Introduction
This post explores the challenge of finding time to practice for the Buddhist householder. The origin of this post comes from Exploring the Householder Path in Buddhism where I introduced some of the challenges and advantages of studying and practicing Buddhism as a householder. If you haven’t read that post I would suggest doing so before proceeding.
Challenge
As a householder you are almost certainly to have many competing priorities for your time. These challenges might include a career, family, spouse or significant other, hobbies, home maintenance, and a litany of other things vying for your time. Contrast this to the monastic that has chosen to devote the vast majority of their time to their Buddhist practice with few obligations outside of their practice, but possibly some work related to maintaining the monastery where they live.
The Buddhist householder by nature has limited time to devote to their practice and is often confronted with a society where a lot of incredibly shitty behavior is the norm. As a householder living in a Western society you are bombarded with messaging that includes advertising that encourages greed, self interest, materialism, violence, and other forms of depravity. Where our counterpart the monastic lives a more isolated less material existence. Who has more time to practice? Who has less external influences that compete with achieving the goals for their practice?
As a householder it is much more likely that you will have lapses in your practice. These are times when all the other things you need to do leave you overwhelmed and your practice suffers. This happens to me and I feel that a lapse of even a couple of days begins to affect my behavior. I start becoming less tolerant of others, more judgmental, and instead of being happy I find I start complaining about everything.
Solution
If you want to call yourself a Buddhist you must prioritize your practice. You will make little progress if you meditate once a week and infrequently study the Dharma. In my own experience you need to devote at least 30 to 60 minutes a day to meditate and study the dharma. As a householder there will be times when that is not possible so you must grant yourself the freedom to deviate from the plan from time to time. However, with that said, long lapses in your practice will have negative effects as I mentioned above. I won’t sugar coat it, as like any good habit discipline is paramount to success as a Buddhist. Like every other worthwhile thing in life from exercise, to diet, painting, writing, relationships, and playing music consistency with your Buddhist practice is required.
Also remember you don’t leave your Buddhist practice on the mediation cushion. The whole point is that your behavior begins to reflect your practice and in fact is part of your practice. When you cannot just endure, but be somewhat unfazed by the daily challenges of life, you find that your practice is working. You will find that you are more present, less disturbed by all the bullshit, and you are just happier.
Conclusion
While the Buddhist householder is challenged to find time for their practice, the challenge can be overcome with discipline and the integration of your practice into your daily activities. Can you put a price on happiness?
The opportunity to become or maybe unveil the Buddha nature that exists deep within you is your reward. The widely held belief in Buddhism is that we all have Buddha nature at the core of our being. Often it is obscured or covered up with layers of past conditioning, but it exists. Your practice will help you uncover it. Ultimately you will either make the investment that your Buddhist practice requires or continue on with your life the way it is.
I would be interested in the challenges you have finding time for your practice. Leave a comment and we can have a dialog about your thoughts.
Namaste
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