Being In Now

Aloha,

I'm Reverend Cindy Palos and I wish to talk about changes and the fact that there is no beginning and no end and how we embrace being here now when we can't hold on to anything.

This is a very zen-like subject in many ways.

I have a wonderful friend,

Zen teacher,

Bill Kwong,

Sonoma Mountain Zen Center,

Bill Kwong Roshi.

He's a wonderful teacher.

I've known him for many,

Many,

Many years.

I took my precepts back in 1986.

And I always love zen and what he did with zen as well was do many calligraphies.

There's a lot of zen teachers and Roshi's that do calligraphy.

Calligraphy is an amazing art.

Have you ever watched anyone do calligraphy?

Anyone that's a talented teacher do calligraphy?

It's something that I've never quite achieved,

That ability to pick up a pen and put down exactly what I want on a piece of paper with one stroke and express what is behind the thought and not make any changes.

And then once it's done,

It's done,

Right?

I like to play with things.

I like to kind of change things.

But at the same time,

I find myself not necessarily liking change that much.

There's a lot of reasons for this,

I think.

I mean,

Astrologically,

There are signs that are fixed signs that like things a certain way.

And I happen to be a fixed sign.

I think I have four planets in fixed position,

Which is quite a lot.

Now,

The good thing about that,

There's good things and bad things about everything.

The good thing about that is when I have my set positions and my set way of doing things,

I can plan and arrange and do things just fine.

When things are thrown up for change,

Then with a change in the pattern,

You can't necessarily hold on to the way you've necessarily been doing things exactly the same way with the safety of doing it that way.

Now,

We all know there's wonderful things that can happen when we let go and experience and risk the change.

But there's also the chance that it's like,

Well,

What about,

You know,

You start to think,

Well,

What about this and what about that?

Have you ever gone through that like,

Well,

What if this happens or what if that happens?

Not all change is necessarily going to be a better experience.

But it does give you a different way of looking at life.

Our life goes through so many changes.

Our age changes our perspective,

Our relationship changes how we live.

What we do and the work we're doing changes where we put our energy and time.

And we know that change always will happen.

All things must pass.

And that includes losing and I'm using the word loosely,

Losing lightly here.

Because are we really losing someone when they pass?

Well,

We certainly are not having them in our life as much.

But it doesn't mean that we're really losing them either.

Now,

This is where it starts to get complicated.

But stay with me as I go through this path of what the Zen teacher,

Roshi said,

There's no beginning,

There's no ending.

Now,

That's a very Zen statement.

If there's no beginning,

How can we be here?

If there's no ending,

How do we leave here?

Are we losing a loved one when they die?

If there's no ending.

But then again,

If there's no beginning,

Was it ever really anything but this existence?

And when we are here,

Right now,

Together,

Being here,

Now,

In this moment of existence,

We know from physics and higher teachers and calculus and more and more and more people experiencing it,

This moment is now,

Always now.

So if we are really always now,

All of what we've experienced on some level,

On some dimension,

On some pattern of energy has already happened,

Has already passed and is already here now with us.

Ah,

Just think about that.

If we are really here together right now and there's no beginning and there's no ending,

It means everything is here right now.

And another Zen statement,

Nothing is also here right now.

We're experiencing what they talk about in the Heart Sutra.

No beginning,

No end also includes nothing and everything,

Form and emptiness.

Form is emptiness,

Emptiness is form.

Now,

If that experience of emptiness,

Of nothingness can be experienced,

Then perhaps we can experience no beginning and no end.

The two are tied together very closely.

No beginning,

No end,

No end,

No beginning,

A continuous circle or as I like to think of it,

Spiral of life.

The spiral is a very important symbol used in Reiki,

It's used in many,

Many things including dimensions of universes.

The spiral of life is a circle but it's a circle that goes around and up and around and up and around and up and around and up and around and up into infinity.

