Welcome back everybody to the Denver So Chimp podcast.
I'm here once again with Joseph Wagner and today we're going to
talk about setting up a daily practice.
This is so crucial. The foundation to everything in
a Dharma life is having a daily practice.
But I know for myself and almost everybody who gets started on
this, it can be hard, right, that the going against the
grain, as we talked about in the previous episode, is always hard
setting up a new habit. But the thing that's really come
clear to me that's really helped is to remember that's not a
discipline, it's a relationship, right?
We're developing a relationship to something new.
And so if you want to develop a relationship with a person or
with the Dharma and the lineage, you have to spend time together.
So I think that's really what this is about.
And Joe, you've got a really excellent daily practice and
have for many, many years. So maybe you could tell us about
how you developed it, what it looks like, and how our
listeners can really have something like that.
Yeah, happy to and welcome to everyone.
Happy to be back here. This is fun.
I think the first thing, I mean, I did it because I, when I got
into meditation, it was just felt, it felt like this is what
I need to be doing. So I've been sitting every day
since 1988. You know, this, it was easy for
me to get going. I was in college and I was like,
I don't know, trying to be interesting to myself or
whatever. But when I talk about this now,
I have a different way of looking at it.
It's slightly different. And that might be helpful to our
listeners. The way I look at it is we only
have today. I've been waking up for 50-6
years and I have yet to be able to have it be tomorrow.
When I wake up, it's always today.
And as a result of that, it's very important to recognize, you
know, it's like this screen right here, my hands up here
above where you can see when I get distracted there.
When you wake up in the morning, you come out of nowhere, right?
Where were you 2 seconds before you woke up?
No body, no thoughts, no nothing.
You just pop in and if you're paying close attention, close
attention, then you notice that right at the beginning of waking
up, you don't even know who you are.
You have absolutely no thoughts. You're just like.
And then here it is like little bits of snow falling on you.
Oh, yeah, I've got to do that today.
And then all of a sudden you're like, oh, yeah, work.
Oh my gosh, I got to do this. And the, you know, there's that
doctor's appointment and then all of a sudden your life is
back. But there's a you realize, you
come out of nowhere and then here comes your karma.
And then you're like, oh, yeah. And when you fall asleep at
night, you go, where do you go? You go no place.
So we really only have today, thinking about this has made a
lot of stuff possible for me because I probably can't, you
know, go to the gym every day for the rest of my life.
That sounds like an incredible thing I have to do.
Or in my case, Damian and I talked in a previous episode
about being vegan. Hard to think you'll never eat
another croissant. You'll never have another pizza.
Oh my God, you know what I mean? Like, that's, that's a lot.
But today I'm OK with not having a croissant.
And then those days stack up and it becomes a habit.
Till Gordon always said practice is a habit, just like
distraction is a habit. So we're changing it.
And in the beginning you have to be super conscious.
So you have this little, there's a period when you first wake up
for about at least 5 minutes for most people, unless if you don't
have 5 minutes when you wake up, then you got to change your
life, right? That's called turn the clock 15
minute earlier alarm and you're good, right?
To make up daily practice. You don't need 2 hours, right?
You really need like if you have 5 minutes, you can definitely do
it and it will build on itself. You know, you don't want to make
it. I got to meditate an hour or
it's not worth doing. That's a crazy attitude.
If you sit down and you do the three parts, which we'll talk
about as part of the daily practice in a second, then you
did it. The main thing is to recognize
when you first wake up you can do anything.
The road is wide. You can do anything with today
and, and the first thing you got to do is immediately meditate
because otherwise, you know, you'll get caught up, right?
The phone and the stuff and the worry and the plan and the kids
and the stuff. So the first thing to do is
recognize you do have agency. It doesn't last very long, but
you've got 5 or 10 minutes of agency there.
And if you direct it to your cushion, you're going to
meditate that day. And then at the end of the day,
you're like, well, what did I do today?
You know, I freaking meditated. I'm a meditator because you're a
meditator. If you meditated today, even if
you practice 30 years in a row, if today you didn't practice,
are you a practitioner? I don't know.
So I think that's the way I first look at it.
