American Zen Teacher
Attention / Awareness Attention or awareness is the secret of life and the heart of practice … every moment in life is absolute itself. That's all there is. There is nothing other than this present moment; there is no past, there is no future; there is nothing but this. So when we don't pay attention to each little this, we miss the whole thing. And the contents of this can be anything. This can be straightening out our sitting mats. Chopping an onion, visiting one we don't want to visit. It doesn't matter what the contents of the moment are; each moment is absolute. That's all there is, and all there ever will be. If we could totally pay attention, we would never be upset. If we're upset, it's axiomatic that we're not paying attention. If we miss not just one moment, but one moment after another, we're in trouble. Nothing Special: Living Zen , 1994
Wisdom for The Soul: Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing , © 2004