I understand that one should let go of the past, but I have difficulty understanding how to let go of the future altogether because of course one has to plan things.
Well, the point is that you do the planning in the present moment.
It's a bit misleading, you know, because
You don't really want to give up the past.
I guess the important distinction we have to make is between conventional reality and ultimate reality, or our life in the world and our life as a meditator.
Because from a meditative point of view, you take everything in the present moment.
When you think about the past, you're actually thinking in the present moment, so you look at it as a thought.
When you think about the future, when you plan about the future, all of the thoughts and emotions, they're all in the present moment, and so you take those as the meditation object.
But on a conventional level, you're still doing planning and you're still remembering the past.
Why is it even important to remember the past?
Because otherwise you wouldn't be able to learn from your mistakes.
You wouldn't be able to avoid things that are dangerous.
If you saw an elephant coming, you'd be like, oh, well, forget about the past.
Don't think about the fact that you've heard that elephants will kill you and so on, or whatever.
If someone betrays you, then you know to avoid the person.
Or if you find out that someone is a terrible, corrupt individual, then you have to remember that.
You have to keep that in mind.
You don't want to say, forgive and forget.
Forgive, but don't ever forget.
Because you'll get taken again.
You'll fall into more suffering and more problems on a conventional level.
And
So to live in the world, and the more worldly pursuits you have, the more you'll have to keep in mind the past and the future and plan.
The point is that from a meditator's, from a meditative point of view,
But there's a more important task that needs to be done, and that is to see the activities clearly.
And so when you're planning, the meditative side of you will take the present moment.
When you're thinking about the future, the meditative side of you will take the present moment, will purify the thoughts.
The actual teaching on letting go of the past and letting go of the future is only fully applicable for a full-time meditator.
Someone who is in intensive meditation has no need to plan anything.
and should get to the point where they have no planning.
They have no need for planning.
Very minimal planning.
Like you might say, planning to go for food, or knowing that it's now the time to go for food, or so on.
ideally there is no such planning and in fact we get meditators to stay in their room sometimes and we send them food so there's a knock on their door they don't even have to think about when food is going to come this sort of person does not need any sort of planning or any knowledge of the past either because from a meditator it's wrong to think that you need to know about the past and the future in terms of meditation now your question makes it clear
that you're talking about worldly things.
As a meditator you don't need to plan.
But some people still think that as a meditator you have to be able to consider the past and the future.
From a meditative point of view this is, from an insight point of view this is not correct.
This is not useful.
It's not useful to think about the past or to think about the future when you're meditating.
Even in terms of thinking about why am I the way I am now or what will this lead to in the future.
It's not the solution.
in terms of insight meditation to worry about the results of bad deeds, for example, or to encourage yourself about the benefits of good deeds.
It's not beneficial to say this suffering came from bad deeds, or this happiness came from good deeds, for example.
These are not the meditative...
practice or the meditative process.
They can be useful for meditators, especially in the beginning when you need this kind of encouragement or when you need this kind of intellectual verification to get rid of your doubts, to spell your doubts.
But the practice of meditation is to see things as they are.
If you look at the Four Noble Truths,
You don't practice them to understand the relationship between them.
The relationship between them exists, you learn only one thing and that is what is suffering.
You understand that the things that you cling to are actually suffering.
You don't worry about the clinging aspect, you worry about the suffering aspect.
When you learn that something is suffering,
The second noble truth is not that you learn what is the cause of it.
The second noble truth is that you give up the cause.
You give up the craving.
Once you see that something is suffering, you give up the craving for it.
This is the cessation of suffering.
The practice of seeing suffering is the path that leads to the cessation of suffering.
These are the four noble truths.
It's totally in the present moment.
You don't ever need to consider cause and effect.
Sorry, not don't ever, but the core of the practice is not the consideration of cause and effect, even though that can be useful on an intellectual level to do so.
The actual practice is present moment.
Now, your question is easier.
It's dealing with planning.
And I think I dealt with that just to see things on two different levels.
And when you're planning to try to plan mindfully and thereby incorporate the two facets of your existence together so you're able to incorporate your meditation as best as possible.
in your daily life and and I think it goes without saying that it will benefit your planning it will benefit your memories and so your your interactions with the past as well when you're mindful about these things even though you have to deal with both the past and the future on the conventional level until you become a monk and go and live in the forest
even then you have to as long as you're still engaged in the world you still have to plan things you do it mindfully and you know that you're planning here in the present moment because planning is not a future thing planning is a preparing thing and doing something that is important to do here and now the other thing I would say just to add one more thing
is that very little planning needs to be done as a meditator.
Very little preparation needs to be done.
Very little thought about the future needs to be made.
It's an interesting aspect of wisdom that it just knows.
It knows what is right.
It doesn't have to think about what is right.
When you know what is right, it's instantaneous.
The thinking process is more often than not just getting in the way.
The answer that comes from clarity of mind, from mindfulness, is more often than not the correct one, or I might even say always the correct one.
you do have to put some thought into things in terms of remembering things or on an intellectual level but the correct thing to say and to do is always
accompanied with mindfulness.
It's the mindfulness that's going to lead you to do and to say the correct thing.
So even planning will become purified and will not be so much planning as it will be doing what is necessary.
Okay, you need to fill this bag with things that are necessary for this situation?
Okay, so you put everything in the bag and you know exactly what is necessary for this situation.
It has nothing to do with
thoughts about the future.
Oh, what am I going to do when I get there?
Where am I going to go?
It's applying a process to a problem.
You have this problem that needs to be solved and it's the solution of the problem in the present moment.
It becomes more like that for someone who is mindful, so it doesn't deal with worries or concerns about the future.