Hello everyone, I’ve been wanting to meditate and train my mind for a long time, but I haven’t been able to commit to that because I’m still a student so I have to study and work on projects.
I wish I could fully dedicate all my time to practicing the Dhamma, but I can’t do that right now, so I feel sad. It’s also hard to put my heart and soul into my studies because I like listening to the Dhamma a lot and I sometimes get distracted by it and not do what I’m supposed to do. What I truly want to do is to practice the Dhamma and strive to achieve success in meditation.
I’ve been wanting to just practice the Dhamma since I was in high school. Now I’m in college and I’m still waiting for the day when I can just focus on meditating and practicing the Dhamma.
If you’re new to meditation, start small. Try 5 or 10 minutes and see how it goes. As your mind gets used to it, you can make the sessions longer. You can totally fit this into your busy life. A little bit of meditation is better than none at all. And if you’re already meditating, keep up the good work! Your practice will deepen over time.
The day will come. I can’t begin to tell you how liberating it was to not have to read theory anymore (I was a Social Sciences major). And focus more on studying Dhamma.
What helped me is dedicating some short time to reading and contemplation. Sometimes just weekly dhamma discussions work fine. Short times preferably in the early morning for sitting maybe 20 minutes helped as well.
And remember that it’s gradual anyway. Whether you’re in school or not it takes time to get established and sink in. So do what you can and patience about it being developed in the mean time might come in handy later.
Anguttara nikaya 11.12
2. Recollection
With Mahānāma
. Mahānāma, you should develop this recollection of the Buddha while walking, standing, sitting, and lying down. You should develop it while engaged in work and while living at home in a house full of children
This is my favorite meditation technique. I think it’s better for me to just devote my time to the Recollection of the Buddha instead of other meditation techniques. I can still try to practice the four foundation of mindfulness in my daily life, but Recollection of the Buddha can be my main meditation object.
This meditation can be practiced even in environments that are not quiet and even while we are engaged in other activities like work, so it’s the best meditation technique for me.
Other recollections like of Dhamma and Sangha are closely related.
And it doesn’t need to be methodical ( which can morph into ‘tedious’ ).
When we are considering aspects of the Dhamma that can be also Dhammānussati (Dhammanusati) as there is appreciation of the Dhamma.
Like today I was listening to a translation of a sutta about dependent origination ( Paticcasamuppada, Paṭiccasamuppāda) with the Commentary while watching my children swimming. At different times I was in admiration of the Dhamma, of the Buddha who discovered it, and the Sangha who preserved it.