I heard these words of the Buddha one time when the Lord was staying at the monastery in the Jeta Grove, in the town of Savatthi. He called all the monks to him and instructed them, “Bhikkhus!”
And the bhikkhus replied, “We are here.”
The Blessed One taught, “I will teach you what is meant by ‘knowing the better way to live alone.’ I will begin with an outline of the teaching, and then I will give a detailed explanation. Bhikkhus, please listen carefully.”
“Blessed One, we are listening.”
The Buddha taught:
“Do not pursue the past.
Do not lose yourself in the future.
The past no longer is.
The future has not yet come.
Looking deeply at life as it is
in the very here and now,
the practitioner dwells
in stability and freedom.
We must be diligent today.
To wait till tomorrow is too late.
Death comes unexpectedly.
How can we bargain with it?
The sage calls a person who
dwells in mindfulness
night and day
‘the one who knows the better way to live alone.’
“Bhikkhus, what do we mean by ‘pursuing the past’? When you consider the way your body was in the past, the way your feelings were in the past, the way your perceptions were in the past, the way your mental formations were in the past, the way your consciousness was in the past; when you consider these things and your mind is burdened by and attached to these things which belong to the past, then you are pursuing the past.
“Bhikkhus, what is meant by ‘not pursuing the past’? When you consider the way your body was in the past, the way your feelings were in the past, the way your perceptions were in the past, the way your mental formations were in the past, the way your consciousness was in the past; when you consider these things but your mind is neither enslaved by nor attached to these things which belong to the past, then you are not pursuing the past.
“Bhikkhus, what is meant by ‘losing yourself in the future’? When you consider the way your his body will be in the future, the way your feelings will be in the future, the way your perceptions will be in the future, the way your mental formations will be in the future, the way your consciousness will be in the future; when you consider these things and your mind is burdened by and daydreaming about these things which belong to the future, then you are losing yourself in the future.
“Bhikkhus, what is meant by ‘not losing yourself in the future’? When you consider the way your body will be in the future, the way your feelings will be in the future, the way your perceptions will be in the future, the way your mental formations will be in the future, the way your consciousness will be in the future; when you consider these things but your mind is not burdened by or daydreaming about these things which belong to the future, then you are not losing yourself in the future.
“Bhikkhus, what is meant by ‘being swept away by the present’? When someone does not study or learn anything about the Awakened One, or the teachings of love and understanding, or the community that lives in harmony and awareness; when that person knows nothing about the noble teachers and their teachings, and does not practice these teachings, and thinks, ‘This body is myself; I am this body. These feelings are myself; I am these feelings. This perception is myself; I am this perception. This mental formation is myself; I am this mental formation. This consciousness is myself; I am this consciousness,’ then that person is being swept away by the present.
“Bhikkhus, what is meant by ‘not being swept away by the present’? When someone studies and learns about the Awakened One, the teachings of love and understanding, and the community that lives in harmony and awareness; when that person knows about noble teachers and their teachings, practices these teachings, and does not think, ‘This body is myself; I am this body. These feelings are myself; I am these feelings. This perception is myself; I am this perception. This mental formation is myself; I am this mental formation. This consciousness is myself; I am this consciousness,’ then that person is not being swept away by the present.
“Bhikkhus, I have presented the outline and the detailed explanation of knowing the better way to live alone.”
Thus the Buddha taught, and the bhikkhus were delighted to put his teachings into practice.
Translated by Thich Nhat Hanh from Bhaddekaratta Sutta, Majjhima Nikāya 131. In the Chinese Canon it can be found in the Madhyama Āgama 167.
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