Commentary on Thomas, Logion 60

Gospel of Thomas, logion 60:

They saw a Samaritan carrying a lamb on his way to Judea.
He said to his disciples, "Why does that man carry the lamb around?"
They said to him, "So that he may kill it and eat it."
He said to them, "While it is alive, he will not eat it, but only when he has killed it and it has become a corpse."
They said to him, "He cannot do so otherwise."
He said to them, "You too, look for a place for yourselves within the Repose, lest you become a corpse and be eaten."

The Dhammapada: Watchfulness is the path to immortality and heedlessness is the path to death. The watchful do not die, but the heedless are already dead.

This saying-teaching is focused on being awake, on living in the present moment, what Zen calls mindfulness. For far too many people, life is what happens while they are busy making other plans: "I'll do such-and-such when I get enough money"; "I'll be happy when I meet the man of my dreams"; "I'll get another job as soon as I find new accommodation"; and so on. But the only place we ever live is right here, right now. Dreams of a bright future are only delusions, for there never is any future; there is only right here, right now. The Samaritan is carrying a lamb. It is still a lamb; it is not a corpse, it is not meat--not yet, right here, right now. Perhaps the Samaritan will die, or lose his appetite for meat, or maybe the lamb will escape or someone else will buy it from the Samaritan. The lamb is not yet a corpse. We don't know if the Samaritan killed it or not. We can't foresee the future. We can't foresee the future because there is only right here right now. If we want a different life, then we must seek it in the present moment: we must look for 'a place within the Repose' right here right now, for this is all we have--this moment only, and this moment is ours in its abundance or its poverty: the choice is ours.