Learn Buddhism: New Year Buddhist Practice (12 Months)

Want to try something special for your Buddhist practice this year? Mix in a monthly focus that compliments your daily practice! Join me in incorporating the Threefold Training throughout the year and be exposed to different Buddhist practices.

Chapters: 00:00 Introduction, 01:30 The Eightfold Path & Threefold Training, 02:00 The 12-Month Plan, 03:27 Wisdom, 11:26 Conduct & Morality, 19:00 Concentration, and 28:12 Conclusion.

Transcript

Welcome to another episode of Learn Buddhism.

I'm Alan Pito.

As we start a new year,

This is a great time to refocus our efforts and our goals on a Buddhist practice.

So a Buddhist practice is what Buddhists do every day.

Now when we go to temple,

We're having certain things we're doing,

But a Buddhist practice is what grounds us in whatever Buddhist tradition that we're in to ensure we are continuing to practice when we're not near the temple and around monastics so that we can progress on the path.

Now the Buddhist practices that I'm generally sharing with you that are the ones I'm recommending,

This is if you don't have a tradition yet.

You don't have a temple or monastics,

A teacher that you're with,

And I'm sharing with you kind of like what I'm recommending.

And it's going to expose you to different parts of Buddhist practice so that when you do eventually find a Buddhist tradition,

You can just go and follow their liturgy,

Their practice as they practice it every single day,

And that's what you should follow.

But these ones will expose you to a lot of different types of practices found throughout all the Buddhist traditions.

And so for a new year,

I have a 12-month practice we can encompass and start with in this new year.

So I'm going to tell you what each month entails,

But before I do,

It's important to understand why they're this way.

So there's actually three groupings we're going to do for our annual or yearly practice,

And they are based upon the Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path.

So the Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path is a path he gave saying,

This is the way towards enlightenment so you can realize your true natural state of nirvana and end the cycle of rebirth.

And what's great about it is Buddhists and Buddhist traditions have taken that,

And there's three parts of the Noble Eightfold Path.

It's now called the Three Fold Training,

And most Buddhist traditions have this Three Fold Training.

It may not always be called that,

But they have this Three Fold Training.

There might be more emphasis on one more than the other,

But you have this as basically all the Buddhist traditions.

And it's going to be a wisdom category,

A conduct morality category,

And a concentration category.

These are the three parts of the Eightfold Path,

But they make up also the Three Fold Training.

So I think that's a nice tie-in to a Buddhist practice.

We're still practicing as the Buddha taught,

But we have a way to do that.

So my 12-month practice is grouped that way.

So we have for four months we're going to have wisdom,

Four months we're going to have conduct,

And four months we're going to have concentration.

Now this doesn't mean you can't just engage in your current Buddhist practice.

You absolutely should.

That's a continual effort that you want to do,

Just like you're going to the gym,

Right?

But what we can do here is put a little more emphasis on different things for every single month.

And you can,

Of course,

Repeat this every single year.

If you want to switch it up,

You can definitely do that.

It's not something that's coming from a particular temple or a monastic.

This is something that I've created to expose you to different parts and that you might enjoy for your annual practice,

Annual focus.

So here are the different practices you will do every month if you want to do this.

So the first part of the year is going to be wisdom.

And I feel this is a kind of a good one to start with,

Because we want to always have that basics and that education and that knowledge as we progress on the Buddhist path.

But we've got to be careful.

It just can't be just knowledge,

Not just intellectual pursuit inside Buddhism.

We actually have to practice.

But it's,

Of course,

Helpful and very good to have wisdom,

Because ultimately what we're trying to achieve,

As we look at these three groupings here,

Wisdom is important,

Right?

We want to understand the true nature of things.

We want to understand these Buddhist teachings that Buddhist teachers,

The Buddha,

And other Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are telling us about.

If we don't fundamentally understand that,

And that goes beyond a mere intellectual understanding,

We're not going to become enlightened.

We're not going to realize nirvana.

So wisdom is not just becoming book smart.

It's understanding,

Fundamentally understanding.

And we do that where we're at.

So that's probably going to be for a lot of us at an intellectual understanding initially,

Or even just at a basic understanding.

And that's absolutely okay,

Because we want to understand at this basic foundational level about Buddhism,

Because that can help us in all other parts as well.

Now,

The traditional way this is done is,

Of course,

With monastics teaching us.

