The Mind Cannot Be Grasped
The past mind cannot be grasped, the present mind cannot be grasped, the future mind cannot be grasped. The mind dwells nowhere.
Am I suffering by clinging to a mind already gone and a mind not yet come?
📝Reflection
There is an old tale of a scholar who went to buy rice cakes and was struck by this verse from an old monk: "The past mind, the present mind, the future mind — none can be grasped. To which mind will you offer your cake?" Most of our suffering lives in two places: regret over a past already gone, anxiety over a future not yet come. The only thing we can actually hold is now, yet we pour the mind into two ungraspable places. The mind is like a flowing river — you cannot touch the same water twice. So cling neither to the water passed nor the water yet to come; just feel this water your feet are in now.
🌱Apply It Today
When you sink into past regret or future worry today, briefly place your mind on the floor under your feet or a sound you hear now. Now is all you can grasp.
This verse is read as universal humanistic wisdom, not religion — no faith is promoted, and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.
