Q. How different is ‘live now’ in Zen from that in mindfulness meditation?
A. I don’t know what they mean by it in mindfulness meditation since I have never practised it. ‘Live now’ in Zen means to live our life without being deluded by the illusion of time which is a typical illusion.
‘Now’ mentioned here is not the word ‘now’ used when referring to past, present and future. The ‘now’ here is the situation where there is no discrimination of time such as past, present and future. Here all words including names are erased and all boundaries disappear since all of them are based on time. For instance, saying ‘there is a house’ means that a house was built in the past. Like this, all names we are accustomed to are from the past. Where are they from when there is no past? Nothing can exist and come into being without the notion of time.
So, when there is no discrimination of time, all illusions based on time disappear by themselves. Then, you realise that you are eternity itself because there is no birth and no death, and you can feel oneness since all boundaries that divide oneness into many like subject and object, you and me and so on disappear. Ancient masters would express the situation by saying, “Everyone and everything is equal and enlightened there.” In summary, living now means living without being deluded by illusions, which is called enlightenment.
©Boo Ahm
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