You know,

You'd go to a Buddhist service,

For example,

And usually have like a Dharma talk.

And this is how you learn about Buddhism.

And that's the best way to actually do it.

So for January,

I thought it was good to start with the basics of Buddhism.

Great.

You know,

Maybe you have a book that's about the basics of Buddhism,

Maybe in a tradition that you're eyeing that you want to be in.

Maybe that's one of the Mahayana schools,

Or maybe it's in Theravada.

Perfect.

You know,

Go ahead and do that.

Find the basics.

You know,

As you probably already well know that we have a free ebook that talks about the basics of Buddhism.

You can do that as well.

You know,

You want to get that basics of Buddhism.

And having a book,

Maybe watching some videos,

Or maybe you even go to the temple,

A temple,

And start listening to Dharma talks and understanding.

Perfect.

Get those basics of Buddhism down.

Doesn't mean that you have to fundamentally understand them,

But you're going to get the basics down.

Next,

We'll go into reading sutras or suttas.

And this is where you want to be also careful.

So reading core sutras or core suttas,

That's important,

You know,

Because you want to see what maybe the Buddha taught,

Or even in the Mahayana traditions,

You know,

The different Mahayana core sutras.

Wonderful.

There's so much you can gain from that.

But you really want to do it where you're going to have commentary as well.

So just reading is fine.

You know,

You can definitely do that.

But it's very easy to misunderstand what was said.

Now we're looking 2600 years from when the Buddha was alive,

And teaching.

So if we try to understand that era,

What he was trying to say,

Which was often,

Not always,

But often to monastics,

We might misunderstand it,

We might not really fundamentally understand that.

That's why teachers,

Typically monastics,

Are so important to us as laypersons.

So reading core sutras is great,

And as often,

Maybe you're going to have a book by maybe a teacher that you're interested in following,

Or you maybe already have one.

That's wonderful,

Because they can give you their commentary about the sutras.

And that can really help you understand.

It doesn't mean you're going to go,

Oh,

I get it,

I fundamentally understand the deep meaning of maybe something like the Heart Sutra,

You know,

But you're going to go,

I get it,

You know,

Maybe kind of like an intellectual,

Basic foundational level,

But you still are listening,

Reading the sutras,

So that,

You know,

As more you read it,

The more you maybe even chant it,

As we talk about later on,

You're starting to absorb that,

And maybe as you learn more about different things in Buddhism,

It becomes a little bit more understandable from an intellectual,

Foundational level,

But we're trying to get to that fundamental level.

Then we're going to read either,

And you can do both,

But let's say you're inside the Mahayana branch,

Well,

Maybe I want to read some Mahayana sutras,

Right?

And so the core sutras I was talking about are typically found in both branches of Buddhism,

So not to go into too deep a detail here,

But,

You know,

You have these core teachings of the Buddha.

You can find it in the Pali Canon in Theravada,

The Chinese Canon inside Mahayana,

So you have those both inside there,

And you can definitely read those,

Right?

But as we get into March,

Well,

Maybe I want to read some Mahayana sutras,

And maybe you're,

You know,

Very much eyeing the Theravada branch,

And you're not interested in Mahayana.

That's okay,

You don't have to read the Mahayana sutras,

But you may want to anyways,

Maybe just to be exposed to it,

And again,

Same as I was talking about with the core sutras,

Make sure you get some good commentary,

And or you can read about the past life tales of the Buddha,

And that's found in both branches of Buddhism,

And I think that's a wonderful one,

Because his past life tales is great in teaching morality,

Conduct,

And the path of a bodhisattva,

And this is common to both branches of Buddhism.

That can show you a lot about how to interact,

And how he interacted in these many,

Many different lifetimes and existences,

And it can help us when we try to navigate our daily life,

And also when we're trying to understand Buddhism,

Right?

So having the past life tales of the Buddha,

I think,

Is a wonderful thing to read,

And there's many different versions out there.

There's even some illustrated ones as well,

And you can often find free ebooks of this as well.

Then for April,

Finishing up our wisdom category here,

Listen to some Dharma talks,

Some Dhamma talks,

And the reason you want to do this is you want to listen to monastics.

You want to have them help you understand Buddhism.

Just going,

Well,

I'm very intellectual.

I'm smart.

I can understand this all on my own.

I don't need somebody else trying to explain it to me.

We do.

It doesn't matter how much we think we're smart.

