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This present moment is the most beautiful
The song Les Feuilles Mortes praises the past and waters the seeds of regret. The image of dead leaves or footprints on the beach being erased evokes the absence of a beautiful past. The listener has the impression that happiness can no longer be found in the present moment, that life in the past was much more beautiful than it is now, and that the sun then was warmer than the sun of today. This is a great illusion, a collective perception that happiness can only be found in the past.
Our practice is completely the opposite: how to make the present moment the most wonderful moment of our life. When asked about the most wonderful moment, there can be two kinds of answers:
- It came in the past, but because we were not truly present, we did not receive it.
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It has not come yet, but it must come soon.
Practice is to have the eyes of deep looking, to be able to touch the ultimate dimension and transcend the dimension of history, the historical dimension. We will discover that nothing is ever lost. The Buddha can be touched in the present moment through his Dharma body, and there is no need to regret that we were born too late.
We have the capacity to restore the wondrous moments at any time. The practice is to recognize our mother, our sister, our brother in new forms. If we look deeply, we can see our mother, our sister in those around us and can live happily with them. We can restore the feeling of safety, security, of protection and mutual support in the here and the now. Then, we will not regret, and we may feel that life now is even more beautiful and the sun now is even warmer than in the past, because our mindfulness is more solid.