And if we are a point in that circle,

We are still experiencing that moment of being here now in a circle and we still can experience no beginning and no end.

And we can experience infinity and beyond.

And every single particle of the universe,

Of the stars,

Of the light is contained in this circle and the spiral of life.

And so,

Here is the gift of impermanence.

If we were at one point and not changing,

Not able to let go,

Then we'd never be able to evolve around the circle and spiral of life.

And the evolvement of humanity in being here now is the expansion of consciousness and awakening to again the reality of this very moment.

And when we awake right here,

Right now,

To the light of that morning star that Buddha saw,

Then we experience the nirvana of that moment of understanding where we can totally let go and be part of that infinite light and that infinite love that exists everywhere and nowhere.

The energy field that allows us to understand no beginning and no end.

Then the Buddhist priests do a sand mandala.

I'm sure you've probably seen this.

I've had a chance to see it a few times where they work sometimes for about a week,

Sometimes even longer and do and create this amazing mandala with just grains of sand.

It takes a lot of focus and intention to create this beautiful sand mandala.

And then it's gathered up and dissipated.

Here on the island of Maui,

Where it was done a few times,

They have taken it down to the ocean and taken all of those wonderful grains of sand and just allowed it to be freed into the ocean because it's from sand and it's back to sand.

Now,

These days of course we can take a picture of that beautiful sand mandala as a memento.

But think about the word.

What is a memento?

A memento is a moment.

It's a piece of that moment that you've captured possibly in a memory or a photo.

And when you take trips,

I'm sure many of you have taken back a memento from your trip as something to look at to remember that time you were in another place and possibly had a beautiful experience there.

It's often said that before we die,

We experience our entire life.

A flashback until we can flash forward.

All those mementos stored in the brain.

All those pictures that are still right here and right now in this very moment.

And when we allow ourselves to really believe right here,

Right now,

That this moment is all that there is,

There can be an amazing release.

Let's just experience that.

Just let's go into meditation and just breathe in.

Breathing in this moment,

Holding your breath and breathing out and releasing any thoughts,

Any tension.

Just let go.

Release and let go.

Just breathing in light and love in this very moment,

This infinite moment of now.

And then breathing out and releasing and letting go.

Our life is a breath in,

A breath experienced and then the releasing of that breath and that life.

And all of life is a breath of spirit.

Breathing in,

Experiencing,

Holding it and then just like those grains of sand in the mandala,

Letting it go.

Ah,

Just releasing and feeling good.

Letting all of that just go to be free.

Breathing in,

Holding and a celebration of release.

Let it all just go,

Go,

Go,

Go,

Go.

Feeling that energy releasing through the whole body.

Expanding your awareness as you're breathing in to this now moment,

All of who you are,

All of who you've been,

All of who you will be right here and right now in this present moment.

Ah,

How does it feel to just be,

To just allow yourself to not hold on to anything,

To just let go,

Not be in control and to trust enough to just be here now.

Breathing in and breathing that breath out and releasing all of that breath out.

Just being here now,

Breathing in,

Holding and breathing out.

How do you feel right here in the stillness of now?

Breathing and releasing,

Going deeper into the stillness of now.

Experiencing your soul,

That infinite light,

That love,

That nothingness,

That nirvana that is here with you right now.

Ah,

Allow that energy to permeate all of who you are right now.

Be that light of this moment.

Be the love present in this moment.

Allow yourself to feel this expansion of consciousness,

This nirvana,

This samadhi,

This awakening right here as you let go of all of your preconceptions.

Ah,

And allow yourself that gift of being here now.

Breathe it,

Believe it,

Be it,

Accept it.

Ah,

And feel that gift.

Embrace it.

Ah,

And take it with you in your consciousness.

Take it with you in the breath that you breathe and whenever you are going through something that you are struggling with,

Just breathe in the gift of being here now.

My love,

My light and my blessings of being here now to you always.

Thank you,

Thank you and thank you.