Zen Practice in Daily Life
In Zen Buddhism, every aspect of our lives is a field of practice, a place and a time for us to recall ourselves to what is most central to us. Our whole life, and everything we do, is a reflection and actualization of our intention to follow the Buddha Way. For this reason, in our day-to-day lives, we find ways to support and encourage ourselves to enter each activity with the spirit of practice.
Think of all the things you do in your day – waking in the morning and starting your day; going to work, or school, or any other activity that takes you into the wider world; interacting with and caring for the central people in your life, as well as each person you encounter; caring for your body, your heart, your mind, your spirit; tending to your environment and the wider community; resting from your activities; going to sleep.
Each of these, and many more, are an opportunity, a path of practice – a way to grow, give and realize the truth of our life together. To thoughtfully engage in them as essential aspects of a full and rich life of practice, transforms our lives into something deeper, more meaningful, more alive to what matters most.
Here are some practices to consider as you craft a life of practice that includes the whole of you, and everyone and everything else.
Home Practice
There are many ways to build a home practice including: zazen at home; offering incense, herbs, or flowers at a home altar; chanting; bowing; reciting silently or aloud a verse of gratitude before meals, or other short verses related to ordinary activities; attending to how we care for our kitchen, our food, our bodies, our homes and belongings, our work place and our wider environment. Most people combine time at the zendo with a practice at home and find that this is a rich practice that respects all aspects of their lives. We encourage you to speak with our teachers and sangha friends about how to build a home practice of depth and balance. Learn more about Home Practice
Silence and Quiet
Taking time for quiet, for silence, is essential. Even if it is for a few moments, sitting quietly simply settled in your being, taking a walk in a park or garden, having a quiet cup of tea. Though it is wonderful to have a quiet and calm environment, we can take time for inner quiet anywhere.
Personal Reflection
Taking the time to honestly reflect on our lives, the choices we are making, the habits we are building or continuing, the way we go about our days and our interactions with others, allows us to engage deeply with what is, and move toward what we value most.
Study
Setting aside a time and place to engage thoughtfully with the teachings deepens our understanding and our connection to what can guide us. It nourishes us, invites wisdom to enter our being and become a part of who we are.
Cooking and Eating
All the food we eat is brought to us by innumerable labors by innumerable beings. To acknowledge that brings gratitude and care into our relationship with food. And imbues the cooking we do with a spirit of practice.
Recognizing this with gratitude when we enjoy our food, changes how we relate to what we eat and how we eat it.
Driving
When we drive a vehicle we have an opportunity to practice patience, kindness and awareness with others – and notice the vital interdependence that is a part of our every day life.
Cleaning
In the Soto Zen way each aspect of our world, is valued as itself - not merely for what it can do for us. So, we treat every aspect of our world with respect. When we clean, we are expressing that respect in the way care for our homes, our work place, everything. We are supporting the Buddha field of our life.
What We Buy
Mindless consumption corrodes our lives and spirits. We do not aim toward perfect purity, but we take care with what we purchase, aware of where it came from, and the impact of our actions. We respect each thing, and give it a full life, with gratitude for what it is and how it supports our world.
Work
In Soto Zen, work is considered an essential aspect of a life of practice. We engage with work fully and value what we do completely - growing or harvesting plants, driving a bus, going to school, caring for people or animals, teaching children or adults, working in a grocery store, making maps, hauling what we generally refer to as garbage or trash, building, repairing, writing – all the ways we work.
We make the best choices we can in terms of our livelihood and make it a field of practice by focusing on what we can do, day by day, to make it so. Awareness, kindness, attention, connection — all of those and more ripple out having a positive effect.
Media, Social Media, Cell Phones
Aware of the gifts, benefits, and corrosive and seductive draw of social media and other aspects of our connected world, we are thoughtful in our choices about how, and how much, we use them.
Engagement with the Wider Community
Our lives are an integral part of the whole of our world, to directly engage with it, and care for it, expresses our commitment to be in this world with all beings. This can take many, many forms, all are valid and all are essential.
Rest
To rest is essential. It is not stealing from what we might give to others - it is a source for true stability, connection and generosity.
Practice in Relationships in all their Forms
Maintaining respect and care in all our relationships is a powerful and transformative field of practice. This requires awareness and clear speaking, boundaries and generosity, calmness, and effective expression of our needs and wants. All of it in the dynamic interplay of ordinary challenging life.
It is particularly meaningful, especially in times of divisiveness, to bring the spirit of practice into relationships. To listen, to bring calm into distressed circumstances, to speak carefully, kindly, and directly, to maintain awareness of others and your own intention. This can be, perhaps, the most challenging practice of all.
Recitations and Gathas
Recalling lines from a sutra or other Buddhist teaching, and returning to them throughout the day, can keep our practice alive as we go about our days. We can also use short verses or gathas associated with specific activities, such as cooking, bathing, working – even answering the phone, For example, we can set a framework for our day by reciting:
This morning as I wake,
I vow with all beings
To see each thing as it is
And not to forsake the world.
You can find or create sayings, or images that bring you back to your deepest wish for your life and the lives of others and carry them with you. See additional gathas here.
Non Verbal Practices
There are many non-verbal ways we can recall ourselves to our intention. Taking a breath, softening our gaze, moving our whole bodies, doing a bow, being aware of the earth beneath our feet, even if it is 6 stories down.