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eternal moment. In Carlos Casteneda’s books, Don Juanteaches Carlos essentially the same lesson when he saysthat we can “stop the world” and experience the pulseof eternity simply by stopping the “internal dialogue”in our heads.We are always in the present moment, here and now,and it provides the only view of the world that’s notimaginary. The past and future are mental constructs,but the present is the living ground of awareness and thecradle of creation. In “The Way of the Peaceful Warrior”,Dan Millman states that the most profound lesson histeacher ever taught him was contained in the declaration,“There are no ordinary moments.” Every momentis extraordinary because it always reflects a complete andperfect picture of the whole universe, like a flawless gemof awareness. However, in order to perceive reality withthe flawless vision of the moment, we must perfect thepratice of presence.As we begin to awaken to the infinite potentialof presence in the eternal moment, we also begin torealize that the primordial awareness through whichwe experience presence is as immortalas the moment---that our awareness issomething that “is not born and does notdie.” We realize that the infinite luminousenergy of awareness is the very sourceof the world which we perceive throughour senses, and that we are always theauthors of our own lives, free to set thestage and write the script as we wish.That’s why Tibetan teachers describe the“Clear Light” of primordial awareness asa “wish-fulfilling gem.”The Dzogchen master NamkhaiNorbu refers to the experience of undistractedawareness in the moment as “instantpresence.” When you practice instantpresence, you experience the waves ofthe world rising and falling in the infiniteocean of awareness, and you realize thatthe world you perceive is never separatefrom the awareness which perceives it,just as the images reflected in a mirrorare inseparable from the mirror whichreflects them, and the waves rippling androaring on the surface of the ocean areinseparable from the still and silent waterin the depths from which they arise. Theworld we experience is a product of ourawareness, not a separate reality. It’s veryimportant to recognize the distinction betweenthe reflections and the mirror, andto realize that the waves on the ocean arejust a fleeting form of the water below, forone is impermanent and inconstant whilethe other is immutable and immortal. Inorder to enjoy the ephemeral play of life’senergies, we must avoid attachment totheir passing forms and not mistake the servant for themaster, for it is not the impermanence of things in lifethat causes us sorrow, but rather our attachment to impermanentthings. Instant presence makes this distinctionclear, for it teaches us to value the treasure that we cannever lose—the luminous pearl of primordial awareness.Taoist and Dzogchen teachings place such strongemphasis on being aware of our real condition, as it is hereand now in the present moment, because this is wherewe’ve always been and always will be—in the very centerof our experience of the universe, which unfolds like aflower from the luminous heart of our awareness. Ourexperience of the world is always complete and perfectjust as it is at the moment. In real time , there is no pastor future, only the eternal present, and as soon as we stopthinking, the timeless perfection of the moment blossoms.When we rest our minds tranquilly in stillness (shamatha),the moment is all there is. In an interview in theWinter 2003/04 issue of Dragon Mouth, Liu Ming notesthis point as follows: “Rather than offering transcendence,the teaching introduces us to where we actually are. . . theThe Empty Vessel 43