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.
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SEP 3, 2025
Persecution or Privilege?
Skye Jethani With God Daily.
Yesterday, we looked at what Jesus meant when he told his disciples, “the world hates you” (John 15:19). We saw that in John’s gospel when Jesus speaks about “the world” he’s not referring to everything and everyone outside the community of his followers, but to those forces opposed to God and his kingdom. Therefore, we must be careful not to dismiss the critique of the church that comes from our culture or from a non-Christian source. In some cases, they may be instruments of God’s correction and grace to be welcomed rather than enemies to be shunned. However, a proper reading of Jesus’ warning in John 15 also depends on how we understand persecution. As he said, “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20).
When Jesus spoke about persecution, he made it clear that not all suffering his followers experience is persecution. For example, in the Sermon on the Mount, he said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted . . .” and he went on to bless those who are persecuted, “on my account” (Matthew 5:110-11). It is when we suffer for doing what is right or for being identified with Jesus that we are blessed. But there are plenty of Christians who may claim persecution who are actually suffering due to their own foolish or unrighteous behavior. Some suffer for righteousness. But frankly, some Christians suffer because they are insufferable.
“Persecution,” as John Stott deftly defined it, “is simply the clash between two irreconcilable value-systems.” The value system presented by Jesus is radically incongruent with the one presented by much of the world. Therefore, anyone who follows Jesus’ way should expect to be misunderstood, maligned, or mistreated. In fact, persecution is often seen as a sign of genuine faith in Christ. This is why Martin Luther listed suffering as an identifying mark of the true church, and any church that never suffers must be so at home in the world that it cannot possibly be faithfully representing Christ and his kingdom.
A desire to be seen as a “genuine” Christian, however, may cause us to claim persecution where none exists. This temptation is compounded by the rapidly changing cultural realities of our age. As the United States has become more diverse, with many more religious traditions, and an increasing number of people with no religious affiliation at all, the privileged position that the Christian faith and its values once enjoyed in our culture is diminishing. For example, in some places, Christian prayers and symbols have been removed from public spaces, or they now exist alongside religious symbols from other traditions. This loss of Christianity’s privileged status in our culture can often be misinterpreted as persecution.
This conflation of privilege and persecution was uncovered by a recent Barna study concerning the state of religious freedom in the United States. Evangelicals were the Americans most likely to say “Religious freedom in the U.S. has grown worse in the past 10 years” (77%). And yet, evangelicals were also the most likely to say that their religious values “should be given preference in the U.S.” (76%). Preferential treatment of one religion over another is precisely what religious freedom was established to prevent. How do we make sense of these seemingly contradictory findings? There are two possibilities. Many American evangelicals may not fully understand what religious freedom means. Or, as David Kinnaman, president of Barna, asks, “Is it possible that evangelicals are interpreting a loss of religious privilege as loss of religious freedom?” I suspect both may be true.
To be clear, religious persecution is a very present reality in our world. In fact, according to Open Doors International, more than 340 million Christians are experiencing high, very high, or severe persecution for their faith, and the number has risen considerably in recent years. The experience of our sisters and brothers around the world who are suffering for their devotion to Christ ought to make us reconsider our own situation. Before we cry “Persecution!” we should pause and ask whether we’re truly being targeted for being a Christian, or whether we’re simply being asked to make room for our neighbor who isn’t. When we claim our loss of privilege is actually persecution, we’re not only misapplying Jesus’ words in John 15. We’re also disparaging those who are genuinely suffering for his name both in the U.S. and around the world.