Yeah, and I've developed this rule for myself as I've gotten
into adulthood. You know, like as a kid it was
super hard for me to have any discipline about any teenager,
even early 20s. But eventually I just learned do
all the hard shit first. Just get it all done first, then
one you can relax, then I'm free, which actually you get
kind of addicted to this feeling of like, okay, I've done all the
things and now I can like chill and I and I can enjoy my day And
you enjoy your day more when you know you've done all those
things and they're not haunting you, right?
Like those things haunt you, the, the days you don't do the
things that are important to you, you know, you've on some
level, you've wasted some time that you have in this precious
human birth. And it's just like Joe said,
when you do something first thing.
So I think as a Dharma practitioner, this is a non
negotiable, it's got to be first thing.
It it really does because it sets the tone for absolutely
everything else you're going to do with your your day.
And this is a also, like Joe said, start small And, and then
I was saying in the beginning, develop a relationship.
This has become something that you fall in love with and want
to spend more and more time. And there's a, of course, a
little bit of like pushing yourself, right?
Like you can challenge yourself to go a little bit longer, to
spend a little more time. And that's really helpful.
But if you make it into something you hate, you'll fail.
But it's a guarantee. That means you've had a bad
relationship with the Dharma, right?
That that that's the worst thing you could do.
You want to set yourself up to have a good relationship to the
Dharma. Yeah, exactly right.
You want set it up for success. That's why shorter periods are
better. You know, I'm when I teach at a
yoga studio on Wednesday nights and it's just a, you know, some
practitioners, but a lot of people who don't know anything
about meditation or they do some yoga, they want to have a
practice. I always say you need one minute
and it has three parts, the three excellences.
Is it OK if we talk about that? Now, if you have these things,
then the relationship that you have is, first of all, it's
intact and solid. And secondly, it will naturally
grow. And those things are so easy if
you are a Buddhist practitioner, the frame it in both ways
because some of our listeners, they, you know, they're
interested, but they're not necessarily Buddhists.
And that's okay. It doesn't matter.
They're just two different ways. The first thing is you got to
get on that cushion and it, and it doesn't matter if your
cushion is your bed. I I certainly think for
repeatability, it's good to buy as to invest in yourself and you
need to invest in Azabaton, which is the big flat cushion
that and then Azahfu, some kind of like cushion to sit on, you
know, keep your hips high. Almost all of us need that.
Even if you've been sitting a long time, you need to have
slightly elevated hips to have your back straight.
Everybody knows this. But if by having that, by
investing this and that can be like 150 bucks, not nothing.
You maybe can buy a used, but whatever.
By putting money in it, you're like, I'm going to get my
money's worth. I'm going to do this, you know,
And then you put that in a place that it doesn't have to move
around, Sit in the same place every day.
Then you start to see that same view, whether it's a window or a
wall, it doesn't matter. Remember Bodhi Dharma faced The
Cave for nine years, Cave wall, nothing interesting there.
So you don't think, oh, I can't do this 'cause I don't have a
beautiful view and don't doesn't matter at all.
You can sit in the dark, it doesn't make any difference.
You just have to be in the same place every day. 1st is to get
to your cushion. Secondly is to is to give rise
to the thought. I am so lucky.
I want to be here. I'm so lucky.
I'm just so lucky, right? You could be under arrest, you
could be in jail, you could be sick.
All these things are not happening and you are choosing
to do this? Amazing.
That's the first thing, 'cause we then you sort of feel like
you're doing something really noble.
Wow, this is great. And you're more likely to repeat
it. That gets addictive.
We want, we have to use addiction on, you know, to
benefit us in this case. And the second thing, this is if
you're not a Buddhist practitioner, you just have to
think, I'm going to do this for the good of everyone.
I'm going to experience peace for everybody, which is what
meditation's about, right? That's called the first
excellence or the, OR the right orientation.
And if, if you are a Buddhist practitioner, then those first
two things are the same. You sit down and feel grateful.
You still have to get to your cushion and you still have to
give rise to great joy or gratitude.
And then you, you take refuge, you give rise to bodhichitta,
the standard things. And if you know the bodhichitta
aspect for non practitioners is I'm doing this for everybody.
I'm going to abandon my interest in this ridiculous life and I'm
going to be at peace for all beings.
Wow, That's incredibly noble, right?
Incredibly powerful. Makes you sit up a little
straighter and it makes your day worth it no matter what happens
the rest of the day. Maybe you're heading into the
worst day of your life, but you meditated, so it wasn't all bad.
And that's all we can really do, right.
