In this Daily Meditations interview, Buddhist teacher Kaira Jewel Lingo introduces the teaching “present moment, wonderful moment” from her tradition. The simple practice of being fully present can help alleviate suffering.
A Jewish rabbi says in the Talmud that you have to bless both the good and the bad that comes to you. I could speak of it in terms of two dimensions. There’s a historical dimension in Buddhism where things are born, things die. Things come, things go. Things are, things are not. But there’s also an ultimate dimension in Buddhism which is just as real though it’s less tangible—where things are never born and never die; there’s no coming, no going, no here, no there…. The ultimate dimension is beyond the limitations of the historical dimension, so all the things that happen in our lives that we have joy over or we grieve over, those don’t define us in the ultimate dimension.
That’s one way to understand this teaching of “present moment, wonderful moment.” Life is unfolding in ways we can’t always understand when we’re right in the thick of it…. Some things are going to happen that cause suffering. Some things are going to bring us joy. Some things will happen in our lives that we want. Some things will happen that we don’t want.
There’s tremendous freedom that can come from learning to turn towards all of it with an open heart, rather than pushing away … and fighting what we don’t think should happen…. There’s a certain amount of pain that we’re all going to have in our lives; that’s unavoidable. But whether or not we suffer on top of that pain is up to us. This teaching “present moment, wonderful moment” helps us to say that if we can dwell in the present moment and just be with this now, not project into the future … then we can bear it…. If we can stay with the present moment, … as hard as that may be, and take care of this present moment, then the next moment is a continuation of this moment, so we can also take care of that moment.
Lingo shares a conversation she had with a woman who was grieving the loss of her husband.
She was really struggling with this “present moment, wonderful moment,” teaching and I said, “It can be present moment, opening to the moment. It can be present moment, allowing the moment. It can be present moment, feeling the moment.”… If it’s not appropriate for you to go towards wonderful, it can be just “present moment and it’s the only moment.” That’s why it’s wonderful. It’s the only moment we have. We aren’t guaranteed any future moment, so as hard as it may be or as unwanted as it may be, it’s like asking, “How do we bless this too?” because this is part of the life we’ve been given and if we’re going to live it, we have to decide to live it.
Reference:
Adapted from Kaira Jewel Lingo, Moving Through Change, Loss, and Disruption, Center for Action and Contemplation, author interview, June 11, 2025, YouTube video, 38.20.
Image credit and inspiration: Bruce Tang, untitled (detail), 2019, photo, Japan, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. Attentive to the moment and the task at hand, we find that holiness lives in simple, ordinary rhythms—no grand cathedral required, only the quiet altar of a kitchen table.
Story from Our Community:
I find my joy arising in the midst of my morning meditation practice overlooking my small pond. Here I allow my heart and mind to be so calmed that I sense the presence and guidance of Spirit. It’s in this timeless moment that I know the Oneness, that I know there is nothing to fear, and that joy arises from deep within! God indwells and lives through us; I ask to more fully become a source of God’s love in this hurting world.
—Jan G.
