Learn Buddhism: Observance Days Buddhist Practice

Buddhist practice isn't confined to a daily practice or going to the temple. There are "Observance Days" in numerous traditions where lay-Buddhists engage in practices that align themselves more with the monastic lifestyle and advance their development. This includes taking the Eight Precepts, vegetarian meals, or even fasting. Learn why Buddhists engage in Observance Days and what it means!

Transcript

Welcome to another episode of Learn Buddhism.

I'm Alan Pito.

As a lay Buddhist,

You have many things you do,

From a daily Buddhist practice to practicing at a temple monastery or group where you go for dharma talks,

Rituals,

Ceremonies,

And even classes.

But what else do we do as lay Buddhists?

There's something that has its origins all the way back to the time of the Buddha,

And it's called observance days.

Observance days are very popular in many traditions of Buddhism because they allow the lay Buddhist,

You and me,

To be a little bit closer to what ordained Buddhists,

Monastics,

Do.

Obviously,

We are householders,

Lay persons.

We're not going to be able to give up our lives and become a monastic,

But on these observance days,

We can do many things that are very similar to them to advance us on the path,

And that's why they're so popular.

I like to kind of give the example or analogy.

Every day we're exercising,

Maybe just walking.

Okay,

Walking is great exercise,

But it's not going to probably build muscles if that's your goal.

You're not going to be looking like a weightlifter.

If you want to do that,

You have to go to the gym,

Or if you're trying to maybe get even more healthy with cardio fitness or maybe lose weight,

You're going to be going to the gym and using special machines and different practices.

You're going to be doing different things,

Right?

So when we're lay Buddhists,

We are walking every day,

And that could be your daily Buddhist practice.

Yes,

It could mean also going to temple,

But when you're doing these observance days,

You want to really up the game a little bit more.

You want to be practicing a little bit more that's aligned with what the Buddha taught,

With what the monastics are doing.

You're going to the gym,

You're building muscle,

And you're doing the muscle in the Buddhist religious aspect,

And so that's why they're so popular because we just can't do that all the time,

Just like we can't go to the gym all the time.

You don't want to overdo yourself and work too much out at the gym.

So as a lay person with our lives and everything else we have to do as householders,

We have to use these observance days to elevate our practice.

Observance days are typically based on the lunar calendar and the lunar cycle.

So maybe it's going to be a new moon and that's when you're going to practice,

For example,

And this has an added benefit when you are practicing based upon this lunar cycle.

So are Buddhists around the world who are also practicing at that same time.

So it's a very communal effort in that way,

Which I really like.

It's just not you at home just doing it that way.

You're also doing it with a lot of other people around the world.

And like I mentioned,

This is like going to the gym,

Right?

And what you're trying to do in Buddhism is break down this illusionary false belief in a permanent,

Unchanging,

Independent self,

Which the Buddha says does not exist.

We are impermanent.

We are interdependent on other things and we are constantly changing.

We don't really see that at a fundamental level.

And we're also trying to get rid of the three fires,

Three poisons of greed,

Anger,

And ignorance,

Which is really causing us to create all these perceptions and actions and these karmic actions,

Karmic seeds,

Which are trapping us in a cycle of rebirth.

And so when we are practicing in Buddhism,

That's our goal.

Get rid of the three fires,

Three poisons through the threefold training,

Where we are following the Buddhist Eightfold Path,

Where we are trying to gain wisdom,

We are trying to shape our morality and conduct,

And we're trying to deepen our concentration.

We're trying to do this to get rid of those three fires so we can become awakened to the truest enlightened beings,

Realize nirvana.

The absence of the three fires,

Three poisons is nirvana because we have transcended that condition.

So observance days allows us to kind of get a little bit closer to that,

Right?

And what we're doing as a lay Buddhist,

We're trying to be a little bit closer to monastics.

Now monastics have many precepts.

I'm going to talk about some of the things we do on observance days here in a second.

But they got many precepts,

Many different responsibilities,

And a different way they live their life.

They are,

As I like to say,

All in with Buddhism.

They are fully in,

They've given up everything,

And to become monastics.

We're not doing it as laypersons,

But it doesn't mean we can't practice and doesn't mean we can't advance.