And then we'll, you know, that's the that's how you get there.
That's the beginning, The first excellence.
Go ahead. Yeah.
And for me, having an altar has
always been an important part of my practice.
So if you're a Vajrayana practitioner, making some
offerings, lighting a candle, offering some incense grounds
your sacred world in your physical experience.
So I found that to be a very helpful.
Humans are very ritualistic. Most of us, you know, some
people don't like that and that's fine.
But for Vajri honest, we're into all of that stuff, right?
So we use, we anchor our experience in this sacred
reality, right? Like normally we're anchoring
ourselves, just like you said, towards samsara, kids, job,
work, family, all the things I have to do today, we're taking
refuge in that world. That's called taking refuge in
samsara. So we want to instead shift and
say, no, we're going to take refuge in the enlightened mind.
And then we have all of these statues and tonkas and beautiful
things that you feel a connection to that are a way of
representing this different point of view.
And it's a little bit like feeding your kids or your
family, right? Like you're by offering incense
and a candle, you're you're making a relationship, you're
building a relationship, you know, like Trump or Boucher
called merit really relational energy, right?
So, and I think that's a good way to look at it.
Not an accumulation, not a self worth discipline code, not that
it's you're investing in a relationship and by making
offerings. How do you become close to
somebody? Giving gifts is a huge part of
that, right? Like if you meet somebody and
you give them something, you instantly have a connection or
they give you something or they give you some time or this they
help you with something difficult.
Nothing bonds people faster than that kind of thing.
So making offerings in the morning, I think is such an
important and helpful way to make sure that you're
cultivating your relationship to the Dharma for the day, making
it your priority. My my priority relationship.
And that's part of what you talked about this first
Excellency. These are skillful means for
doing that. So you can do it just in the
simplest of way, like Joe explained, just sit on your
cushion and get in touch with that.
Or you can elaborate and do all of these things on an extra
level that can be very helpful. Yeah, exactly.
I mean, I'm thinking about people who don't and are trying
to get started, but you're absolutely right.
Once you have a place to sit, you need to synchronize that
area. Even if that all that is, is a
photograph of somebody you respect.
Gandhi or freaking the Dalai Lama, whatever, you know, the
Buddha, a little statue can buy those statues everywhere.
Now you know, you can buy them online, Etsy, whatever, you
know, can buy them from our side.
Oh, wait, wait, what? Maybe you're, if you're in
Vajrayam, then Tonka's like Damien has like this one can be
very helpful. And it, it's sort of it allows
you to part from ordinary life. Right in the morning you get up
and maybe I'm not saying you shouldn't make a cup of coffee
or tea or whatever. That's perfectly fine.
You got to do whatever you have to do to get motivated.
This is not about self sacrifice as much as motivation.
So let's say you did that. You went, you're sitting on your
cushion. Before you sit on your cushion,
if you have a picture or a table that you have set up as your
shrine, and there's a way to do that, maybe we'll have a podcast
about that. But even the simplest way, which
is just a table with a candle on it or a picture of whatever your
refuge is, you know, your teacher or whatever, just a
little statue of the Buddha, whatever.
When you come up to that, you got a bow, right?
You got to show this is my orientation.
I am aiming at this. I'm not going to take refuge.
And so I'm sorry like I ordinarily do.
Nor am I going to do my practice just so I can be more peaceful,
so my boss doesn't hate me as much.
Not like that. But down a new road, you have a
new road. And so the way I, what I do is I
make, I make 4 prostrations, but usually it's 3 prostrations,
right? But you make prostrations to
your shrine. This is not idolatry.
This is a prostration to what is most essential in you.
This is a prostration in it's a reflexive prostration to that
aspect of you that you're trying to bring out.
You know, the, the, the awareness aspects of us already
exists. It's just covered over by so
many thoughts and emotions, so much karma and plans and so much
selfishness. Involuntary, not on purpose.
You're not at fault, but it is now your responsibility.
As soon as you get up and you walk in to your shrine room or
your area or whatever. Maybe you live in a studio.
It's that corner. OK then you make 3 prostrations
or even just bow from the waist showing respect.
I I know exactly when this took hold in my life.
I was in maybe fifth grade and I wanted to study martial arts and
my dad had studied judo when he was in college.
I didn't know anything about anything.
And he said there's a judo club downtown at the YMCA.
