Preface

The topic of the future weighs heavily on the mind of the Aṅguttara. We live in that future or beyond it. The "future perils" of the Aṅguttara (AN 5.77--80) are upon us and have been for quite some time. King Ashoka referred to these suttas, which include the peril of corruption in the Saṅgha; perhaps he worried that his generosity, though intended to support Buddhism, would ultimately lead to its decay.

Today the future perils are greater than ever. It is as if the seven suns are appearing in the sky (AN 7.66). We want to face the future with hope for a better life, but the horizon dims and draws closer, while we clutch our loved ones and prepare for the worst.

It was the novelist William Gibson who said, "the future is already here---it's just not very evenly distributed". His saying conceals layers of meaning. The future is here because we see scientific, technological, and human marvels every day that are far beyond our comprehension. Yet such advances are for the few, and only trickle gradually, if at all, to people in need. The future is also here in a negative sense, in that the catastrophic effects of climate collapse are readily apparent; and yet there too, their effects are unevenly distributed, massively impacting those who have the least capacity to deal with them.

The way of the Dhamma is to neither deny such things nor to be paralyzed by them, but to live, urgently and vitally, in the present. We live as if the future was uncertain, because it is. Our only certainty is that all this will disappear.

The Buddha stayed calm in the face of terrors. Living well now, we let the future take care of itself. The Buddha did not pretend to be able to control the future, so why should we?

As a Buddhist, I might rephrase Gibson's saying: "the present is already here---it's just not very evenly distributed". The art of meditation is the art of presence, and in that presence, we can be grateful for all that we have, mindful of all our blessings, and fearless when facing the future. It is when we lose our presence that our fears can overcome us. So let us not lose our presence.