James Field
Member
I'm not the most familiar with Buddhism's finer points, but exactly how are we always changing and being reborn moment to moment if there is only the now ?
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I would be interested in what Zen tradition by which this applies.It helps to know that the teachings of Buddhadharma are all tools, but that they are also often responses to rival teachings. For example, the insistence that only the present moment exists can be understood in terms of the Mahayana/Yogacara refutation of the Sarvastivada, whose members argued that the elemental phenomena of the past, present, and future all exist simultaneously. The standard Mahayana view is that the past and the future don't strictly exist--they're mental constructs that arise by a combination of memory and inference, based on knowledge of and in the present. The Yogacara (a major influence on Zen) framed reality as a series of single moments, the contents of which are always different, but all of which are really the same fundamental reality that in a sense is not really changing at all.
The ironic thing about Zen is that there's a long and complex philosophical tradition behind its seemingly pithy, off-the-cuff assertions.
There's also the fact that the present is the only time when you can actually do things, whereas obsessing over the past and future is a distraction, so from a practical perspective it's best to focus on the now. if you do the right thing right now, then the future will probably turn out OK. A level deeper than that, you also have the Yogacara assertion, which is at the core of Zen, that cutting through delusion to the true nature of things is only possible when you are completely grounded in the present moment, since the past and future are both abstractions.
It's like focusing, and suddenly you get whacked on the head.I'm not the most familiar with Buddhism's finer points, but exactly how are we always changing and being reborn moment to moment if there is only the now ?
Not sure I understand the question.I would be interested in what Zen tradition by which this applies.
I see what you're saying about the first part, but how does there is only the now indicates impermanence. I Certainly see the value of not taking these sayings to literale, and thanka for the reply.
The present can only be seen through change, because mind cannot perceive stillness.I'm not the most familiar with Buddhism's finer points, but exactly how are we always changing and being reborn moment to moment if there is only the now ?