We need a teacher in Buddhism,

And we need to let down our guard and let the monastics,

The religious figures inside our tradition,

Our religion,

Teach us about Buddhism,

Because they're going to also have experiences as fully engaged in this religion,

Whereas we are not,

Insofar as they're 100% in Buddhism all the time.

They're monastics,

Right?

We have daily lives.

We're going to work or school or something like that,

So you want to listen to their experiences because they're interacting with a lot of people as well,

Helping with different issues and understanding.

They can help us understand Buddhism,

And there's many,

Many different ways to do that.

If you don't have a temple nearby,

Of course,

You can watch videos,

For example.

Maybe there's audio books or audio files,

Or even if you have a temple nearby,

Fantastic.

Sometimes you have live streams as well,

Maybe in a different language sometimes,

So you have to be aware of that,

But this is something where you can often find a language in whatever country you live in to understand more about Buddhism.

So Dharma talks,

Very foundational inside Buddhism,

And I encourage you to do that.

So again,

Many different ways you can listen to Dharma talks,

But yeah,

Start listening to Dharma talks.

Can you do that?

Yeah,

Absolutely.

Maybe it's every day.

Maybe you're going to do it,

You know,

Every weekend or something like that,

But make that part of your practice.

Then we get into conduct and morality,

And this is where laypersons typically live,

And what I mean by that is laypersons are typically focusing on the morality conduct portion of the threefold training,

Because it's something they can engage in every part of their day.

So if we look at the very first one in May,

We're talking about charity,

And this can be done many,

Many different ways,

But inside Buddhism,

That's typically supporting the monastics,

And that could be where they're giving clothes,

Or maybe it's,

You know,

For donations insofar as getting them food,

Or maybe for the temple itself in your lodgings,

Many different ways we give charity.

So giving to monastics,

One of the highest ways,

Very notorious way to practice charity,

But we can also expand that to many different ways,

You know,

Like maybe you're going to donate or give your time towards a very worthy nonprofit in your area.

Absolutely.

Our goal here on all of the threefold training is developing ourselves,

Right?

And that's how we engage also in life.

So if you can do that,

Great.

For some people,

Maybe all they can possibly do in that month is maybe give money.

Well,

Okay,

You can absolutely do that too,

But we want to do that from a right mind or right perspective when we do it,

Not just,

Well,

I'm just doing auto pay and just give out money.

No,

We don't want to do that.

We want to do it in a way where it's very mindful of us to do that way.

We understand why we're doing that,

And we have that right mindset when we do it.

But if you can absolutely engage in different ways,

Great.

But charity can also come in different ways.

Maybe you're helping somebody,

Maybe you are giving a kind word,

Right?

So giving,

You know,

Charity,

It can be done in many,

Many different ways on how we interact with other people.

When we get to June,

We're talking about compassion.

Oh,

Very hard for us as human beings,

Right?

So compassion for ourselves,

For loved ones,

Even,

Or even for people we know nothing about,

Or sometimes even people we don't like,

Right?

So that's something that Buddhists work on all the time in many different ways.

And you can do that in many ways,

As I mentioned,

You know,

For example,

This could be a mantra that you're going to do,

A chanting,

Maybe meditation on it,

But it's really how we show compassion to others.

So this is all about action as well,

Right?

So how do we show compassion for others?

Maybe it's not saying what you really think in your mind,

Right?

That could be hurtful to that person,

Even though their words may be hurtful to you.

Or maybe it could be something where,

Can you show compassion for this person who is just having a hard time,

Right?

Maybe that bleeds in over to charity,

Right?

Can you say a kind word?

Is there something you can do to be there for them?

And these are just,

Of course,

General ideas that popped into my head just now,

But how do we show compassion for others?

And more broadly,

How do we show compassion for all sentient beings?

You know,

A very popular thing also in the Mahayana branch,

You know,

Because they're along that Bodhisattva path.

So how do we do that?

Continual effort,

Right?

And continual engagement in the real world.

Then we go into July,

Where we have loving kindness method.

And this is a very popular for one,

Because there's,

You know,

There's mantras,

There's chants that you can do for that,

Almost like a prayer.

And this is sometimes easy,

Because we can do it for ourselves.

Well,

I love myself.

Or maybe we're going to go,

I love my family and friends.

Of course,

We can do that.

But what happens when it goes beyond that?

