Turning daily life into retreat
Turning daily life into retreat
Of course allocating time to practice is not the same as boundaried retreat; due to constant distraction and concerns. Even so I'm interested in the possibility of accomplishing sadhana in daily life.
How much time (and of course diligence, patience etc.) is needed to pull this off? Would one focus more on practicing until signs, instead of by number or time?
Is it even possible?
How much time (and of course diligence, patience etc.) is needed to pull this off? Would one focus more on practicing until signs, instead of by number or time?
Is it even possible?
The profound path of the master.
-- Virūpa, Vajra Lines
-- Virūpa, Vajra Lines
Re: Turning daily life into retreat
Work nine to five, practice 7-11, rinse repeat.Sennin wrote: ↑Sat Jul 28, 2018 3:33 pm Of course allocating time to practice is not the same as boundaried retreat; due to constant distraction and concerns. Even so I'm interested in the possibility of accomplishing sadhana in daily life.
How much time (and of course diligence, patience etc.) is needed to pull this off? Would one focus more on practicing until signs, instead of by number or time?
Is it even possible?
- conebeckham
- Posts: 5718
- Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 11:49 pm
- Location: Bay Area, CA, USA
Re: Turning daily life into retreat
Or, practice—4-6:30am, work 8-5, practice again 7:30-9....and push re-set button. Weekends, do more practice, and sometimes use PTO or vacation days for strict retreats of 4 or more sessions daily.
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།
"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།
"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
Re: Turning daily life into retreat
Thanks guys. That's very encouraging!
The profound path of the master.
-- Virūpa, Vajra Lines
-- Virūpa, Vajra Lines
Re: Turning daily life into retreat
First I think you really have to make your mind up as to what practice you want to do. The amount of time you can spend depends on your motivation and also circumstances like if you have a family or other engagements you can't avoid. Over the years I done several sadhanas and other practices spending between 1 and 4-5 hours daily depending on the circumstances. My experience is that the signs are not so clear when your not in retreat so for signs you should try to do many short (or long if you can) retreats also.Sennin wrote: ↑Sat Jul 28, 2018 3:33 pm Of course allocating time to practice is not the same as boundaried retreat; due to constant distraction and concerns. Even so I'm interested in the possibility of accomplishing sadhana in daily life.
How much time (and of course diligence, patience etc.) is needed to pull this off? Would one focus more on practicing until signs, instead of by number or time?
Is it even possible?
/magnus
"We are all here to help each other go through this thing, whatever it is."
~Kurt Vonnegut
"The principal practice is Guruyoga. But we need to understand that any secondary practice combined with Guruyoga becomes a principal practice." ChNNR (Teachings on Thun and Ganapuja)
~Kurt Vonnegut
"The principal practice is Guruyoga. But we need to understand that any secondary practice combined with Guruyoga becomes a principal practice." ChNNR (Teachings on Thun and Ganapuja)
Re: Turning daily life into retreat
I just found out that my wife needs to spend some time with her sister, who is recovering from an operation. I'm off summers (teaching) so I have buncha time, and I just started planning out some kind of one-week retreat when I ran into this posting!
I'm not much of an on-the-cushion meditator, so I think what I'm gonna do is work on my awareness mojo.
Anyway, thanks for the serendipitous encouragement! I hope your life-retreat goes well.
I'm not much of an on-the-cushion meditator, so I think what I'm gonna do is work on my awareness mojo.
Anyway, thanks for the serendipitous encouragement! I hope your life-retreat goes well.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily ...
Re: Turning daily life into retreat
I think a well paying job and a housewife who is also a practitioner would be ideal for an aspiring yogi.Sennin wrote: ↑Sat Jul 28, 2018 3:33 pm Of course allocating time to practice is not the same as boundaried retreat; due to constant distraction and concerns. Even so I'm interested in the possibility of accomplishing sadhana in daily life.
How much time (and of course diligence, patience etc.) is needed to pull this off? Would one focus more on practicing until signs, instead of by number or time?
Is it even possible?
To become a rain man one must master the ten virtues and sciences.
Re: Turning daily life into retreat
"A housewife"? I am afraid we don't have those anymore where I live.Motova wrote: ↑Sat Jul 28, 2018 10:51 pmI think a well paying job and a housewife who is also a practitioner would be ideal for an aspiring yogi.Sennin wrote: ↑Sat Jul 28, 2018 3:33 pm Of course allocating time to practice is not the same as boundaried retreat; due to constant distraction and concerns. Even so I'm interested in the possibility of accomplishing sadhana in daily life.
How much time (and of course diligence, patience etc.) is needed to pull this off? Would one focus more on practicing until signs, instead of by number or time?
Is it even possible?
/magnus
"We are all here to help each other go through this thing, whatever it is."
~Kurt Vonnegut
"The principal practice is Guruyoga. But we need to understand that any secondary practice combined with Guruyoga becomes a principal practice." ChNNR (Teachings on Thun and Ganapuja)
~Kurt Vonnegut
"The principal practice is Guruyoga. But we need to understand that any secondary practice combined with Guruyoga becomes a principal practice." ChNNR (Teachings on Thun and Ganapuja)
Re: Turning daily life into retreat
It is even better if one is single, has no living relatives or friends and lives on some sort of savings or income.Motova wrote: ↑Sat Jul 28, 2018 10:51 pmI think a well paying job and a housewife who is also a practitioner would be ideal for an aspiring yogi.Sennin wrote: ↑Sat Jul 28, 2018 3:33 pm Of course allocating time to practice is not the same as boundaried retreat; due to constant distraction and concerns. Even so I'm interested in the possibility of accomplishing sadhana in daily life.
