If we have happiness and joy now in the present, then we can transform our past into something happy. Then we don’t need to be weighed down by the past. So how exactly is it that when we live happily and joyfully in the present moment we can fix the past and enrich our future? On a shallow level, the answer is that when you don’t have joy or happiness, when life is empty, then we invite things in from the past to fill up our minds, and we project that into our future. If we are happy now, we don’t have to think about tomorrow. For example, a rich person who has abundance doesn’t have to worry about the past or the future. It is the same in our spiritual life. If we have enough joy and happiness in the present, we don’t have to invite the past up and worry about our happiness in the future.
BE LIKE A TREE
Zen Talks by Thích Phước Tịnh
Edited and Illustrated by Karen Hilsberg
Jasmine Roots Press – 2008
CHAPTER TEN
Happiness and Letting Go
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