Koan 312

“If a man gives no thought about what is distant, he will find sorrow near at hand.”

— Confucius

 

What is distant is after the now: the future now in which we will find ourselves or when we are no longer in the now.

If we think about what sorrows might unfold in the future now, we are prepared to ameliorate their effects.

If we come to know what happens when we are no longer in the now, whatever sorrows unfold in the now are of little matter.