Advice to a newcomer
yagr
Veteran
You are sifting through the latest posts on newbuddhist and run across a thread started by a new Buddhist. (Please note the cute use of new Buddhist in two different ways - I worked hard on that) She or he has read "In the Buddha's Words", "What the Buddha Taught" as well as "What the Buddha Didn't Teach" and a few hundred others. They've tried their hand at meditation and have developed a practice. They're ready to commit to a more intensive practice but they're looking for direction. What do you tell them?
So far, I've picked up rather consistent advice to hang on to those things that are universal amongst all traditions. i.e. 4NT, 8FP. On the other hand, I've seen folks come around and ask about the four Noble Truths and be told that it is a rather advanced teaching to begin with. Okay, scratch the 4NT. Moving on, how about that meditation practice? I've been told that I could meditate more...and it's been suggested that perhaps I'm spending too much time in meditation and escaping. Cool, moving on again...eightfold path... okay...
Ultimately, the question is this: I've got an hour a day to devote to my Buddhist practice. How would you recommend it be spent to make the best use of time? How about two hours a day? Three?
Comments
I think that has to vary a bit based on the person and whether they are following a path laid out by a teacher, or what. Mine is both my preferences, and my teacher's suggestions.
I am lucky that I have 4 hours a day (but that is about to come to an end with summer vacation so we'll see what changes)
I do yoga first, about an hour, sometimes less. Then I meditate. About a half hour, sometimes less, sometimes more, and then I spend the other 2 hours having my coffee and breakfast, and studying. Sometimes I am strictly reading from the books from a list my teacher gave us specific to which part of his teachings we are working on. Our Sangha also reads a book, so I review that for discussion purposes for the end of the week. Right now, I am working on Lojong, so if there is a youtube teaching of my teacher's to watch, i do that. Then I pick the day's slogan and read the commentary about it in 2 different books. If I have time, then I go back to my reading and notetaking on CTR's "Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion" book.
It just really depends. Sometimes I spend a lot of time practicing Tonglen because it seems needed. Some days I spend 15 minutes meditating and then spend 2.5 hours watching videos on youtube. Sometimes I get caught up here and don't do much else.
And that's just within my Tibetan practice. It has varied alot over the past few years, I expect it'll change again.
So any recommendations are quite personal. If a person has no idea where to start, has no teacher or sangha to work with, I would suggest more time spent meditating than randomly reading all sorts of authors, schools, and so on. But that is just based on my experience. The reading is what I did to start out, and I ended up quickly confused, frustrated, and on the verge of giving up because it seemed hopeless to attempt to learn even a very tiny fraction of what was out there.
@karasti I knew that at least a part of your practice was going to include coming to this thread and responding. Thanks; you're awesome AND insightful and occasionally make me lol
LOL it is indeed part of my practice! I think I probably learn more from talking through my own stuff on here than anything some days
Your whole day IS your practice. You cannot separate '.practice' from 'day'
And it's true that the 4NT are indeed profound and complex; but they were also the first lesson The Buddha ever gave
So if you're going to start anywhere, that would be a good place....
Keep it as simple as you need to for now.
Time enough to gear up to complex stuff later.
How will you know it's time?
You'll know....
Those are the most important words I think for me to remember and I imagine any one of us. Mindfulness isn't a "pinch hitter". For me it requires a sustained effort...perhaps until it doesn't. Keeping it simple also is as good at the beginning as it is now years later for me.
Probably why I like JKZ much .... Bob
@Federica - you are right, of course. The whole day is my practice. What I think I should have said is: If one has an hour or two or three or... to commit to learning things that they can take forward into their day and practice...
But of course, that's probably not quite accurate either - but it's closer. For instance, I practice right speech throughout the day to the extent that I understand the concept. Could I understand it better? No doubt. Do I know enough about it to continue practicing and move on to something else (this incidentally, while true, is simply an example). Anywho, I do get the point you made about not being able to separate the two - and it's a good point, one that was worth reminding me of. Thanks!
In other words...it's all the same.
Whether I'm washing dishes, or your reading a teaching, or Aunt Fede is cooking, or lobster is pillow shopping, or karasti is doing yoga......we should be practicing what meditation teaches us in the moment of all the moments.
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When considering two views hold to the primary view. The primary view is how it seems to you. In the end it's all up to you. You make choices. The sangha is heterogenious even in Buddhas time I would venture.
In my opinion I would get a taste from meditation as the first thing. The reason is that you grew up in western culture. Meditation is your own experience. You cannot go wrong. It is always meditation. I would work my way up to 30 minutes each and every day.
Hi, @yagr! Federica's advice that your whole day is your practice is just right.
It is out in the battlefield that your theory gets tested and where you can learn the most about yourself: how you relate to your emotions, your reactions, the different people around you.
I think both practice and theory are important to provide insight and develop right view. The theory enlarges your horizon and the practice puts the theory in perspective.
Like @karasti, I have the luxury of four whole hours while my son is at school.
More or less like her, I do yoga, meditation, and work on a lojong slogan and lamrim exercise every day. My teacher is Tibetan, but I lean towards Theravada at heart, so continuing to delve in the 4NT and N8P is a must. You can google Ajahn Sumedho's "The Four Noble Truths" and Bhikku Bodhi's "The Noble Eightfold Path," which give a very original take on both, if you're not acquainted with them already.
In a nutshell: reading as much as you can and meditation are essential to help make things add up. And lots of observation. Be very mindful about being grounded in the present moment and truly savour life as it happens. Nothing can beat that, in my opinion.
