How to Practice Meditation in Daily Life?
Meditation is a powerful way to achieve inner peace. But what if we are living somewhere crowded and noisy that does not provide a good environment for doing meditation? For most people, we cannot have the master by our side to guide our meditation, so how can we practice? Here is the core of all meditation practices that can be applied anywhere and anytime.
Question:
I heard that meditation can be done anytime and anywhere. But the fact is, sometimes when we want to do meditation, the environment is not satisfactory; it is too crowded and noisy, people are talking or playing…there are many things that distract our mind. What should we do in such an environment?
The second question is, when we are at home the master won’t be there with us, so what should we do without the master being present to guide us?
The third question is, for how long should we do the meditation every day? Thank you!
Khenpo Sodargye:
Ok, as for all your questions, I will answer them all at once. In all situations of our daily life, we should learn to observe the mind—this is the core of all meditation practice. Either when any conceptual thoughts arise or no thought arises, we need to be aware of the state of our mind. Whatever we do in daily life, observe: What am I thinking? What am I doing? If we practice as such in daily life, certainly we will develop some feeling for the meditation.
As for the time of meditation, you can do it in the morning, at noon or in the evening. It’s better to practice three to six sessions a day. If this cannot be achieved, schedule your time well to guarantee that you can practice continually, which is important. Actually, meditation is not an easy task which can be done for just one or two days. In Tibet, even for only Shamatha meditation, a “3 year, 3 months and 3 day” retreat is required so that practitioners can really obtain some kind of achievement.