What happens,

Just like I was talking about with compassion,

What happens when it's for people that you don't like,

Or that you don't even know,

Right?

How do we show that loving kindness?

This is where Buddhists often do those mantras,

Because they want to constantly work their mind,

Because we're having so much we have to clear out,

Right?

We have to really tame our mind.

And this is a good way to do it.

So there's a very loving kindness sutra that a lot of Buddhists really find is helpful to them in this particular practice,

But it's not the only way.

Then we go into August,

Where we have the five precepts,

The five precepts,

Right?

So it doesn't matter if you've taken a five precepts or have not taken a five precepts.

The whole purpose of what I'm talking about today in this 12 months plan is really to expose you to different parts of Buddhism,

Regardless of the tradition.

And of course,

Some traditions may focus on more,

More than other parts,

But even the five precepts.

So it doesn't mean that all Buddhist traditions are taking maybe the five precepts,

Whereas maybe it's more formalized in other traditions,

Or schools,

For example,

Or temples.

So the five precepts and precepts in general are like the guardrails that help us correctly navigate that path.

And that's a good reason why they're important.

As everyday sentient beings,

You know,

We've been clouded to the truth that the Buddha taught.

We're not really sure about this path and fundamentally how it works.

So precepts,

And we just have five precepts as lay persons.

If you look at the monastics,

I mean,

There's hundreds.

So we really have very few precepts,

But these precepts are very foundational and core because they go to the heart of the matter about many different things.

So if we're able to follow these precepts,

We're in a very good position,

But it doesn't mean that we're always going to.

I mean,

We're everyday sentient beings caught up in everyday life.

There's times where we're going to transgress against them in different ways.

And that's where different,

You know,

Like repentance and Buddhism comes in.

For example,

It's all about us getting to that end goal.

And we can use precepts to help us that way.

And you should look at them as ways that you can engage in everyday life.

And that can be very difficult,

Right?

You know,

So we're going to forget sometimes.

We're not going to really understand that we're transgressing against a precept.

And you've kind of learned from my other Buddhist practice that,

You know,

Having a morning,

Especially an evening Buddhist practice is really important because you can reflect upon your day and go,

Oh,

Wait,

I've actually transgressed against this particular precept.

And it's really about,

Of course,

You know,

Bringing it in front of a Buddha or Bodhisattva,

For example,

You want to do it in front of a teacher.

But you also want to do it to yourself.

Just don't keep it inside.

Because we want to acknowledge and recognize that we may be transgressed against a precept so that we don't do it again,

Right?

So we're trying to ultimately tame our mind,

As among many other things in Buddhism,

Because that's really central.

So if we are able to do that through the precepts,

Great,

You know,

And the more we practice,

The more we do it,

Of course,

The better we're going to get at something.

So the more you follow the precepts,

The better you're going to be.

But it also encompasses like the eight precepts.

So maybe on observance days,

You can take on additional precepts.

Great.

You know,

That's something you might want to do also in this particular month.

So in August,

Five precepts,

Right?

But maybe there are certain days you also want to do the eight precepts,

Maybe on observance days.

So keep that in mind.

And if you've never done that before,

Of course,

The best way to,

You know,

Do this is with monastics and a temple,

You know,

Showed you how,

But that could be something to keep in mind as well.

Then we go into our concentration,

The final part,

Right?

So we're kind of building up to this meditative concentration portion.

And we often think,

Oh,

It's just meditation,

But no,

You know,

Concentration part of the threefold training and the eightfold path encompasses more than just the meditation we may think about in the West.

So in September,

Let's focus on mindfulness.

We'll start there,

Not just secular mindfulness.

That's what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about Buddhist mindfulness,

Because we need to be aware that our sense organs like our eyes,

Ears,

Nose,

You know,

Smell,

You know,

We are engaging with sense objects,

And we are taking that in.

And we are formulating like what we perceive it to be.

And that's,

You know,

One part of this big chain where the cycle where karma comes in,

Right?

So when we are understanding what we're engaging with,

That is where we have the power.

So if you look at the Buddha's very popular fire sermon,

That's where he's saying like,

You know,

Monks,

All things are on fire.

He's basically saying,

Everything around us is not figuratively or literally on fire.

But he's saying that,

Hey,

You know,

You are surrounded by the three fires,

Greed,

Anger,

And ignorance.

And if you ingest this,

Or be burned by that,

That's not good.

