Practice of Uposatha for lay followers

matthewmartin

I had a question I was going to ask here but google answered it first. So I'll post my answer in case anyone else finds it useful.

So I'm continuing to read about Buddhist practices beyond meditation & reading books. I've been keeping notes and have a list of things I'd like to do- it's a mix of what wikipedia would call lay, novice and monastic practices, so when I read about the monks reciting the vinaya every Uposatha day, I thought, "Hey, that'd be a good time to review my list of practices"

But when the heck is the full and new moon? Here is the website for figuring out what day is an Uposatha day-- it is a bit different depending on your geographic location - http://www.almanac.com/moon/calendar/DC/Washington/2014-01

What do you do for Uposatha days?

BhikkhuJayasara

in my normal day to day lay life, I do nothing with regards to these days. I know its traditional to take the 8 precepts on those days and try to get in more meditation then most times.

how

For some in practice, ritual provides the reoccurring means to apply themselves in ways they might not otherwise do.

For others, rite & ritual is replaced for the meeting of each moment as the only one available to practice anything in.

While both might eye the other with wariness, each requires great discipline to do properly.

misterCope

Things that I do on Uposatha days:

-Meditate. I'm not the best with daily practice, so I make sure to do it.

-Follow the other precepts. It's really difficult to not listen to music.

-Eat vegetarian. I used to do this, but it started to leak into the rest of the month. I've been an almost-vegan for months now, and I haven't eaten meat in well over a year.

-Remain silent unless spoken to. I've sort of given up on this because it's off-putting. It can cause some awkward feelings and a lot of "are you ok?" I figure that causing others (minor) discomfort for my own (possible) benefit isn't worth it. I do remain silent while alone (which is unusual for me).

-Do something nice for someone. I think of this as the celebration part -- it's a holiday, right? Anyway, I try to significantly improve at least one person's day. Buying coffee for the person behind you in the drive-through at Dunkin' Donuts is an easy way to do it. Calling or emailing someone to explain to them exactly how much they truly mean to you is another good one. Sometimes I'll draw someone a picture.

-Practice gratitude. This is another thing that has bled into the rest of my life. Spend an entire day being deliberately thankful for everything that happens to you and you'll see what I mean. Now, every time someone says "thank you" to me, I am overwhelmed by the absurdity that they should be thankful to me, after all of the ways that they have touched my life.

Thank you for asking.