What the Buddha Taught Chapter 7. MEDITATION’ OR MENTAL CULTURE BHAVANA
Author: Walpola Sri Rahula Publisher: Newyork, NY: Grove Press. Publish Date: 1959 Review Date: 2023-1-6 Status:📚
Annotations
CHAPTER VII
‘MEDITATION’ OR MENTAL CULTURE: BHĀVANĀ
98
Another very important, practical, and useful form of ‘meditation’ (mental development) is to be aware and mindful of whatever you do,
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That is to say, that you should live in the present moment, in the present action. This does not mean that you should not think of the past or the future at all. On the contrary, you think of them in relation to the present moment, the present action, when and where it is relevant.
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People do not generally live in their actions, in the present moment. They live in the past or in the future. Though they seem to be doing something now, here, they live somewhere else in their thoughts, in their imaginary problems and worries, usually in the memories of the past or in desires and speculations about the future. Therefore they do not live in, nor do they enjoy, what they do at the moment. So they are unhappy and discontented with the present moment, with the work at hand, and naturally they cannot give themselves fully to what they appear to be doing.
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When asked why his disciples, who lived a simple and quiet life with only one meal a day, were so radiant, the Buddha replied: ‘They do not repent the past, nor do they brood over the future. They live in the present. Therefore they are radiant. By brooding over the future and repenting the past, fools dry up like green reeds cut down (in the sun).’1
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1S I (PTS), p. 5.