In my view, living in the present moment and cultivating present moment
awareness is New Age ideology, not Buddhism. I became suspicious of
'living in the moment when I noticed how unhelpful it was to my
meditation practice: I was wondering how to reach present-moment
awareness if a sensation I was aware of had already gone by the time I
had noticed it; also, thoughts of past and future were present now in
the moment, so how could present moment awareness make a difference? I
was tying myself up in knots.

Dhammapada Verse 348. Reaching The Further Shore, warns against my
muddle:

Let go before, let go the after,
let go the middle, beyond the becoming.
With mind released in every way
you'll come no more to birth, decay.
348.muñca pure muñca pacchato, majjhe muñca bhavassa
pāragū.
sabbattha vimuttamānaso, na punaṃ jātijaraṃ
upehisi.

Joseph Goldstein in Talk 21 of his Satipatthana series (first 10
minutes) explores the advantages and disadvantages of present moment
awareness. He concludes that he does not want the present moment, he
wants reality. He talks of the disadvantages of holding onto a concept
of the present moment.
http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/96/talk/300/
<http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/96/talk/300/>

Similarly, Georges Dreyfus challenges mindfulness = present moment
awareness in
http://www.scribd.com/doc/145945785/Contemporary-Buddhism-Special-Issue-\
on-Mindfulness
<http://www.scribd.com/doc/145945785/Contemporary-Buddhism-Special-Issue\
-on-Mindfulness>
and Christopher Titmuss likewise (Issue 12 "Is the 'Now' a lot of Hype":
http://www.insightmeditation.org/index.php/welcome/eng/dharmanews
<http://www.insightmeditation.org/index.php/welcome/eng/dharmanews>

I'm afraid that the view of the Buddha as kind of ancient Eckhart Tolle
is encouraged by the interpolations of Bhikkhu Bodhi:
In the Bhaddekaratta Sutta MN131.3 MLDB p1039 he refers to "Each
presently arisen state" but the Pali word for 'present' (vattamaana) is
missing. In MN 38.25, MLDB p358 Bhikkhu Bodhi translates 'dhammo ..;.
sandi.t.thiko' as 'dhamma....visible here and now' whereas the Pali says
literally 'completely visible' which I interpret as 'obvious' or
'transparent'; there is certainly no 'here' or 'now' in the Pali praises
of the Dhamma.
I imagine Bhikkhu Bodhi would argue these interpolations are helpful to
some and I'm sure he is right. However, they are unhelpful to me and he
really should warn his readers of his additions to the text.

