Just One More Thing
We all know, or at least we are all aware that this moment is the only moment that exists. This moment is also the moment in which happiness exists as well. These are not easy concepts to embrace completely.
Really, how hard is it to be in just this single moment? I would say pretty darn hard.
One place to begin is with right now. Whatever you are doing at this moment, try to see if you can completely immerse yourself in that thing. I know in this particular moment you are reading these words. Are you able to completely drop all other thoughts from you mind as you read? See if you can tune out all other distracting and random thoughts.
Here is something else you can try with the next glass of water you drink. It is easy to think water is no big thing. It seem pretty ordinary, even its appearance is plain. Yet the next glass you drink see if you can do so with a mind completely focused on the drinking of the water.
That glass of water you hold is very precious and in some parts of the world very rare. As you take your sip try take a small sip. Hold that sip in your mouth and be aware of its wetness, of the sensation on your tongue. How often do we just gulp it down without even thinking that it has a real taste.
We are easily distracted from being present in this moment by our desire for something else, anything else. It is almost as if we seek just one more thing, thinking that with that one more thing we will finally be happy. And yet along comes that one thing and we are not satisfied and want something else. Sometimes we spend our whole day or even weeks ignoring the simplest of things already in our lives as we focus on some other thing.
“If you make these offerings to him, and hear this sutra even for a moment, you will rejoice and say, now I have obtained great benefits.” (Lotus Sutra, Chapter X)
Enlightenment exists in no other moment than the moment we are living. It really does not exist in some far off future. It is not easy to believe this, and it is not easy to do this. Part of the challenge is to let go of other moments, let go of the past and do not dwell in the future. If we can let go of the past and future and live in the here and now we can touch the wonders of life, we can experience enlightenment.
“It is because, while he is expounding the Dharma with joy, if you hear it even for a moment, you will immediately be able to attain Anuttarasamyak- sambodhi.” (Lotus Sutra, Chapter X)