We went down there and I remember from the very first
day, we all turned and faced the picture of Jagoro Kanu, the
founder of judo. And we all bowed.
And then the teacher turned around and and we all bowed to
him, the sensei. And I thought that was, I was
like, I'm really doing it. I was in fifth grade.
I was like, that was totally new, right?
Of course, I was genuflecting and, and Catholic in the
Catholic Church, but it wasn't, I didn't understand it.
And from that moment forth, I had this.
And it's like you were saying, like I am, I am taking a new
path. I am moving in a new direction.
This is the thing. And then the rest of your life,
the rest of your day, which is just the rest of your life is,
is influenced by that. You're like, well, I'm a
practitioner, right? You don't have to do anything to
do it more than that. If you just sit down 30 seconds,
you're still a practitioner. And you did it.
And you, you feel the wind at your back a little bit.
At least I could. And and such a good container
for your day is just setting up your altar in the morning and
taking it down in the evening. Just the having to do that it it
it doesn't take very long, but having that ritual really helps
you set up your day with this bookends of like and I the way I
look at my altar is kind of like a blessings generator, right?
It's got all these important sacred things for it.
And when you make offerings to it and prostate to it, you turn
it on, right, You like turn on this generator and it starts
like feeding you through the day, even when you're not paying
attention to it anymore. It's feeding your life, your
house, the people who who around you, these blessings are pouring
out of it because it's activated by our devotion and by our
commitment to the path. And so even if you did nothing
else, if you just set up the altar in the morning and bowed
and then went through your day and then closed your altar at
the end of the day and bowed, that I guarantee would begin to
shift your relationship to everything else in your life.
Since people don't know necessarily what you mean, what
do you mean? Does it mean you have to take
the table down and stuff? No.
What? What do you mean by setting up
and closing down? OK.
So yeah, like traditionally in Tibetan Buddhism, we offer
offering bowls with have water, flowers, incense, light perfume,
food and music symbols for all those things.
You don't have to do all those things, but you could light a
candle and you could kind of one way, a couple ways to go about
this. Make sure there's a candle going
all day long and then at the end of the day you put the candle
out, that sort of thing. Or you just make an offering in
the morning and then you make an offering in the evening.
That could be another way of doing it.
When you have the big elaborate Tibetan style, then you lay out
all the offerings like the incense and all these things,
and then you put them all away at the end of the night and
close the altar. And then when you go on retreat,
you keep your altar open and you just change things out.
So this is a way of it's starting to connect your
psychology to this sacred world and you can see how it
immediately anchors your physical life in this sacred
reality. So there's a lot of ways to do
it. And as you said, we should do
one on having a stride, right? But if you just want to do
something, you could just put a cookie on there in front of the
Buddha and light a candle and light some incense.
That would be perfectly lovely and you could do.
Then at the end of the evening, you could eat the cookie as a
blessing and kind of vow again before you go to bed.
So any from the most elaborate to the most simple, just
bookending your day by your relationship to this altar can
really help you sacralize, sacralize your life.
Yeah, and just so we people leave this particular pod with
knowing like something they can do, you can use real candles and
that's beautiful, but I wouldn't leave burning all day just in
case. So I personally for years have
been using electric candles. They look really good.
And I practiced very early. So it's like nicely flickering.
It's good. You can buy those in Amazon.
So you just come in and you could turn them on.
You could leave them on all day, or you could turn it off the end
of your session and do it again at night if you want.
If you're interested in the offering bowls, there's usually
7. Sometimes they have individual
offerings, sometimes they just use water.
You can use three bowls, 7 bowls, one bowl.
And each morning you would just put the bowl there and you would
fill it up with fresh water and offer that to all the masters.
May they have enough to drink. May this symbolize my offering.
And at the end of the day, you pour that in a little bowl and
you offered in a plant. Don't pour it down the toilet or
sink. You just, you pour it in a plant
or throw it outside and you turn the offering over and the next
point you start again. And then you, your book ending
your day, as you said, with, with this sacralizing energy.
And, and as you said, it is like a battery or like a machine.
Your shrine is like a machine, like a kind of like a wheel.
You're starting it in the morning.
You have to try hard. You got to get up early and you
got to sit still and you're turning in it, but it turns for
quite a while after that. And then sometime after, if you
practice regularly, you'll go to crank it up and you'll realize
it's still turning. The energy is going.
