THAT'S US - Thích Phước Tịnh

There are a couple difficulties we encounter as we practice this. The first difficulty is that when our mind has a happiness, or a sadness, or anger, then we often immediately begin to identify with that happiness or sadness or anger. We don’t have the capacity to see that “This is our happiness, and we are the energy that can recognize this happiness or sadness. We are the energy that can recognize this suffering.” This is our first difficulty, not being able to do that. When we have something come up in our minds, the most intelligent thing that we can do is to recognize it as something that we own. But we have the habit of saying, “That’s us.” We always identify ourselves with all of the sadness or happiness or suffering inside of us, and that is our first difficulty.

The second difficulty that we have is that we cannot bring our minds back to the present moment. We always allow our minds to go to the future or to stray in the past. This is easy to understand, because when we were children we were taught that life is something that belongs in the future. We always chase this life in the future, and when we become tired and we cannot chase after the future, then we remember things in the past and we drown ourselves in memories of the past. There are very few people who can stop and come back to the present moment and recognize life in the present moment.

BE LIKE A TREE
Zen Talks by Thích Phước Tịnh
Edited and Illustrated by Karen Hilsberg
Jasmine Roots Press – 2008
CHAPTER NINE
The Energy of Avalokiteshvara