Categories: Maintaining Mindfulness
May the blessings of the Triple Gem be with you all!
Today, I would like to explore a question that touches us all: how can we maintain a peaceful state of mind in our daily lives? In our previous discussions on mindfulness, we have touched upon this, and we will continue to provide practical guidance on these matters. All of these teachings are practical; your role, with the help of these words, is to engage in the training.
Throughout our lives, we face various ups and downs. Whatever your age, whether you are young, middle-aged, or elderly, you have experienced this. You have a past. We all do. From the day we were born until this very moment, our past is filled with countless events. Some are happy, while others are unhappy. There are things that bring us sorrow and regret, just as there are moments of joy. However, for many people, the past seems to be filled more with events that cause sadness and worry than with happy ones. Joyful memories often feel few and far between.
When the Past Becomes Your Present
When we look back at the events of our lives, we might see mistakes we’ve made. There may be times we went wrong, instances where we harmed ourselves or others. Sometimes, in the present, we might think, ‘If only I could fix that.’ For some, there may still be time to make amends and move forward. For others, due to age or circumstance, that opportunity may have passed.
Considering all this, have you ever stopped to truly look at your present moment? Have you considered the state you are in right now? You might be content with your current situation, or you might be unhappy. But many people live with a great deal of sadness, anxiety, and sorrow. The primary reason for this is that we allow our past to live in our present. We let our history dictate our current reality, and because of this, we cannot find peace. Our mind is constantly reliving the past.
Think about an event that happened five years ago. If, after all this time, your mind is still replaying that moment, ask yourself: are you living in happiness or in sorrow? The mind, this ‘heart’ or citta, has a tendency. More often than bringing up good, happy memories from the past to make us joyful, it prefers to drag up our mistakes, our failures, and the sad, painful events to make us anxious in the now.
These occurrences are plentiful. The five-year example is just one instance. It could be something that happened yesterday, this morning, or even just an hour ago. If these events, whether recent or from years ago, prevent you from living in the present moment and instead fill your now with sadness, stress, and pressure, then that is where the problem lies. You might realize, ‘I am actually living in a past moment.’ It is this past that robs you of your mental freedom.
The Mind’s Repository: A Buddhist Perspective
What we are trying to do with this teaching is to help you understand the vast collection of thoughts stored in your mind just from this lifetime alone, since you were born as a human being. We are not even talking about previous lives. All these things are suppressed in our minds. Now, when I say ‘suppressed,’ please do not think of it as a ‘subconscious mind’ or ‘yati sitha’. Such a concept is not taught in our Abhidhamma studies.
If we want a technical term, we could perhaps think of it as thoughts becoming part of the bhavanga, the life-continuum stream of consciousness. But the essential point is that our experiences from this long journey of existence, or samsara, are stored within our mind. Concepts like the conscious and subconscious mind are found in fields like psychology. The Lord Buddha did not teach about an ‘upper mind’ and a ‘lower mind’ in that way.
In the Abhidhamma, which is the higher teachings of the Buddha, the ultimate realities are explained as four: citta (mind or consciousness), cetasika (mental factors), rūpa (matter), and Nibbāna (liberation). It details, for example, that there are 89 types of consciousness. Nowhere in this detailed analysis is there a mention of a subconscious mind. The Buddha identified many different types of thoughts. It is a fascinating subject to study if you wish to understand the mind. However, do not try to practice the Abhidhamma directly, as it is a Buddha-gocara, a field visible only to a Buddha.
Not even an Arahant, a fully enlightened disciple like Sariputta or Moggallana, who possessed great wisdom, could see this reality directly. It is perceptible only to the Buddha’s unique wisdom. You can, however, read books on the subject to gain a conceptual understanding of the mind’s workings. For those interested, works like the ‘Abhidhamma Margaya’ by the venerable Reerukane Chandawimala Nayaka Thero or the ‘Abhidhamma Pradeepika’ by Mr. Amaradasa Rathnapala can provide great insight.