I went and visited Damien. He had me stay at his house when
I was out in Seattle now that long ago over the summer.
And I could feel the freaking like a heat coming off that
thing. He's got a, he's got a big fancy
shrine. I felt great, you know, and I'm
sure it must permeate your, your condo building.
You must, you know what I mean? People, whether they know you or
don't know you, there's a certain kind of energy that
comes off of doing that stuff and you can feel it too.
Can offer incense. If you don't like incense, it's
OK. You don't have to.
You can make elaborate offerings, as you said, are very
simple. One bowl of water, 7 bowls of
water, no wools of water, one stick of incense, a dozen 10
candles, 1 candle. But that even just one
prostration or one bow is enough.
Be like I am setting out in a new path, not completely at the
mercy of my circumstances or my emotions.
A new path toward the good of all beings.
That's the basic thing, right? So that's all the preliminary,
the first excellence. Yeah.
And one more note on the shrine before we have a whole episode
on that, is you can put on there what you want to plant seeds on,
right? So it's like a garden or a
machine, like you said. And so the different statues
they represent or Tonkas or whatever, they represent
different qualities of Buddhahood that you are working
to foster in yourself. So you get to have choice about
that. Like you really dig Tara and
you're like, I wanna be like Tara.
So putting Tara on your altar and the making offerings to her
every day starts to build that relationship and you start to
become more like Tara every day. And Tara starts to bless you and
your environment every day. So that's some of the fun of
this that you really get to choose and you get to design.
And if your teacher gives you something special, then that's
an important thing to go on the altar because that has extra
blessings that connects you not only to whatever they gave you,
but also to them as your teacher.
So this is how you can really look at all of this and really
see it as something that's really supportive, not not some
another task that you have to do it.
It's something that you feel inspired by.
Yeah, absolutely. And you can put any whatever on
your altar, that or your shrine table that makes you happy.
Statues, talk us, photographs, whatever.
You keep it a little clean. It's like a little corner of
excellence in your life. No matter how chaotic the rest
of your life is, you're like, I still have this, my little merit
generating machine. So that's that's definitely the
right thing. But to get back on the track of
like your daily practice, you can do it at one minute, you can
do it in one hour, whatever you got the first excellence, which
for non Buddhists or like people who aren't haven't taken refuge
or aren't comfortable with that, I'm very lucky.
I'm going to do this for the good of everyone.
That covers everything for Buddhists.
I take revenue in the Buddha diamond Sanga.
I generate Bodhi cheetah. I'm making up your mind, you
know, the regular Buddha stuff. But either way, that's all the
first excellence. Then the second excellence is
the excellent main part, free from concepts.
This you have to learn from your teacher or whatever, wherever
you're studying or books you're reading, all you are really
doing is thinking I'm going to do this for the good of
everyone. And then doing that, whether
it's Shamata, one point of focus, body scanning, Vipassana,
whatever, you know, any kind of practice, yogic practices,
holding your breath, you're practicing tonal, whatever.
That part should be as free from conceptual analysis as you are
capable of being, right? And usually for most of us, the
actual meditation state does not last very long.
So you do it over and over, like drops of water filling up a big
bucket, right? One drop at a time.
You let B, you get distracted. Oh, yeah, You let B, you do that
10 times. You do that 1000 times.
And you sit for one minute, You sit for 10 minutes.
It doesn't matter. If you do that part, then that
generates a certain energy. And that energy is then
dedicated. At the end is the third
excellence. And that's a complete session of
meditation. Just those three things.
Don't think you got to do this one hour.
You literally could do it one minute and you'd be fine.
You come in, you lick little bow, you sit down.
You think I'm going to do this for the good of everyone?
I'm lucky to be able to do it. I'm going to do it.
May all beings be peaceful like this.
Then you show them how to be peaceful.
Hey, it's time to get up. Then you get it.
Then you dedicate the merit. You can do that with a famous
prayer by this merit, or you can do it in your own way, in your
own language, thinking whatever goodness has been created here
may all share in it. That's all it takes.
And then you did it. You freaking checked that box.
You're on the path. You nobody who practiced, you
know this people might have practiced longer, but you're in
the category of those who meditate it.
And that feels good, don't you think, Damien?
Right. And, and I, I want to recommend
for people too, the other benefit of having that bookend
at the end of the night is to also start to look at this as
your whole day is your session, right?
