veteran
in Meditation
All I can think about is the future. Its funny because There is nothing in my future to even think about. The only thing I think about is thoughts. I know that the greatest feeling is being present but the other side of me doesnt want the same thing. Sometimes I feel like I just dont want to exist anymore, but not in a suicidal way. I just want to stop living in conflict and duality. How do I become more present?
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Comments
@heyimacrab
You are describing a dominance of mentality about life over your naked experience of it.
When you are ready for a reboot.....
Try keeping your attention on the sense data that you are continually receiving about the ever unfolding present moment rather than resorting to your habitual analysis of that input.
When you accept that there really is nothing you can do, that's when you'll stop looking for answers. The 'stopping' of everything and the noticing of everything is the present moment.
Noticing the sensations of your breath in tandem with being aware of your body in a static position (e.g. sitting) is a good place to start. Lots of people stay in this stage for a long time...
Perhaps a better question is, how can you NOT?
I can relate to not wanting to struggle with duality anymore. As if just around the corner is the good feeling and I have to get past this feeling now to get to the place where I want to be.
Is that true or am I misreading?
As far as living in the present... clinging to clarity leads to irritation. Clinging to spaciousnes, or letting everything just pass, leads to dullness.
~Longchenpa, The Basic Space of Phenomena
I want this book but I cant find it
I just received the quote on FB so I am not sure where to look. I'll ask if it is in a book.
Barron's. The book (The Verses and Commentary) is only available one place on-line, as far as i have been able to find (except for outrageous prices from private sellers like on Amazon.) Tibetan Treasures has it http://www.tibetantreasures.com : Put Longchenpa in Search. The Basic Space of Phenomena is just the verses, but the Treasure Trove... " has the same verses and Longchenpa's Commentary on his own work - most excellent book. Enjoy!
http://www.tibetantreasures.com/
Do more. Think less. Repeat.
For example, mindful cleaning.
For example, mindful walking.
For example, do or do not. Until done.
@heyimacrab
Another guy from FB says "you can download it from libgen and bookza"
You are always present here and now and nowhere else. Even if the mind dwells in the "past" or "future", it is still happening now. You just have to realize this simple truth.
I cant find this
Wow it actually worked, you the man bro
heyimacrab,
Did you find this one:
I don't know where else to look Here is the FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/137617126381879/
From a strong daily meditation practice really. After all, when you do meditation, that is exactly what you are training it to do, to come back.
It's simply a matter of practicing it.
Absolutely..As genkaku also implies there is no choice but to be in the present..even if you are obsessing about the past or worrying about the future you are doing it in the present.
This concern with ' living in the present ' is a western construct not found in Buddhadharma...believe it or not.
@Citta, it's from Eckardt Tolle. That's why some people say he is new age. I think Eckardt is just reporting his own experience.
Surely the idea of awakening or enlightenment is based on the notion of bringing all of your awareness into the present moment. Having some, or complete, control over what you are focusing on, so as to not be wandering around in a fantasy world most of the time. What percentage of the average guy's awareness is focused on what is in front of him at any time?
Perhaps it is or was, assumed in Buddhism in the east, but here in the west most people who are unfamiliar with it, have no idea that Buddhism is mind training and not some kind of worship.
I would agree that its about being one pointed in mind and aware certainly.
But I find that the more one pointed my mind becomes the less I am aware of past, present, or future.
there is even no present even - scientifically, whatever sense objects which our brain experiences is already a few microseconds late from the moment when the sense organs actually made contact with sense objects (due to the time the information flows from sense objects to brain through nerves) - so what we experience, even that has happened in past, though only a few microseconds before.
even if when we experience the sense objects in our brain - if we take that as present moment for our cognitive experience, then also we will not be able to define the amount of time which makes the duration of a present moment - as a second can be broken down to 1000 milliseconds, each millisecond broken down to 1000 microseconds, 1 microseconds to 1000 nanoseconds and keep on going on with it with no end - but as we go further it becomes so small that we will even not able to perceive it clearly - so that is why a continuum is formed from discrete entities - the same analogy that if you see a beach from say 1 km away, the beach sees to be a continuous brown layer of sand, but when we arrive at the beach, it is just individual particles of sand, which are not even joined together.
so the present moment is so short that it can only be experienced and the moment we think about it, it is already gone.
so whatever we do, it is always in present moment, which arises and ceases simultaneously.
so don't worry about how to live in present moment, as the only option to live is to live in the present moment - now how to aware of it, i think the answer is becoming more mindful by practicing meditation and trying to be more open to all sense-objects in our everyday daily routines.
metta to you and all sentient beings.
If a little Brit -speak is allowable , thats bang-on @misemisc1
Your last paragraph is particularly useful.
@misemisc1 That was a great explanation
@Jeffrey thank you for the link to tibetantreasures. There are a lot of great books there!
Also there is a present but it is dependently arisen with past and future. There cannot be a present without considering a past and future. Since all times are dependently arisen in relation to each other we know that there is no essence to the present. It is fleeting. Hanging on to the present is grasping to something which is impermanent.
That said in meditation we stay in the present. That is so we return from mental thought worlds that form when we think of the past and future.
But via dependent origination there is no present in terms of 'ultimate' reality.
What is there then? Hmmm
I understand there is nothing to cling to now. No past - I understand, No future - I understand. Now as dependently arising - I understand.
However, something is experienced and something is aware of the experience and something knows it is aware of the experience.
It's all very unsatisfactory isn't it. Even the present moment needs to be given up by the sounds of it.
@anataman, There is knowing. Is knowing unsatisfactory?
Looks like it tonight @Jeffrey... Ask me tomorrow after I've given up being melancholy! lol
Going through the melancholiness of it all is part of the journey
As was said before (or in another thread, can't remember, too lazy to look back) once you recognize the present moment, it is already passed.
Thank you for this.
By this definition, even in meditation one is not truly "present".
Maybe the word "present" is just a word, and not something to be grasped & clinged to, OP?
Knowing is all different things. Sometimes it is warm and sometimes it is cold (like the weather where I am). Sometimes it is melancholy and sometimes tranquil and sometimes exciting.
So I think knowing is something that all other phenomena appear in. I asked if knowing itself is satisfactory. I feel that knowing is all we got. So we better 'get to know' knowing itself. Best I can do as I am on the road to find out! :ninja:
I think classifying things as past and present is just discursive mind. Discursive mind can do a lot of things. You can do many professions etc. But time is just interpreted by discursive mind. You can say "I am in the present".
In my meditation I try to stay in the present for sure. But the present is definitely a construction.
Join a club where you get to do things would help or take up a hobby especially one that is fruitful. Maybe, you can consider knitting. You could meditate as you knit!
Living in the present is an ongoing process. Every now and then, ground yourself, bring yourself down to reality. Focus on what's going on at that very moment.
I never worry about the future. I always figure it that when the moment comes, I'll be able to cope with whatever comes.
Breathe, focus on what you're doing right now. Breathe, breathe, breathe!!
Living in the present is an ongoing process :facepalm: And the problem is right there...
If its ongoing its not confined to the present is it ?
The fact is, living in the present, despite what some best selling books will tell you , is a meaningless concept.
You can certainly focus on what is going on right now, and you can slow down your reactions...
But you can't pin the present down.
Hi, Citta!
Try not to think of the present as a concept to be "pinned down." Just live it. You're here, you're now, live this ellusive reality. Don't grasp it. Just relax and enjoy it!
Good advice @dharmamom..and all the better for not speaking of the present as somehow more real than the past or future...
I think you are right to say life is not just here and now in the present; I think it might generally be called a self-driven process of transformation.