Breaking Free from the Chains of Memory
If we study the nature of our mind in this way, we gain the ability to escape from our past. Think about it: why do you keep thinking and feeling sad about something that is already over? In many cases, no physical object or person related to that event even exists in your possession anymore. Why do you regret it again and again? Ask yourself, ‘Why am I suffering in the present by holding onto this past event?’ Study your own mind and see if this habit doesn’t lead to a state of mental breakdown, where you can’t focus on what you’re doing now.
The nature of the mind is to constantly try and pull something from the past to give us to live with in the present. If we get caught in this trap, our mind will constantly try to live with past events, reminiscing and trying to savor them. For instance, our parents sometimes recall when their children were born, how they grew up, and they try to find happiness by reliving those memories. For others, there may not be happy things to recall. Their past may be filled with wrongs, a terrible act they committed, something unwholesome. These memories can come up naturally, again and again, tormenting them.
Even the pleasant memory of a child growing up, while bringing happiness in the present, cannot be held onto for long. It fades after a short while, and something else tries to take its place. We cannot hold onto the thoughts we like, yet the thoughts we dislike can linger, causing us pain and breaking down our mind. As you train your mind practically, you will begin to understand this clearly. This is the opportunity the Buddha gave us to understand our own minds.
The Path to True Freedom: Living in the Present Moment
Once you understand this, if you can develop the ability to let go of the past, you can live in the present without any problems. This applies to any event, not just sensual pleasures. Any regret you have, any happy memory from the past, if you let go of it all from your mind, you will naturally arrive in the present. You will be able to live your present moment joyfully. The reason so many people are unhappy today is because they lack this method of living in the present moment.
Imagine you hold a grudge from yesterday. Not years ago, just yesterday. You had an argument with someone, your spouse, parents, children, or a neighbor. Or perhaps at your workplace or school. You became angry or developed resentment. Now, in the present, you are agonizing over that event.
You keep replaying it, thinking, ‘This is what happened yesterday.’ You can’t even look that person in the face. Perhaps they said hurtful things to you, or you said them. Because of this, you might be living an incredibly unhappy life right now, unable to face the present. This might even be happening as you read this teaching.
Look closely at this situation. It is a past event from yesterday that you are chewing on in the present, like a cow chewing its cud over and over. If you can realize, ‘This is why I am anxious and unable to face the present,’ from that moment on, you gain the ability to let go of your past. Why? Because all past events are empty. They are finished and done. There is no result for us in holding onto them. To keep them in our mind means we are not living our present life properly. We are not truly experiencing it.
Temporary Escapes vs. Lasting Peace
Many people use alcohol and drugs to forget the past, trying to find happiness in the present. What happens is that for a few hours, the past is forgotten. The body experiences a kind of pleasure from the substance’s power. But while it provides a temporary escape, it is extremely harmful to our physical body. It leads to the deterioration of health, illness, and a shortened lifespan.
Similarly, many people go on trips or indulge in other sensual pleasures to forget the past and lighten their minds. They are trying to sustain the mind in the present, to experience happiness now. However, after the trip is over, the old feelings can return. Now, there is nothing wrong with enjoying wholesome pleasures that do not harm your physical body. We are not telling you to stop doing these things. What we must see is their temporary nature.
This brings us to the Buddha’s teaching of the Three Marks of Existence. The first is Anicca, which we can call impermanence. It is the changing nature of all things. Nothing stays the same. Something that is good now will be different in the next moment. Something that was bad can become good. Everything is in a constant state of flux. Because of this changing nature, the Buddha taught that existence has the characteristic of Dukkha, a fundamental unsatisfactoriness or stress.
We cannot maintain things the way we want them to be. This is what we must understand through the third mark, Anatta, or not-self. There is nothing in this experience that we can truly control and call ‘mine.’ Yet, we always think, ‘This is mine, and it must be the way I want it.’
Practical Steps for a Liberated Mind
When you closely study your present state of mind, what you see, hear, feel, taste, and think, and you practice letting go of your past as soon as it arises, you will begin to arrive in the present. Your mind will be supported in staying here.