How much time (and of course diligence, patience etc.) is needed to pull this off? Would one focus more on practicing until signs, instead of by number or time?
Is it even possible?
Re: Turning daily life into retreat
heart wrote: ↑Sat Jul 28, 2018 11:02 pm"A housewife"? I am afraid we don't have those anymore where I live.Motova wrote: ↑Sat Jul 28, 2018 10:51 pmI think a well paying job and a housewife who is also a practitioner would be ideal for an aspiring yogi.Sennin wrote: ↑Sat Jul 28, 2018 3:33 pm Of course allocating time to practice is not the same as boundaried retreat; due to constant distraction and concerns. Even so I'm interested in the possibility of accomplishing sadhana in daily life.
How much time (and of course diligence, patience etc.) is needed to pull this off? Would one focus more on practicing until signs, instead of by number or time?
Is it even possible?
/magnus
I am probably wrong, but I feel Vajrayana is better practiced with a spouse who is a practitioner.Aryjna wrote: ↑Sat Jul 28, 2018 11:04 pmIt is even better if one is single, has no living relatives or friends and lives on some sort of savings or income.Motova wrote: ↑Sat Jul 28, 2018 10:51 pmI think a well paying job and a housewife who is also a practitioner would be ideal for an aspiring yogi.Sennin wrote: ↑Sat Jul 28, 2018 3:33 pm Of course allocating time to practice is not the same as boundaried retreat; due to constant distraction and concerns. Even so I'm interested in the possibility of accomplishing sadhana in daily life.
How much time (and of course diligence, patience etc.) is needed to pull this off? Would one focus more on practicing until signs, instead of by number or time?
Is it even possible?
To become a rain man one must master the ten virtues and sciences.
Re: Turning daily life into retreat
Is there any hope for one with a full time job and a family such as myself?conebeckham wrote: ↑Sat Jul 28, 2018 5:54 pm Or, practice—4-6:30am, work 8-5, practice again 7:30-9....and push re-set button. Weekends, do more practice, and sometimes use PTO or vacation days for strict retreats of 4 or more sessions daily.
I guess in this case practicing for a certain length of time daily, even an hour per day with some weekend or other short retreats get's us there eventually I suppose.
- conebeckham
- Posts: 5718
- Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 11:49 pm
- Location: Bay Area, CA, USA
Re: Turning daily life into retreat
I have a full time job and a family with two kids... you can make it work.Terma wrote: ↑Sat Jul 28, 2018 11:37 pmIs there any hope for one with a full time job and a family such as myself?conebeckham wrote: ↑Sat Jul 28, 2018 5:54 pm Or, practice—4-6:30am, work 8-5, practice again 7:30-9....and push re-set button. Weekends, do more practice, and sometimes use PTO or vacation days for strict retreats of 4 or more sessions daily.
I guess in this case practicing for a certain length of time daily, even an hour per day with some weekend or other short retreats get's us there eventually I suppose.
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།
"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།
"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
Re: Turning daily life into retreat
Good to hear. That's the plan!conebeckham wrote: ↑Sun Jul 29, 2018 12:33 amI have a full time job and a family with two kids... you can make it work.Terma wrote: ↑Sat Jul 28, 2018 11:37 pmIs there any hope for one with a full time job and a family such as myself?conebeckham wrote: ↑Sat Jul 28, 2018 5:54 pm Or, practice—4-6:30am, work 8-5, practice again 7:30-9....and push re-set button. Weekends, do more practice, and sometimes use PTO or vacation days for strict retreats of 4 or more sessions daily.
I guess in this case practicing for a certain length of time daily, even an hour per day with some weekend or other short retreats get's us there eventually I suppose.
Re: Turning daily life into retreat
Personally, I perform my daily sadhanas in the bus in the morning and afternoon during school days. During lunch, I fast and recite sutras and whatnot. As it is summer vacation(unfortunately, more "Christian security"), I do my sadhana for around 1.5 hours from anywhere between 10 PM - 12 AM
Re: Turning daily life into retreat
Malcolm la,
what does ´rinse repeat´mean ?
Manju
what does ´rinse repeat´mean ?
Manju
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Re: Turning daily life into retreat
Or, practice—4-6:30am, work 8-5, practice again 7:30-9....and push re-set button. Weekends, do more practice, and sometimes use PTO or vacation days for strict retreats of 4 or more sessions daily.
Encouraging? You'll be looking for SSRI treatment in no time!
"My religion is not deceiving myself."
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE
"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
The Supreme Source - The Kunjed Gyalpo
The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE
"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
The Supreme Source - The Kunjed Gyalpo
The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde
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Re: Turning daily life into retreat
That is very Kagyu!conebeckham wrote: ↑Sat Jul 28, 2018 5:54 pm Or, practice—4-6:30am, work 8-5, practice again 7:30-9....and push re-set button. Weekends, do more practice, and sometimes use PTO or vacation days for strict retreats of 4 or more sessions daily.
Re: Turning daily life into retreat
It's been challenging for me to diligently practice daily. I usually get off work earlier than my wife, so I have at least a couple of hours to myself - time which I should use better. Motivation is a big problem for me. That and the fact that I can be horribly lazy.
- practitioner
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Re: Turning daily life into retreat
In my experience just establishing a daily practice is the first step. Even just 15min. You can worry about longer sessions later. But creating that space in your life is the first step.Ignorant_Fool wrote: ↑Sun Jul 29, 2018 12:56 pm It's been challenging for me to diligently practice daily. I usually get off work earlier than my wife, so I have at least a couple of hours to myself - time which I should use better. Motivation is a big problem for me. That and the fact that I can be horribly lazy.
One should do nothing other than benefit sentient beings either directly or indirectly - Shantideva