Uposatha Days?

misterCope

Someone brought this up in another thread...

Do you practice Uposatha days? If so, when, and what do you do?

I used to practice vegetarianism, but now I haven't eaten meat in over a year (the same with other practices). I'm looking for other ways to make these days more significant, any suggestions?

Jason

I have occasionally in the past, but not too often these days. The traditional way to observe the uposatha is to observe the eight precepts for the day and a spend as much time as possible meditating.

Invincible_summer

I'm thinking of starting to practice this on my own as well.

matthewmartin

I plan to re-read the Brahma net Sutra (just got my paper copy in the mail). Its short enough, acts as a reminder of some Buddhist ideals and goals that are mostly lay person compatible. It also starts out with trying to remember all the unskillful things one did in the last two weeks.

As far as Buddhist style fasting** goes, I'm also already a vegan/vegetarian. What I might do is try to cook monastery style for dinner-- I've got a few Buddhist cook books, 3 Bowls is one.

Zen monestary cooking means don't waste anything, eat 3 bowls of food (rice, soup and something else), possibly eat *really* slow, say Buddhist "grace" (thanking everyone for the food you're eating)

** Depending on where you read, fasting actually just means skipping dinner, or skipping meat & fish, sometimes skipping eating for a longer period, but that is the sort of asceticism that I'm not into.

misterCope

That sounds promising, @matthewmartin. I'm definitely going to check that book out.

One_of_dharma_ways

Do you fast

misterCope

@One_of_dharma_ways, at the moment, I don't, but I am considering doing it.