Living in the present moment means that, as you practice more and more, you can reach a state where you don’t think about past events at all. Or, if a thought arises, you can simply recognize it as a past event and let it go. If you can bring your mind to this state, you will live joyfully and you will not feel the need to take revenge on anyone.
Take the example of yesterday’s argument. If you can quickly forget it, letting go of the past as an empty, finished thing, then tomorrow you can face that person and speak with them freely. You gain the ability to act directly, without fear, because there is no hatred or anger within you. Your mind reaches that state.
Think about it: if we let go of all the heaps of garbage from our past, how peacefully and happily could we live in the present? This is what we need to understand. If you find it difficult to establish mindfulness at once, start by thinking. Tell yourself, ‘This is a past event. It is over. It is empty. There is no point in thinking about it again and again.’ Then, cultivate mindfulness. Your mind will settle in the present. For those who have suffered from the burdens of the past, this shift is profound. You begin to realize just how much you were afflicted.
The freedom and happiness you feel upon arriving in the present cannot be priced. It cannot be bought with money. You will realize it is a wonderful relief, allowing you to live your present moment with great peace. This result comes from practicing what the Buddha taught, such as the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (Satipatthana) and insight meditation (Vipassana). By training in these, this is what grows within you.
Letting Go of Good and Bad Alike
When you engage in this practice, you don’t need to go on special trips or use intoxicants to forget the past for a few hours. With this training, no matter what past events you have, you gain the ability to forget them quickly. If you have an argument, you can forget it almost immediately. In the next moment, you can be happily talking with someone else. The same applies to happy events. We must also let go of the good things. According to the Buddha’s teaching, if we are walking the path to Nibbana (liberation), we must let go of both merit (punna) and demerit (pāpa).
Perhaps yesterday you performed a good deed, like making a donation or helping at a home for the elderly or children. You might be feeling happy about that in the present. However, you can go even further. After doing the good deed and feeling the joy, you can let go of even that attachment to the pleasant feeling, and simply be happy in the present. Remember that this state of mind, being in the present after letting go of the attachment to the merit, is an even more powerful wholesome state (kusala). You gain the ability to reach this level. When you let go of both good and bad, you will live in the present with supreme happiness.
The Natural Unfolding of a Trained Mind
As you continue to train your mind, it becomes second nature. After your mind is well-trained, even if you get into an argument today, in the next moment, you will naturally forget it. Past events, both good and bad, will simply be released. Your mind will return to the present automatically. If you deliberately recall it, you’ll just think, ‘Oh, that event happened yesterday,’ and that’s it. You can elevate your mind to such a high level.
For those who have practiced, this letting go happens naturally. This is something you must experience for yourself. You don’t need to think of it as achieving some special spiritual fruit (magga-phala), but your mind does reach a higher, stable level. At that point, you could even face death in the present moment with complete peace. You could face the final thought-moment (cuti-citta) with a clear, present mind, which in turn influences whether you are reborn and where, or whether you attain the end of rebirth altogether. The power to achieve this lies within you.
This is the practicality of the teaching. All your past experiences, including everything that happened yesterday, are relevant to this practice. If you train correctly, you will naturally begin to forget the good and bad of your past. You can still recall them if you need to, but you will also have the ability to let them go just as quickly. These are the points I wanted to share in this teaching on ‘Escaping the Past by Living in the Present Moment.’ Do not limit this to just words or listening. Try to practice it. You can guide your mind to a very good state. That is your spiritual development.
A Final Blessing
With these words, I conclude this teaching. By the power and blessings of the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha, the Triple Gem, may you all gain the ability to understand these matters clearly and act accordingly.
We invite you to walk this path with us. Read our teachings, and most importantly, apply them practically in your own life. as you practice, questions will naturally arise. Please feel free to share your experiences and questions in the comments below, via email or contact form. I will do my best to offer guidance in future talks based on your progress. For now, begin this practice with an open heart and a mind free from expectation. Cultivate it correctly, and may you find the clarity and peace you seek.
Thank you for joining us. We hope this blog will be of great benefit to your spiritual journey.
May you all be well and happy.
May the blessings of the Triple Gem be with you all!.
