There is also the aspect of aimlessness. Sitting in order to sit.
Just sitting.
In 2004,
we had an autumn retreat.
And during that retreat,
Thay would introduce sitting meditation every day.
And he would give about anything between 2 and 5 minutes
guidance before the sitting meditation began.
And I remember in particular one guidance that Thay gave.
"The place where I am sitting now,
countless living beings have been born in this place,
and countless living beings have died here.
Maybe millions of years ago, an Enlightened One also sat here.
And in the future,
countless living beings will be born in this place I am sitting,
and countless living beings will die here.
And maybe in the future, an Enlightened One will also sit in this place."
This guided meditation goes a bit like that.
And that is really to put us in touch with infinite space and infinite time.
When I first came to Plum Village,
Thay didn't sit at the bell
or at the top of the sangha.
Thay, just like everybody else, Thay came in and sat
where Thay felt like sitting.
One day,
I was with my eyes shut and I was sitting like this,
and I felt somebody come and sit next to me.
And then I felt
infinite space and infinite time.
I looked and it was Thay sitting next to me.
And then, another day when I wasn't sitting next to Thay,
but I saw Thay come in and I saw Thay sit.
And Thay looked
exactly like Thay was dwelling in infinite space and infinite time.
This is something we can all do.
It is something called aimlessness. We don't have any aim, we just
come in to the meditation hall
and we sit in order to sit.
We just allow ourselves that
awakened nature in ourselves
to be completely aimless and to enjoy infinite space and infinite time.
That guided preface
about all the living beings who have been born, and have died here
can be helpful for you to touch infinite space and infinite time.
Sitting in the historical dimension,
is there any place that is not the place of Enlightenment?
(Vietnamese)
Birth and death are endless.
And this present moment is the only, only moment.