Prior to a seven-day Chan meditation retreat, participants are encouraged to set a schedule and meditate every day. If we can set aside one or two periods of time in a day to calm and settle our mind, we will achieve better results at a seven-day retreat. If one is determined to participate in two seven-day retreats a year, one must rely on daily meditation to enhance its effects. To achieve good results during the daily meditation, we will need to practice during everyday activities when not meditating. When exactly? Any time! When we are walking, eating, talking, working, or driving. We can try using the method during all of these times.
One may start with simple activities such as walking. When we walk, we tend to think about where to go. When we are walking, we think about going there and what to do after we arrive, the first thing, the second, the third… etc. We always think about the next step when doing something. Our mind is constantly planning the next step, and thus we cannot fully concentrate on what we are doing at the moment.
Take walking meditation during a seven-day retreat as an example. Walking meditation is to continue walking around the meditation hall until the leading supervisor says to stop. It is very different from our daily walking in that it does not have a destination and we have no idea how long we will continue walking, which means we have eliminated the wandering thoughts in relation to the next step of walking. We are only left with one thing to do – that is, to walk. At this point, we are able to concentrate on walking and are clear about the sensation of walking.
You may start practicing through walking or moving around first. For example, I set the goal to walk from the living room to the car. During this short journey, I can experience walking as I walk. I may need to open the door and lock the door etc., but I can try to do this more slowly and carefully to be fully aware of the feeling of opening and locking the door, the sensation of walking and sitting on the seat. These series of actions can become an opportunity for you to practice meditation.
We all know that we can use the method whenever and wherever in our daily lives, but this is just theory. But how can we turn theory into practice? We can start our practice in one aspect first. Take walking as an example. We can relax our whole body and concentrate on walking. When we feel that we are able to concentrate on walking while being very relaxed every time, we can gradually include more activities. For example, when I am brushing my teeth, am I focused on brushing my teeth? When I am having a meal, am I focused on eating? Start practicing with a simple goal or two and when you are more skillful in practicing, you may gradually add more activities until every single activity in our life becomes an opportunity for meditation. That way, we are able to calm our normally scattered and restless mind.
If we practice in this manner every day, the one or two daily sitting sessions will be very useful. When we’re able to meditate effectively like this on a daily basis, we may benefit more from the one or two seven-day retreats that we attend during the year.