So you need to be mindful of it.

Don't allow it to burn you.

And how do we do that?

We need to be mindful.

If you look at monastics,

And you look at,

You know,

Enlightened beings,

They are being mindful in every moment,

You know,

And that's really hard to do for someone who's not enlightened,

Right?

Because that's challenging for us.

We don't fundamentally understand stuff.

But for them,

They break in,

They broke that barrier,

If you will.

They now understand,

This is why I need to be mindful.

And I can do it in a very enlightened way.

But for us as laypersons,

We can start focusing on Buddha's mindfulness in a way we were understanding what was around us,

And how we're interacting with it.

Then we go to October.

I thought this would be a nice one to kind of begin with walking meditation.

Now,

If you can't walk,

Or anything else like that,

You can definitely switch this up to something different.

But you know,

Walking meditation is something that most people don't think about.

But you can definitely do meditation,

Not just sitting down,

But also walking.

You know,

Are we ever mindful walking?

Usually not.

You know,

We're usually rushing somewhere,

Or on our phones,

Or listening to something,

Or talking,

Or just,

You know,

In our heads.

We're not mindful.

So think about walking meditation as mindful walking meditation as well.

As we're walking around,

Are we truly mindful of where every foot,

Every step,

And not in a judgmental way,

But observing way.

You know,

We are accepting how we're walking.

So of course,

If you do walking meditation,

Be careful of your surroundings.

Of course,

You're not going to be closing your eyes and walking.

You need to be careful.

And do it,

Of course,

In a very safe place.

Sitting meditation,

Very popular in Westerners' eyes,

But actually done by very few laypersons,

Especially as part of a daily practice.

When we look at sitting meditation,

It's becoming more popular now with laypersons,

But it used to be the domain of just monastics.

And even then,

If we even stretch even further back,

Not all the monastics would actually do sitting meditation.

Sometimes it was just like maybe the senior monastics.

But it's becoming very popular,

And you could absolutely do sitting meditation.

And just like with walking meditation,

Maybe you can't sit in one of the traditional poses.

You can definitely sit on a chair,

Or however you are.

So sitting meditation can take on different forms as well.

So sitting meditation,

This is where we are,

Of course,

Going to be practicing meditation,

Right?

You want to do it in a nice,

Calm,

Peaceful place,

Quiet.

You know,

And as you get more and more developed in meditation,

This is where things where you see sometimes monastics are in places where sometimes it's noisy,

But they're meditating,

Because they're breaking through that,

Right?

They're breaking through being distracted by that.

But we're going to be distracted right now as laypersons,

And that's understandable.

That's okay.

So we want to make sure that we're in a place that's quiet.

You know,

That's a great way to begin it.

It's a great way to help tame your mind,

Tame your thoughts,

So that we can progress on the Buddhist path.

And then finally,

In December,

Chanting a recitation.

And actually,

This is what most Buddhists do.

And of course,

I'm being very general here.

It very much depends on the traditions.

But chanting or recitations,

Absolutely.

You know,

Maybe hear mantras.

These are very popular.

So you may have Buddhists who will chant the name of the Buddha or a Buddha.

You know,

Abhidhamma Buddha in Mahayana is very,

Very popular with Pure Land.

Or maybe of a Bodhisattva,

Or even they're going to be chanting a sutra,

Reciting a sutra,

Or maybe a short mantra.

You know,

These are very,

Very popular ways.

And sometimes they're not practiced by Westerners,

Westerner Buddhist laypersons.

And I would definitely encourage you to practice this.

Because this was,

If you want to think about it,

How it was done before things were written down.

So how did monastics remember all this?

Chanting.

This is how they were able to remember and to pass along the different sermons of the Buddha,

The different teachings.

So chanting has a very historical perspective to it.

But it also,

As you're doing it,

You are actively,

And you can think of it this way,

Reenacting that situation,

That sermon,

Right?

Or that teaching,

Right here,

Right now.

And maybe it's just you chanting it,

Right?

Or a very powerful way,

Very wonderful way,

Is inside like a temple,

And you're doing a part of a service.

There's many people doing it at the same time.

Great energy.

That's a wonderful way to do it as well.

But you are bringing forth that sermon,

You know,

And that's also engaging in your mind and your actions,

Right?

Your speech.

So when you're chanting a sutra,

Mantra,

Whatever,

You are actually engaging in wholesome speech inside Buddhism.