EDIT: Just gave it a thought, before leaving. It never ends, @yagr. We're always learning and we're always newcomers. The more I read, the more I practice, there is always something new to learn. We have to keep that "newcomer" mentality fresh, I guess.
Go see a real life teacher. That is precisely what they are there for, to give direction.
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Nonsense. Every one you meet is a potential Teacher. Real life itself is the best teacher of all.
Simply because a person is, or calls themselves a teacher, is no indication of their 'better-than-most' value....
This morning just after dawn I cycled to central London to make sure Big Ben was still binging. As I cycled down my street, an early morning Moslem wearing bright yellow (probably just finished morning prayers), was staring at me intently. I stared back, he said, 'Good Morning', I said 'Good Morning'. One of us was on their way to a YinYana Buddhist retreat with hours of 'practice'. I have a feeling it was me and as well as internet connection and all mod cons, I will have several hours of formal practice . . .
With a mere hour, I would probably just meditate. With two, some yoga, some mantra, added. With three - mindful sunbathing, gardening or photographing . . .
Buddha set up, incense burning, time to be formal . . . :wave: . . .
OM YA HA HUM
@lobster: In exchange for that very beautiful picture of London, I'll pin you a picture of my meditation cushion...
Nice little altar.... Here's mine....
Ah shrines xxx
thanks guys for sharing, shrine building is a form of devotional intention, another great 'formal practice'
We haz Tara (aka Buddha Babe) Ganesha and his dangly bit. For Hindus and Buddhists it is reverential to comment on the excellent size of the elephantines ones belly . . . Also noticed the Weeping Buddha. Hotty Maitreya, another belly deity, eating up dukkha . . . I have one of those. Weeping Buddha reminds me of Marvin the paranoid Android. 'Life, don't talk to me about life . . . etc'
http://buddhafulliving.com/weeping-buddha/
I will post a pic of my retreat shrine soon. For now here is a pic proving that the streets of London really are made of gold . . . taken in Covent Garden . . . originally a Convent Garden . . . I think I may have found the way to the Emerald City or some Pureland
. . . and a pic of Bodhi Boudicca, a Celtic Princess and early Suffragette.
Ah, Boudicca, or Boadicea as she is also known... Described in Grigson's History of Ancient Britain as, 'tall, majestic with flaming hair, of solid stature and an imposing wilful temperament: in short, a Red-haired, square-jawed bitch.'
Mind you if I had been tortured by the Romans, tied naked to a frame in freezing weather, and made to watch my daughters being repeatedly raped by soldiers, I might be a little hacked off myself....
That be one ugly image..Federica!
That be history, @how.... The Romans took umbrage at her audacity. St. Albans (Verulamium) inHertfordshire, where I used to live, was one of the settlements she destroyed, but in revenge for what the Romans had already wreaked on her tribe and kinsfolk....
(found a better narrative)
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&ei=gUt2U43zPMztPIC1gOgO&url=http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/war-and-conflict/pre-20th-century-conflict/tra22669&cd=5&ved=0CDcQFjAE&usg=AFQjCNHlgEbcAMc5J3rTKIfor7GkUBjlow&sig2=2FOGSB3_AzMbpA1OujXX0Q
True! But at the same time, there are Buddhist teachers out there that have already been through what we have not yet. They have already learned what we have not yet. They actually are wiser than we are. More advanced on the path than we are, etc. They can give good guidance, wise advice and proper direction. Especially so when a person is looking for more guidance and direction.
I am very new to Buddhism, I have had very little guidance in this practice. I bought lots of books and spend about two hours studying.
I have realised a lot intellectually but it only is really understood during meditation. Maybe others can do otherwise but I need to quiet my mind. If I had an hour a day, I would meditate.
I study while I walk the dog (audio), I meditate working towards an hour a day. But I TOTALLY agree that every single present moment is your practice. This is hard for me but loving the journey. Go well!
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Having available time is quite a gift, cherish every minute of it. Instead of worrying about what to do with that time, just use them with the family.
I suggest taking at least one hour for meditation and practice. If you can sit in meditation for an hour each time, and can do it once to twice a day, then I envy you because I can barely get in an hour in each day.
I have mentioned elsewhere on the forum that I am a member of a twelve step program. Occasionally, the opportunity comes to do what is called twelve step work - helping a new person take their first steps into sobriety. It has been said that a fellow with one day sobriety can help the new man walking through the door because he has learned how to stay sober for one day.
It's really the point of my post. Perhaps no one on this site is a fully enlightened - or realizes that they are.
But that doesn't mean they don't have something to teach all the same. There are folks on this site who have traveled further than I and "they can give good guidance, wise advice and proper direction. Especially so when a person is looking for more guidance and direction."
This is true, in fact it can be worse . . . a misguided, delusional, well meaning or useless but perhaps knowledgeable person can be a hindrance. We MUST learn discernment, critical analysis and the truth behind implied realized or advanced status.
The realized person does not want to fill our head with replacement nonsense, impress us, be our surrogate friend, parent or dummy substitute. They want us to be independently realised yesterday, rather than tomorrow. Why?
Picnics in hell, new realms to uncover . . . to boldly go where no Bodhi has gone before . . .
Watch out for the crocs . . .
A guru is actually the only true friend. All the other friends don't help you develop your practice (in general). One translation of Lama is 'spiritual friend'. Then there is the quote by Buddha to Ananda that the whole of Buddhism is friendship,
http://www.budsas.org/ebud/ebdha028.htm