Stop looking to what was and be in the here and now.

The habitual looking to our past has one of the most negative impact upon our consciousness and the human mind is very much attached to this especially the intense, more dramatic or traumatic events of our past life experiences. Events and episodes that has left indelible impressions upon our psyche, events that has triggered guilt in us having caused misery towards others, events that we witnessed or participate in that we can never reconcile, or justify with, these are among the most corrosive of our past experiences and our mind is attached to them throughout our lives resurfacing every now and then to remind us of our shortcomings and weaknesses in the past. Some of which has become so ingrained in our consciousness that we identify with them as who by nature we think we are.

One of the most common and has a very high impact on our memories of past experiences are those that involves relationships especially with the opposite sex. Our sexual encounters albeit good or bad stays with us for a very long time or perhaps even for the rest of our lives. Most of us blame ourselves for our shortcomings and why we failed and we carry this blame like a sore that will never be healed. Sometimes no matter how we try to dismiss or forget an episode the drama will pop up at any time when it is triggered by any similar situation in our present moment and often cripple our mind with negative thoughts that equates with the circumstance we are experiencing. Negative past experiences enforces in us the sense of low self esteem with guilt feelings. We need to find ways and means to drop these old negative baggage and move on with new re-enforced positive ones. Determined not to repeat past faults we have to learn to accept, forgive and forget; letting go is never easy but not impossible.

In Zen Buddhist practice, meditation practice is the essence of the teaching and one of the practice of sitting meditation or Zazen in the meditation hall or Zendo is how one enters the meditation hall. As one takes off one's zoris or sandals and lay down one's back pack or whatever, one also lay aside one's mind. The student walks into the Zendo with an empty mind all thoughts and phenomena is set aside like the physical baggage and they can be collected on the way out if they are important enough. Hence when is meditation one's mind is devoid of any interference by irrelevant thoughts especially those of the past experiences. There is popular Zen story of two monks on the way back to the temple where along the way they came upon a river that was rising. There they noticed a young lady sitting in distress and when asked what the problem was she told them that when she crossed the river earlier it was down and she had no problem crossing it. However now she cannot return for the water has risen and so one of the monks without hesitation carried her on his back across the river. When they crossed the river and left the young lady, the other monk was perturbed at what had happened and accosted his companion over the incident saying that as monks they were not supposed to come into contact with the opposite sex much less carry one. The monk who carried the young lady replied, I Have left the young lady behind quite some time ago, why are you still carrying her in your mind?"
#Zen Practice,#Zen Buddhism,#Zendo