So that's wonderful.

But it also helps you remember and learn that teaching,

That sermon,

That mantra.

And that can help us as we engage in everyday life.

So this is a very popular thing to do inside Buddhism.

And you'll see some Buddhists,

And I mentioned Pure Land,

Right?

You're going to see them chanting Amitabha Buddha's name in whatever tradition and country specific,

Numerous times per day,

Almost all the time in everyday activity.

What better way to be mindful of the Buddha,

A very enlightened,

Wholesome being,

Like our goal is to become enlightened,

Right?

To realize nirvana.

What better way than that?

And of course,

Depending on the tradition,

There's many other branches from that of why you're doing chanting and mantras and recitation,

Right?

But that is a wonderful thing to do.

So I highly,

Highly encourage chanting and recitation as something if you've never done before,

Try it.

You know,

You can watch one of my videos on how to do that,

But you can definitely look online or maybe like a live stream where you can start seeing how,

Maybe on a temple,

How they're doing it.

And don't worry,

And I think this is important to mention as well,

I don't understand what they're saying in that language.

For example,

In the tradition I practice in,

It's Chinese.

And do we sometimes have like,

You know,

English versions of this?

Yes.

You know,

Especially like my temple,

Very big,

But you know,

It's mostly in Chinese.

And do I understand Chinese?

I understand some words,

You know,

But majority no,

And that's okay.

So your purpose here is that wholesome speech,

That sutra.

And of course,

We understand the sutra we're talking about,

We can definitely read it,

But when we're chanting it,

We're engaging in that activity.

And I think that's really important too,

Because we may go,

Well,

Well,

Obviously if,

For example,

My tradition,

If you understand Chinese,

You understand what you're chanting,

But not always.

There's sometimes in,

For example,

In Chinese Buddhism,

You're going to see where it's not always in Chinese,

It's in Sanskrit.

And that was an ancient,

You know,

Indian language that they used.

And that is something where even many people who are in Chinese Buddhism won't understand what they're chanting in that way because they don't understand Sanskrit.

And that's common,

That's normal.

And so don't think like,

Oh,

They understand every single word.

Not necessarily,

And nor do they have to,

Because as you are,

As we began this entire journey with the wisdom portion,

Maybe you've read the sutra,

Maybe you've heard a commentary.

That's okay.

Now we're engaging in the action,

The verbal action,

Right?

It's also very physical too.

You're doing prostrations and everything else as well.

I'm not telling you to go to that extent right now,

But yeah,

Engaging chanting or recitation,

I think is a wonderful way to get super engaged with Buddhism.

And you can do that almost all the time.

So this plan,

This 12 months right here,

And I talk more about this,

You know,

Elsewhere,

And I have graphics,

But this is something where I think you can be exposed to lots of different parts of Buddhism,

Engage with it.

Now,

Again,

Do what is healthy for you.

So maybe you have a medical condition,

Obviously don't do maybe sitting meditation.

If you can't do sitting meditation,

Things like that,

It's best to,

Of course,

Do all of these under the guise of monastic.

I realize not everybody has that,

But maybe there's one thing you want to focus on.

Like I just was talking about chanting and recitation,

And I mentioned,

Hey,

Maybe you want to follow along on a live stream or video with a temple.

That might be a great way to do that.

So there's different ways you can learn from the actual monastics,

Which I highly recommend to do all of these.

So don't worry about stretching yourself too thin.

This is being exposed to this,

And you can do that on a monthly basis.

So for all of these,

Maybe you're going to just do this on a Sunday.

Okay.

You know,

Maybe that's going to be in addition to your daily practice,

Or maybe you don't even have a daily practice right now.

Fine.

You can do this maybe every day,

Or maybe,

Again,

Just on Sunday or certain days.

This is up to you to decide on what to do.

But of course,

When you finally pick your Buddhist tradition and get engaged,

They're going to help you understand how to build your daily practice,

How to engage with the monastic community and the broader lay community as part of your tradition,

So that you can understand what to do and how to engage a little more deeply.

But I hope you enjoyed this and gives you some ideas on how to have your 12 months practice.

Of course,

If you want to switch this up,

You can definitely do that,

But this is just my recommendations,

My idea.

But I hope you enjoyed that.

Please let me know what you think,

And I'll talk with you in our next episode.

Thank you.