Hello, I would like to share with you more details about conduct.
This is very, very important. Especially, what I've seen is
that many people come to the spiritual path
or they want to learn meditation,
and one of the missing parts is the conduct.
So, on the cushion, it's OK. You understand.
Intellectually, you understand.
But then when it comes to facing the problems in daily life,
you completely forget.
And then some people have a strong attachment about practice,
about meditation, and then they see everything as black and white.
"This is not good. This is not good.
"I'm the most pure, genuine," something like that.
So how to overcome this?
Most important is that you have to apply meditation in daily life.
So what is the obstacle to apply meditation in daily life?
Being lazy. Laziness is one of the biggest obstacles for us.
Maybe you know how to apply it
and you have the instruction, you understand.
You might have the taste of the meditation, everything,
but sometimes you're lazy.
And laziness transforms into many things.
You may use excuses. You may not have much time.
"I will do it later, tomorrow. First I will watch
"this wonderful movie now or have coffee with my friends."
And then later tomorrow?
So then it becomes later, and later and later.
And then, when the time comes tomorrow, "Oh, next week!"
And next week becomes next month. Next month becomes next year.
Then maybe next year becomes next life.
So, now how to face this laziness?
It's not easy.
If you really want to make effort, the concentration...
If you don't have much concentration
then your normal capability is very limited. Difficult.
Just when you think in your mind, "Oh, if I have time..."
If you are busy, you might think, "If I have time, I will do that,
"I will do that. I can! Why not? That's easy!
"Now the only thing is, I don't have time."
But if you have a lot of time, you cannot.
Maybe you will do only one hour, and after that...
Even if you have time, even if you are free, you cannot do it.
So there is some kind of limitation in our mind,
in our behavior. It's some kind of habit.
So how to build this effort in your everyday life?
So now the bad news is:
you don't have so much capability to have focus or diligence, right?
But there's one good news.
The good news is you have to know a trick.
The trick is what we call "daily practice."
In Tibetan Buddhism, we have many, many daily practices.
Daily practice is very important.
If your meditation becomes part of your daily routine,
your daily ritual, then it's very easy.
Like every day, when you wake up, you brush your teeth,
so it becomes part of your daily routine.
Or to take a shower. Some people want to take shower in the morning.
Some take a shower in the evening.
Some want to take a shower two times per day.
It becomes part of our daily routine.
You don't have to think too much about that particular event.
You don't need to put in too much effort.
It comes effortlessly.
So this becomes a habit, a good habit.
So how to build this daily routine?
It will take twenty to thirty days to build this daily routine.
So, first, you try.
As I mentioned in the last monthly teachings about conduct,
there are three ways of abandoning negativities
and then accumulating virtue.
So this is accumulating virtue. So how to accumulate virtue?
Maybe I will meditate every day for 15 minutes.
I just said 15 minutes, but it is up to you.
Normally, your normal willingness to meditate,
the time for willingness to meditate, let's see. Just measure!
If you have only five minutes when you are willing and you can,
then maybe think about seven minutes per day.
Push a little bit more than your normal capacity.
Do this every day for seven minutes.
Seven minutes of meditations for twenty to thirty days.
After that, it will become automatic.
It will become part of your daily routine, very easily.
But if you can meditate every day for one hour, then you think,
one hour and twenty minutes or one hour and a half. Something like that.
So, something that you can do,
something that is meaningful and comprehensive for you.
Then you should make a promise. And once you promise that,
then do it, whether you like it or don't like it!
Do it for twenty or thirty days,
then you will build up this habit into your daily life.
This is about meditation, so meditate every day half an hour.
Likewise, if you're having some problem in your daily life.
Maybe you're always arguing.
Maybe you have the habit of arguing every day.
If there's a small thing, you argue. It comes unconsciously, automatically.
Before your mind, your words and actions come, and then later...
So, choose a particular event or a particular person
whom you are arguing with every day.
"When I argue with that person, for this particular reason,
"I'm going to apply this meditation."
Be specific. It's very important.
Choose one, and then build up the habit to apply
and deal with the meditation with that particular problem.
In this way, it will be really good for you,
and you will have a strong will,
and strong power to apply meditation in everyday life.
I mentioned at the beginning of this talk
that the big missing part for some of us long-time meditators
is the conduct, right? We are not careful about the conduct.
Sometimes when we have problems,
the problem is in the east direction
and you apply meditation in the west direction.
So meditation is not applied with the problem in your life.
So, the most important point is that we have to apply it,
but we cannot because we're lazy.
The important point here is how to overcome being lazy.
Overcoming laziness is not so easy so we need to build the habit.
Once you build this habit, use this kind of habit to apply in conduct.
There are three kinds of conduct, right?
If you want to abandon something — your bad habit of arguing, smoking,
fighting, or anything you have,
apply view and meditation with that one.
Also, you have to apply it again and again and again.
And secondly, if you want to develop or accumulate something,
something that you want to improve,
something for which you want to make a new vow,
you have to make it every day also.
Choose a specific event and do it every day again, continuously.
And last, helping others. To share your experience.
To influence your friends and family with a good intention.
Not like, "I'm a teacher and I'm going to teach you.
"You know nothing. I know everything." Again, that becomes a problem.
So many people, when they meditate, after some time they have regrets:
"Oh, I know the essence of meditation, the essence of dharma,
"and you don't know anything.
"So I will become like a high, enlightened teacher for you."
Don't do it that way.
So, really from a pure intention you want to help.
But, of course, sometimes you can help and sometimes you cannot help.
That's normal, so don't be too attached to the result.
Thank you.