Being with the Present

  Everything we can think of becomes a chain that can shackle us. The thought doesn't relate to things that are happening outside of us. They are more like temporary arrangements that are influenced by many things. Fear happens when we cling to one possibility. Through a fear of letting go of what we like and having to face what we dislike, we create these mental objects that become a source of stress. It's only when we can truly let go of making causes and conditions into "objects" that we can really release ourselves. 

   When we encounter an unpleasant thought, we soon begin to form a wall between the thought and ourselves. That wall becomes a habitual aversion. What we don't realize is that the unpleasant thought only flashes by for a moment, after which another thought succeeds it. That is to say, none of these succeeding thoughts forms anything more than a fleeting moment that is already drifting off into the past. Once we realize this, then we are no longer in the grips of trying to pry away from the unpleasant or run toward the supposed pleasant. Each thought only becomes one moment that is unconnected with anything else.

   The person who is carrying a load of hay and frets over each tiny stick or twig of hay falling off, will never get the hay across the field. Why not? It is because he takes each stick of hay to be something tangible and solid that somehow needs to be salvaged. When carrying hay, we should so only so much care as to function in the world to bring the hay to where is needs to be. If we add more care than what's needed, then we will only end up losing confidence and faith.

    Each moment consists of many causes and conditions, but we have only two hands that we can use to carry this bale of hay. Why pretend that we can carry the whole thing without dropping a few twigs? It's the way of life that nothing is ever completely in our control, including even our own reactions to things. The way of life is to go with the motion of water.