We want to, in addition to doing whatever practice we're doing on
the cushion, we want to preserve our mindfulness and our loving,
loving kindness and compassion through the day.
And if you're trying to do that, then you are practicing all day.
And then, you know, in Tibetan they call it a tune, right?
That's like a meditation session.
So you want to have a 24/7 tune. That's the goal.
You want this to bleed. You don't want to.
There have met people who their Dharma practice stays on their
cushion and then it doesn't come away from there.
It doesn't inflect the rest of their life at all.
It's just like something they do and then they have their life.
We don't want to be like that. We want our session to be our
life. So finding a way to draw it out,
you know, when you get up from your cushion, don't go so fast.
Bring it, draw it into your day as you start to go make
breakfast or go take care of the kids or whatever, Try and draw
that thread of mindfulness into whatever you're doing.
And now your whole life is becoming a practice session.
And this is when it really like takes off.
Because if you do this over years and months and and you,
you extend the amount of time you sit, eventually you can't
tell when you're practicing when you're not.
It's all one thing, and that's really when I think the Dharma
has the most benefit, right When it's really all the time.
You're living it, then You're living it.
Yeah, Yeah. And then you actually have a
session about how to carry it through your day.
And we can we can talk about that too.
Yeah. And I want to say that just one
note about that. The key to integration is daily
practice, right? There's some people who try to
think I can just integrate and that's all.
In my experience, that doesn't work.
You you need to anchor that morning and even if it's just
for one minute, like Joe said, even if it's just a short period
of time, we need that dedicated, you know, could you have a
relationship with somebody you never sat down and had a
conversation with? You know, if you never connect,
if you would, that wouldn't be a relationship, right?
If you just wave to them as you walk by, that's not a
relationship. You got to spend some time
together and that's a. Good way to integrate.
You don't have a form. You need formal and informal
practice sessions. The goal is to do what Damien
said and have it be indistinguishable.
But for all of us, until our minds are, you know, very, very
pure and we never go away from the view and I don't know
anybody like that, then we need formal sessions too.
So, and those should be bookended with, you know, making
aspirations, taking refuge and and dedicating the merit.
Even if you do intend to come back and practice, still
dedicate the merit whenever you have the chance.
Yeah, yeah. The way I look at it is like you
have your whole day is 1 container with the three
excellencies, but then you have lots of little 3 excellencies
all through the day that are contained in this big container.
And that way your life is becoming practice, right?
That way everything. And and that's you also find
that that some of the integration that it just you
could one minute, 1 minute here, one minute there, just like,
yeah, it doesn't have to be this big elaborate thing.
And that way you can feel like you're building your
relationships with Dharma. Maybe just before we close, we
talk a little bit about how you pushed it, right?
You and I both practice a lot. How did you get there?
Well, I think it does grow on you, but you do have to.
I found that my life arranged itself to allow that.
It's a long time ago now, but I've had several step UPS at
different times where I was like I was for many years.
I was practicing about an hour and I thought, oh, that's pretty
good. And it was pretty good.
But then I realized it just wasn't practicing enough to get
enough. I needed to do more.
So then I was like, let's see, let's see.
And then I went through a period of getting up at 3:00 in the
morning because of soak cherimiche for three or four
years. And that is intense.
But then you have a lot of time. You gotta do something cuz it's
still dark at six, you know, and you're like been up in there for
three hours. It allowed me to have more time.
But yeah, I don't know. I think that, you know, if you
can go, if I guess the first way to do it is to see can I make it
a month without missing? And if you start to make it a
month or two months, then you can make a vow like I'm not
gonna not meditate. I'm gonna meditate no matter
what. And once you do that, then
things in your life will respond to that and because that's a
powerful vow to make. Don't do that right in the
beginning. Get a habit going more likely to
succeed. I I say to everyone and I tell
myself it's much more powerful to meditate one minute every day
for a week than it is to meditate only on Saturday for
three hours. You just your mind needs regular
we there is only today you got to practice today.
It doesn't matter how long if you do that regularly, I think
as long as you feel, you know, as long as you're, you have
enough time in the morning and if you don't, you need to just
get up a little earlier, then it will naturally grow.
That's been my experience to go from like sitting an hour to
sitting like more like 3 hours. You really have to have a life
that will support that, you know, and, and that's something
you just have to make aspirations and then hopefully
things will arrange themselves that you can do that.
