Shaping Past, Present, & Future

As you sit here with your eyes closed, you can choose to focus on almost anything. You can focus on your breath. You can focus on thoughts of the past or the future. You’re free to choose. But a good choice would be to focus on the breath right now, to learn this skill of how to stay with one thing.

We say that we make up our minds to do something, but often they don’t stay made up. They unravel, and you find yourself doing something else. And with the mind as its own refuge, what kind of refuge do you have? You have to train yourself to stay with one thing. Any other thoughts that come up, you say, “No, no, no,” and you get back to the breath.

Try to make the breath as interesting as possible, noticing how the different ways you breathe have an effect on the body in different ways. In this way, you shape the present moment so that it’s a good moment to be in, an easy moment to stay in. It’s an example of using your discernment to get the mind into concentration.

This is the theme you see throughout the forest tradition. It’s not simply that we practice the precepts and then, when we’re good at the precepts, we do concentration; and then, when we’re good at concentration, we get started on discernment practice. All three have to work together. It requires discernment to follow the precepts properly. And it requires discernment to get the mind to settle down.

You need to know when a defilement comes up that it is a defilement—and then what to do with it. In some cases, you’ve learned in the past. In other cases, you’re presented with something new. You have to use your ingenuity—all of which is part of discernment, sensitive to what’s going on. You recognize what’s going on and have a store of techniques that you can use to deal skillfully with whatever comes.

So try to bring some discernment to your virtue and some discernment to your concentration. In that way, you’re shaping not only the present moment, but also your past and your future. You could be acting on different impulses right now, but you’ve chosen good impulses to act on—which means you’re giving more importance to them. You’re not just being driven around by past forces. You’re choosing which past forces you want to go with. So you’re picking out which aspects of your past you’re going to augment and encourage, and which aspects you’re going to allow to die. In that way, you shape the future.

You want to do this in a wise way. After all, as the Buddha said, wisdom begins with the question, “What when I do it will lead to my long-term welfare and happiness?” So you’re not concerned only with the present moment, but you’re also concerned with long-term consequences. You’re shaping past, present, and future all at once. So do your best to shape them in a good way.