Living attentively in the Present : Now

Being continuously present in the moment and place is SO under rated in the scheme of living a fruitful and fulfilled life, in tune with the way the Creator made us.

Many groups have tried to abscond with the reality of living “full in” and “fully aware”, giving it trendy names etc. They have done a serious injustice to the fundamental need of human beings to live a day to day fulfilling life.

The fact is that living right here, right now…. is seen as either requiring lessons by some “expert”, or just plain difficult.

Yes, there is some work that needs to be done, but i have untangled a number of the “mysterious” things that have made this a paying member club. It’s free here.

Chinul, a Korean Buddhist monk, used a way of explaining this by describing Being and Doing.
Being refers to the FACT that we exist … before there are any outside influences that affect us…. and the most basic example is our existence inside our mothers womb.

Doing refers to all our interaction with the world.

Now begins with the simple fact of Being, and experiencing that Pure Being, minus all the noise that Doing creates.

Getting started:

We will find that as soon as we try to bring our mind to a quiet, relaxed and focused place, the “bugs” in the system will become evident.

This should not be really surprising, as we do not learn to use our mind properly, and bad habits will need to be vaporized.

I say vaporized, because these bad habits are a bit like ghosts… they don’t really exist, but our mind firmly believes they do……

A simple but courageous process of self-inquiry can vaporize these ghostly figures. Some of these hindrances for me were: addictions, the boogeyman, needing acceptance from others, needing to take credit for things, blaming others, feeling victimized, lack of trust in my own senses……

Once these old habits are vaporized, what is known to some groups as “the hindrances” will simply disappear. This vaporizing process is necessary, as these hindrances act like a many headed hydra when they are treated as foes, becoming more and more agitated and stronger the more they are struggled with. They simply need to be seen for what they are: not real, and dropped. If a person struggles with them and tries to suppress them, they end up turning into demon like influences in our lives.

https://realityisdharma.com/?s=self+inquiry

Above is the simple self inquiry process i have used to successfully vaporize the hindrances in my life…. it is an ongoing process, and there is no such thing as a “level of sainthood”…. we human beings are all at the same level, regardless of how long we practice. Falling is only a one step oopsy……

Below is a list of clues. It isn’t a list to read, and then say… ok, i got it. It is a group of clues to let sink in one clue at a time.

I think of this as every moment Now….. a process to become fully present in the flowing experience of Now. It is best symbolized like a set of Mala beads or a rosary, counting the beads one at a time, with every bead being an ongoing moment.

– Always coming back to Now – every bead being present and attentive.
– the present moment, the present place, Now, Here, This, Zero
Always act from zero
What does zero mean?
– Attention in body and mind in this present moment.
– Centered
– Calm mind
– Aware of the present ongoing breath
– Relaxed …… relaxing the tummy….. relaxing the diaphragm.
– Body straight, not hunched.
– Balanced
– Focused
– No opinion
– Just watching with no preconceived notions

This is also the “zazen” method found by those who do breath counting as a daily practice.

These above noted items are characteristics of the place we all find which we call “Zero”.

These characteristics will arise in our search for our own experience of Zero, or our Minds Benchmark of Centredness.

Below is an idea of what i mean by Benchmark:
https://realityisdharma.com/?s=benchmark

Next are clues that can help along the way of Being/Doing (Gong Fu):

This is a Practice, not a philosophy to be mulled over and over.
“The more you talk and think of this,
the further from the truth you’ll be,
Cut off all useless thoughts and words
And there’s nowhere you cannot go”
This means “Just practice, don’t intellectualize on it”

Beware of Reacting to life circumstances
Don’t react to life circumstances. A reaction is an action taken from a slanted attitude position not from zero.
It just happened? Return to Zero

(“Attitude” means having an opinion against something…
If a person lets go of their slanted opinions on things, it is freeing, but must be accompanied by “harmless as a dove but as wary as a serpent” watching mode.)

Don’t act from an off-balance position. Always act from the centred balanced position which is zero or no attitude.

If you act from an off balance position or emotional attitude, and continue on that path a few short steps, and you will quickly end up far off base of zero.
So after responding to a happening, always return to zero position right afterwards.
If you act from an attitude position, and continue, you will end up far off base of zero.

Always Return to Zero. (Yes, i am being repetitive.)

Any time you become aware of your slanted position of attitude, return to zero.

Zero IS analagous to awareness of the breath

It is impossible to breath “last moments breath” or “next moments breath” Therefore Breath brings us back to NOW.

Once a person learns that to come back to Zero, means to simply be fully aware in this moment (Now), WHERE you are no longer is important.

Because Zero is Now, your current position can always be Zero, because Zero is not position, but Here and Now wherever that is.
This is called “God in your pocket”
It is similar to realizing that the Creator IS wherever WE are, when we are present in this moment.
Now is where God is and acts.
Be totally present in your skin!, eyes!, ears!, nose!, tongue…..
Some call it being present at the skin door, the eye door, the ear door, the nose door… tongue not so much usually…..

Any movement acted from attitude is wasted energy

Bruce Lee’s method of punching uses economy of movement.
Tensing only happens at moment of impact.

i translate the Chinese concept of emptiness as “flowing now” or Shun Li

Tension is the physical proof of carrying an attitude, and not staying at Zero.

One moment with attitude (tension) followed by another moment with attitude means two steps away from zero. Becoming aware of this can reset zero to your present position.

Why does one moment in attitude equal one moment in tension?

This is why the advent of Zen was also the advent of Gong Fu in China. Gong Fu uses the body to prove to us the reality of remaining at Zero.

To react is to lose balance

We must act to live.

Once this practice is mature, Zero flows with you…you ARE Zero.

Once this practice is mature, Now flows with you… you ARE Now.

Wherever you are is Now, Wherever you are is Zero….whenever you are PRACTICING.

Practice can fade into the background, and pure flowing comes to the foreground.

Finally, one Lives at Zero….One IS Zero…then there is no “I”, there is just flowing Zero. This is the meaning of Shun Li.

Shun Li = Watching.

Shun Li is Zero, Shun Li is Flowing Zen. (Flowing Now)

Shun Li is Economy of Movement

Shun Li is responding , not reacting.

Responding is acting in flowing Now

Reacting is acting from a position of lostness.

So after responding to a happening, always return to zero position.

If you act from an attitude position, and continue, you will end up far off base or zero.

Always Return to Zero.

So far, this is just laid out in note form…. to be continued