Pema Chodron Quotes

We can shift from time-bound awareness into timeless awareness . . . to the ecstasy that can only be found in the present moment.

It is not after we understand the truth that we attain enlightenment. To realize the truth is to live - to exist here and now.

Who cares if you're enlightened forever? Can you just get it in this moment, now?

What I've learnt is to be in the now. It's something my mum has always said to me, and when I read a book called 'The Power of Now' by Eckhart Tolle, I realised just how important it is.

Zen is everywhere.... But for you, Zen is right here.

When you are present, when your attention is fully and intensely in the Now, Being can be felt, but it can never be understood mentally.

There is no enlightenment outside of daily life.

The challenge is in the moment; the time is always now.

God is not in heaven - God is in the present moment. If you are also in the present moment you enter the temple.

I think it's so important to have a practice, because the consciousness isn't perfection or enlightenment or any of that bullshit. The consciousness is, "Oh, I'm walking down the street and I'm doing nothing."

The science of meditation: it brings you to the present, it brings you to this moment. The past is a thought; it disappears when thoughts disappear. The future is also a thought; it disappears when you drop thinking. When you are in a state of no-thought - there is no past, no future, there is only the present - in that state of no-thought you are ONE, in tune with God. And suddenly the flood is there: you are flooded with light, with love, with grace. You are no more a man, you are divine. You have surpassed humanity. Humanity is in a state of deep sleep.

Listen to the silence. Listen to your life. Be present, not just think about what's going on next week, next month.

Confine yourself to the present.

Only when your consciousness is totally focused on the moment you are in can you receive whatever gift, lesson, or delight that moment has to offer.

I've known for years that you're supposed to be present. I know that thinking about what's happened or thinking about what I want is not going to get me anywhere, but until I quit doing it I'm not present.

Enlightenment is always there. Small enlightenment will bring great enlightenment. If you breathe in and are aware that you are alive - that you can touch the miracle of being alive - then that is a kind of enlightenment.

I live in the moment, and I reflect later.

I try to just stay in the present moment as much as possible.

Everyone wants to look to the future and into the past. I stay focused on now.

At the Cruiserweight Classic finale, I said... I don't know if people had looked it up, or if they had heard it before, but it was an old Zen proverb. 'Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, you chop wood, carry water.' It can be interpreted a lot of ways, but for the most part it's about staying in the moment.

To be conscious of Being, you need to reclaim consciousness from the mind. This is one of the most essential tasks on your spiritual journey.

The power of now can only be realized now. It requires no time and effort. Effort means you're trying hard to get somewhere, and so you are not present, welcoming this moment as it is.

If the mind wants to comprehend reality, it will have to come out of the past and the future. But coming out of the past and the future, it is no longer the mind at all. Hence the insistence of all the great masters of the world that the door to reality is no-mind.

Only the human heart can live in present moment awareness. The human mind cannot, because its essential nature is to ponder the past and plan the future. This is why all wise beings encourage us to go beyond the mind into the timeless, boundless transcendence of heart-centered awareness.

Enlightenment is nothing but your consciousness being concentrated on a single point - now and here.