I I don't have any other secrets unfortunately.
Well, and the other thing that that I learned from you and that
has been really helpful for me is to cycle through practices.
So you know, everybody who's in the Vajriana starts off with
nundro. So you go through and you
accumulate your nundro. That's what you spend your time
doing in the mornings. And then once you do that, then
you do the the three roots practice and Yidam practice,
etcetera. But having dedicated chunks of
way of like accomplishing right where you do all the mantras
where it's 100,000 per syllable or whatever.
If you're a more experienced practitioner, this is extremely
helpful. For me, it was been, OK, I'm
going to accomplish this Sadhna. And then you feel like you did
something right. You spent like 6 months doing
this every day. And then you get to go like have
a little fire puja or something at the end and, and you you feel
like you really accomplished something and this really helps
you. For me, it really got my juice
going a lot more. No question.
Yeah, we, we can talk more about that for advanced practitioner,
advanced meaning people are really into it.
If you are doing sadhna practices, you know, cycling
through them can be valuable. I know in the ancient India,
they were supposed to you only had one yidam and that was your
main thing for your whole life. We are so short.
I should say, me, I am. So my focus is so short.
My ability to stay on one topic is so short.
For me, it's better. Every year I try to do a cycle
of vajra kilaya, some vajra kilaya sadna that I have, dispel
some obstacles and say that mantra 100,000 times per
syllable. Then maybe it is done.
Tara is calling me and I do a little Tara or whatever.
And you do feel if you do that, that well, I really did that,
you know, I did that. Wow, now I'm going to do this.
I'm doing a new, not new to me. I did it once before, but not
for some years. It feels so good to revisit that
and and I can see my plan. And it makes you psyched,
staying psyched. That's probably what you're
really saying. You got to figure out how to get
psyched. So I'll say one more thing about
your practice sessions. I don't know if we went over,
but just in case we didn't try to finish your sitting while you
still feel like you should sit longer.
That is really important. I learned that from Kempo
Sultrum Yonso. If you finish when you feel like
you still got not just more in you, but you want to do more,
you'll be anxious to start again.
Well, if you wait till it goes the other side, which can
sometimes be like only 30 seconds later, then you're like,
I'm glad I got that done. That's not a good attitude.
So when it's going really well and you're like, oh, I've been
sitting 10 minutes. I could probably sit another 5
minutes, but I'm not going to. It feels you're like there's
some part of you wants to and that helps you also meditate
during the day, have something to integrate because you're
like, you're still, that energy's still high and then
you're looking forward to your next session and that's awesome.
And and we can do a whole nother session on this too, but the
part of the accumulations and working on it is the sides that
you'll see things in your life that are letting you know, hey,
it's working. You're connecting to this
practice and that, you know, like Joe said, being psyched.
If you take nothing else from this episode about how to build
the daily practice is make it something you want to do, make
it exciting, make it something you're stoked about.
That's part of the beauty of Tibetan Buddhism is we have so
many methods. So you find something that
you're into to help juice up whatever you're doing.
And then it doesn't become this chore because I started off
doing, you know, shamat of a pasta 45 minutes a day.
It was painful and it was valuable and I saw results.
But sitting for 45 minutes staring at a wall with no
anything else was really hard for my ADHD brain.
It was really hard to do and I wouldn't recommend people start
like that now because it could have easily turned me off,
right? It was, it was a hard thing to
do. Vajriana, we get to like seduce
ourselves, right? We get to magnetize ourselves
onto building this daily practice.
And then, you know, we can build it up or shrink it down
depending on where you are on the path.
But just having that daily session, like you said is so
important just every day because we only have today and really
thinking about maybe the four thoughts a little bit like today
might be my last day, right? And.
On this day, you didn't meditate.
You've been practicing every day for 12 years.
And then that day you're like, and then you get hit by a car.
That would be such a bummer of embarrassment.
So then you gotta do it. Every day.
You gotta do it. Yep, it's like wearing clean
underwear, they say. Because like if you get in a car
accident, you want to make sure you have clean underwear.
You know what you thought about that.
Well, thank you again, all of you listeners.
I hope this was helpful. We'll we'll return to the many
different topics that came up during this like your shrine and
looking for signs and these sort of things, which would be fun to
talk about. But thank you for watching.
We really appreciate you and we'll see you next time.