Now I am going to ask a question to myself.
Maybe you feel that this is familiar, also.
The question is...
"I really like to meditate, but I'm too lazy.
"I haven't started my daily practice yet.
"What should I do?"
OK.
That is the question.
The answer is...
You just jump three times...
And that's it! No I'm just joking!
The answer is...
Don't worry! It's OK!
Don't fight the laziness.
Accept the laziness.
And...
You can try to play with your laziness.
How?
Because,
I think one of the problems for practitioners -
for those who like to meditate, or practice compassion,
or whatever kind of practitioner -
one of the big problems is doing too much the first time.
"Wow!
"I received this wonderful teaching today!
"I'm going to practice from today onwards,
"or from tomorrow!"
And then you go back to your home.
"Huh! Meditate, huh!"
"Oh. Concentration!"
In this way, you cannot meditate.
You feel dull and uncomfortable.
Or you push too much, so your monkey mind goes wild!
So much thinking!
You don't know how to meditate, or what meditation is,
so you might wonder,
"What is the sign of meditation?"
"How can I tell if I am in meditation or not?"
These are the problems, because your mind is too tight.
Then a few hours later, or a few days later,
you lose your interest in meditation.
You might think, "Hey, forget about meditation!
"It sounds nice, but it's difficult to practice,"
and then you just give up.
"Ahh..."
You know.
You become too loose.
So, you're too tight at first,
and then that becomes the cause for being too loose.
And, in between those, you have no balance.
Balance is important.
Don't try to push yourself too much the first time.
The first time you try to practice meditation,
or loving-kindness and compassion, or any type of practice,
just little bit.
Short time, many times.
Pick a time that you can manage.
Every day you might do sitting meditation for 15 minutes,
or something like that.
And it's also very important to apply your meditation,
or your practice, in your daily life.
Try to join your spiritual life, and your daily life together.
That's the best!
Otherwise it's like, "OK, I'm going to meditate.
"Close the door, and the windows.
"Be quiet! Shh! Shh!
"Hey, there's noise! That's not good.
"There are some people working here," you know.
"My neighbours are making noise."
In this way,
you cannot meditate.
But even if you can meditate while sitting on your cushion,
when you're off the cushion your meditation is gone.
It's almost like you are a different person.
A different person, you know.
So you should try to join meditation with your daily life.
How to do that?
Also by practicing "short time, many times."
So,
for example, in the morning when you wake up,
try to develop a good motivation,
"OK, today is the beginning of a new day
and I'm going to apply practice,
meditation, loving-kindness & compassion,"
and the Mahayana practice, Hinayana practice,
or the Vajrayana practice.
Or, if you have no religion, just applying meditation is also OK.
"I'm going to practice all these things,
"but for what?
"Not only for myself, but also for others,
"For the benefit of other sentient beings."
In this way, try to develop a good motivation in the morning.
Then after that, if you like, you can sit for 15 minutes or whatever,
It depends on how you can fit it into your schedule.
After that,
try to practice meditation for a short time, many times,
anywhere, anytime.
You can meditate while you're eating breakfast,
watching television,
taking a shower, or going to the office.
Short time, many times.
Don't try to look for a special place.
"Oh, I'm going to meditate. Where's the chair?
"Where's the cushion? Oh, should I sit here?
"Oh, no!" Don't worry!
Whenever you remember your practice
and your meditation, just do it!
But it might only last for a few seconds.
No problem!
For example,
if you're on the train or the subway,
you can meditate!
While you stand up, or sit down.
For example,
there's a shamatha meditation that is without an object:
You just rest your mind as it is. Or be aware of your breath.
Or you can be aware of the movement of your body also.
Or just know what you're doing. Just be present
with the situation that you're in right now.
"Oh, I'm walking." "I'm talking."
"I'm drinking tea." "OK, I'm going to the office."
Just know what you're feeling and what you're doing.
That is meditation, also!
And then if you cannot… How to say?
If you cannot be aware of these things,
then you can have some sort of support,
as a reminder for your meditation.
You can make a special star that you can put in your office.
On your computer.
Or in your home, in the dining room, or in the bedroom.
And whenever you see the star, try to remember your practice.
Or one special practice that has been good for me is counting,
counting your practice.
Maybe you can make some goal. Let's say,
"I want to remember my meditation 30 times per day."
And you try to remember while you're working.
"OK, meditation - one."
You can even count with your fingers.
While you're drinking tea, meditate. Two.
"Hello! Good morning!" Meditate. Three.
You know?
It doesn't take too much time.
And it will fit into your schedule.
You know with parties, meetings, driving your car,
and being in the office, or whatever, it will fit.
And especially if you are making a very special plan.
If you're an engineer, work with architecture,
or whatever.
Then you have to think a lot, you know.
That's why, at first, let's think.
And then at the end of the thinking, meditate.
Rest your mind into whatever meditation.
Think, and meditate.
This is good for your plan, your project, or whatever.
Your brain can rest,
and this way you will be allowed to think more,
and you can have more nice ideas, you know.
And that's also good for meditation.
Your meditation becomes fresh.
"Short time, many times" is always good.
Because if you meditate for a short time,
it can remain fresh.
If you meditate for a long time, it becomes dull, unclear,
or agitated, or your mind becomes wild.
But if you meditate for a short time, there's no time for dullness,
no time for being bored,
and no time for your mind to become too wild.
That's why short times are good!
But "many times" will develop your meditation.
Like water or liquid falling into a big container.
One, two, three.
In the end, the big container will be full of water.
Just from one or two drops of water at a time, you know,
so it's the same as that. Just practice again, and again.
Then your daily life becomes part of your practice.
And as you get more familiar with meditation,
you can use your daily problems as support for meditation.
You can make friends with the panic.
It's pretty difficult, but it can be done.
Problems, emotions, everything becomes support for your meditation.
For shamatha meditation. It can be a support
for loving-kindness and compassion. It can be a support for vipashyana.
I think you can learn this later. I'm just telling you the idea,
but I'm not going to tell you now about all these things.
You can find out. I think you will.
Thank you!