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Piya Tan wrote:
>
> This is an insightful note, bhante. I'm always ecstatic when monastics
> speak on the suttas, esp with insight.
>
> Pali words, as we know, are often pregnant with nuances. Often, in
> English, it takes multiple words, even sentences, to bring all of them
out.
> Hence it is vital to know (as far as possible) of the context of the
word
> or term.
>
> This is where I use an ":amplified translation" strategy (where
needed) to
> try to bring out what is difficult to represent fully in English.
Building
> on what Kumara has suggested, we could render the Bhaddekaratta
> Sutta quote as follows:
>
> "*Let one not pursue** [not dwell on] the past,*"
>
> Oh yes, I like "pursue" because it somewhat rhymes with "past". We
should
> try our best to present our translations both in "truth and beauty."
>
> The best way to know early Buddhism is of course to know Pali as we
know
> our own language. However, this may limit accessibility for others.
> Moreover the value and purpose of a translation is more so to convey
the
> meaning (attha) of the text. Hence, we may often need to use some
> contemporary words and expressions, esp idiomatic language. This is
where
> the amplified translations, footnotes, etc help to support in making
the
> word or passage meaning clearer. The teacher's task is to make them
> relevant to our times and people.
>
> Contemporary psychotherapy (esp the cognitive behaviour therapy
systems)
> heavily borrow from Buddhism and often build up their own vocabulary
and
> neologisms. If these are wisely used, they help us relate to Buddhist
> teachings in a healing way where healing is needed. (I've just
finished a
> comparative study of ACT and early Buddhism, SD 43.1). Modern
psychology
> poses a great challenge we need to answer, too. Sujato has written a
> helpful paper on this recently.
>
> Otherwise, we all have our way of relating to the suttas so that we
> somehow, esp through meditation, have a progressively better
understanding
> of not only what the Buddha teaches, but more importantly, what the
Buddha
> means. This, in my life's evening, after over 40 years of Buddhism, I
must
> say that we need to simply let go of more and more of our views as we
go
> along. Not easy, but liberating.
>
> A good way to know that the suttas are working for us, is that we able
to
> let go of our views as we go along. We just let the suttas speak for
> themselves, as it were. Those who regular meditate would notice that a
clam
> and clear mind is free from views, and this is simply blissful. This
is
> what the suttas ultimately point to.
>
> With metta and mudita,
>
> Piya
>
>
> On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 11:04 AM, Kumara Bhikkhu
> kumara.bhikkhu@...wrote:
>
> > **
> >
> >
> > I'd like to update my choice of translation for the opening line of
> > Bhaddekaratta gatha "Atiita.m naanvaagameyya"
> >
> > atiita.m = past
> > naanvaagameyya = na anu + aagameyya
> > na = not
> > anu = (prefix) along, repeatedly, continually
> > aagameyya = optative of aagameti = would aagameti
> > aagameti = stay; wait, wait for, welcome, expect
> >
> > So the sutta, in referring to the spiritual practitioner who is
> > attentive of the present, says that he (in idiomatic English) "would
> > not dwell on the past". The suttas define that as being carried away
> > with delightful thoughts about the past. In other words, we are lost
> > in thoughts of the past. This is not the same as remembering past
> > events while being present-minded.
> >
> > Kumara Bhikkhu wrote thus at 05:46 PM 26-03-09:
> > >That's an edifying point, Lennart.
> > >
> > >I notice that many meditators are misled by the phrase "living in
> > >the present", such that when the mind settles and memories of the
> > >past arise, they take it to mean that it should not happen, because
> > >they are not "living in the present". So, they suppress the memory
> > >and "come back to the present" breath, or whatever. They don't
> > >realise that while the memories are associated with the past, they
> > >are arising in the present.
> > >
> > >This can be rather unfortunate when the matter is an unresolved
> > >emotional issues, or what some call a psychological wound. When
such
> > >a memory arises, it's an opportunity to resolve it by seeing it,
> > >together with all kinds of reactions to it, with wisdom as it is.
> > >Then the practice can be seen directly as a path of purification,
> > >sokaparidevaana.m samatikkamaaya, dukkhadomanassaana.m
> > >attha"ngamaaya, ~naayassa adhigamaaya, nibbaanassa sacchikiriyaaya.
> > >
> > >Coincidentally, I was looking through the MLDB Bhaddekaratta Sutta
> > >translation, which Nina reproduced here. It begins with "Let not a
> > >person revive the past" as the translation of
> > >"Atiita.m naanvaagameyya". Someone who reads this English
> > >translation may respond in the same way as above. When I read this,
> > >it occurred to me, "Could Ven Bhikkhu Bodhi's unending migraine be
> > >due to suppression of unhappy memories?"
> > >
> > >Anyway, I think the sentence is more correctly translated as "Let
> > >not one *pursue* the past." The difference may be outwardly subtle,
> > >but significant in a practice where subtle things (dhammas) matter.
> > >
> > >kb
> > >
> > >Lennart Lopin wrote thus at 11:44 PM 23-03-09:
> > >>Is it really "paccupannanca jiivati"
> > >>
> > >>or rather
> > >>
> > >>"paccupannanca yo dhammam, tattha tattha vipassati"
> > >>
> > >>;-)
> > >>
> > >>On Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 2:15 AM, DC Wijeratna dcwijeratna@...
> > wrote:
> > >>
> > >> > Whole of the Satipa.t.thaana sutta is about living in the
present.
> > >> > D. G. D. C. Wijeratna
> > >> >
> > >> > ________________________________
> > >> > From: Piya Tan dharmafarer@... >
> > >> > To: Pali@yahoogroups.com
> > >> > Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 6:04:43 PM
> > >> > Subject: Re: [Pali] Buddha and the present moment.
> > >> >
> > >> >
> > >> > See the Bhaddekaratta Suttas (M 131-137).
> > >> >
> > >> > There are others, which others might point out.
> > >> >
> > >> > With metta,
> > >> >
> > >> > Piya Tan
> > >> >
> > >> > On Sun, Mar 22, 2009 at 11:01 AM, pgd2507 pgd2507@... com>
wrote:
> > >> >
> > >> > > Dear pali scholars,
> > >> > >
> > >> > > I was wondering if the buddha spoke on what in modern terms
is often
> > >> > > referred as "living in the present moment" or "being in the
now".
> > >> > > Mindfulness of the breath and mindfulness of vedanaa are no
doubt
> > >> > excellent
> > >> > > tools of keeping one in the present moment but are there any
suttas
> > >> > > dedicated to the now and how "being in the now" works
beneficially?
> > >> > >
> > >> > > with metta,
> > >> > > PG
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
> --
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