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Is Practicing The Dharma A 24/7/365 Thing? (Or only for the weekends and public Holidays)
Shoshin
No one in particularNowhere Special Veteran
Greeting Dharmaians (Take me to your leader)
For many seasoned practitioners, when actively participating on a Buddhist forum, the Dharma one would think is at the forefront of ones 'thoughts words and deeds'... I guess for those new members (those new to Buddhism) they are still coming to grips with the term Dharma and what it all means...
So just out of interest............
Is Practicing The Dharma A 24/7/365 Thing?
Or is it ok to have a break from it (lapse back into old habit patterns perhaps) ?
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Comments
I'm not sure it's possible to have a break from it. Once you know it exists, everything in life is practice, even resistance to practice.
The heart of Buddhism is understanding things as they are without deception. Do we do that all the time? hmmm i suppose we can try it out
@Jeffrey,
If you don't feel that you're enlightened you can always try to be !
A wise Zen master once said.....
"Don't practice to become enlightened-Let your practice be the natural expression of your enlightenment"
I have Sundays off, so it's like an inverse version of Catholicism.
Is there something else to do that you can't also do as part of your practice?
@how says much the same
As a monkey minded Buddhist with aspirations to at least become a new age Buddhist, it is my practice to find reasonable practice:
For example:
I haz plan
@Bunks, one would assume this to be the case for all dedicated practitioners, (and in your case it certainly shows in your balanced non aggressive response to things) but sadly it would seem even for some of us seasoned practitioners we still habitually 'cling' to defilements that can often define us, be it the child-like behaviour of wanting things to be a particular way(It's my way or the highway) and throwing a hissy fit if others don't conform to our whim ...
I can find lots of things like that.
This perceptual stage, we might think of it as akin to initial 'stream entry'. It occurs quite naturally as the certainty of dharma and the benefits of alignment become apparent. No faith required.
Later on the behaviour and skilfull means become more important than 'being a Buddhist'.
When people start they are uncertain, wary, cautious. This is why it is important not to get distracted by politically correct Buddhists, crazy wisdom abusers and Zen in straight jackets or pink kimonos. Find the dharma and practice that works for you . . . well that is my plan . . .
I just want to play a better game than Bodhi Mario . . .
I personally cannot discern any difference between 'Dhamma' and 'Daily Life'. Aside from the spelling, that is...
Agree! I am not sure how to take a "break" from the Dhamma, even when I fail I seem to learn more!!
Dhamma is not a practice.
It is a lifestyle.
Two thoughts to mull over.
There is the Ideal and there is the Actual.
Starting from where you actually are, is usually one of the least understood aspects of the Dharma, because the Dharma is really a journey from our imagined conjuring's of ourselves, to the awakening from those conjuring's.
Trying to start that journey from anywhere other than where you actually are, will just be more conjuring in need of being awakened from..
Practicing 24/7,365 days a year is a lofty ideal whereas this present unfolding moment, is the only actual place of practice possible.
..............................................................................................
A relationship is simply any interaction we have with existence.
The impetus of our own karma and our conditioned responses to it
determines what we see as an important relationship over an unimportant one.
Because so much of a relationship can be a self wrought, identity construct, just being honestly compassionate & honestly loving where ever you find yourself, makes the question of honesty within any relationship a mote point..
Integrity as @how mentions is paramount.
We are on the path to truth and reality or perhaps we are here for deception and amusement. Perhaps we are still trying to discern the difference . . .
If we are not ready for practicing with integrity, OK the samsara hamster wheel continues . . .
Strange as it may seem, nothing holds us back from awareness except our desire to dream away existence.
Very profound @lobster, have you been sniffing the cushion again ?