So observance days allows us to align ourselves a little bit with the monastics.

And depending upon the tradition,

This may include where lay Buddhist practitioners go to temple,

For example,

And take on additional precepts.

Or it may just be something that you do at home,

For example.

Before I explain what we do in observance days,

Or the different many things we may be able to do,

It's important to note that you don't have to do this as a layperson.

So if you don't do observance days,

That's okay.

But it is definitely a practice you should look at.

And if you are currently with a temple,

For example,

Or organization,

Definitely find out how they recommend you practice observance days.

They may have specific guidelines that they would like you to follow.

And if you have any health concerns,

You want to definitely talk with a physician before you do certain observance day rituals or practices,

Just to make sure you can do them.

So the first thing we may do on observance days,

Now again,

Is going to vary greatly based on the tradition you're in.

And what you might be doing,

You might be doing all of these,

Maybe doing just some of these,

Or maybe just one of these,

It's really going to depend upon your tradition.

So when I'm talking about all of these,

It's not saying you have to do every single one,

Although that's not a bad thing if you can do them.

The first one is the eight precepts.

So as a lay Buddhist,

You've likely have taken the triple gem or the triple jewel ceremony.

This is where we take refuge in the Buddha,

The Dharma,

And the Sangha.

And that really is that sort of official mark that you're a Buddhist.

You've taken refuge in them.

You don't fully understand everything,

But you see something's pure here,

Something's true here,

And you're going to follow and you're going to take refuge in it.

Now,

There's a step above that.

There's going to be the five precepts.

You may take it at the same time,

Maybe take it later.

But the five precepts is where we are going,

You know what,

There's these additional guidelines,

Basic precepts,

Basic rules or conduct,

Ethics,

If you will,

That we are going to abide by to the best of our ability as Buddhists.

So that's going to be one step up from the triple gem.

So as a Buddhist,

You can definitely take the triple gem.

Doesn't mean you have to take the precepts right away,

But you see many people strive to achieve those five precepts as well.

But what we have on observance days,

It's going to be a little something different because here we're kind of all in,

If you will,

On this particular day to practice.

Whereas maybe the five precepts,

Yeah,

Maybe we slip up here or there during our everyday lives,

But that's,

You know,

During observance day,

We want to make sure we're following all of those precepts in addition to some other ones.

So there's something called the eight precepts.

It's basically the five precepts with three more.

So let me go over those,

What they are.

There's to undertake or observe,

So you can do undertake or observe,

The rule of abstinence from taking life.

So no killing.

You undertake the rule of abstinence from taking what is not given,

Stealing.

I undertake the rule from abstinence from unchastity,

Sexual misconduct.

I undertake the rule of abstinence from false speech,

Lying.

I undertake the rule of abstinence from intoxicants,

Which cause a careless frame of mind.

Now,

The other three,

Which make up the eight precepts,

Is going to be this.

I undertake the rule of abstinence from taking food at the wrong time.

Here's what we're seeing.

We're getting kind of what into the monastics do.

So traditionally,

Going back to the time of the Buddha,

There was a time that monastics would eat and not pass it,

Noon.

And you could,

Of course,

See based upon traditions,

It's not always followed that way anymore,

But in some countries,

It is in traditions.

So typically,

We want to eat by noon or at noontime,

And that's it for the rest of the day.

I undertake the rule of abstinence from dancing,

Music,

Visiting shows,

Flowers,

Makeup,

The wearing of ornaments and decorations.

So here,

We're trying to break down that love of ego,

Love of self,

Right?

And so when we are adorning ourself and making ourselves look better,

Right,

Well,

We're reinforcing that belief in ourself.

That's something that you can't do in your everyday life.

Here,

We're just trying to focus on our practice.

We're trying to get deep into this,

Right?

And we're also not going to be caught up in other things like,

Well,

Let's just have fun,

Entertainment,

Distractions,

Because our focus on observance days is Buddhism.

It is Buddhist teachings.

It's the practice.

And then I undertake the rule of abstinence from a tall,

High sleeping place.

Now,

This is basically saying,

Hey,

You don't have some fancy,

Beautiful bed you're going to lay on.

You want to be humble,

Right?

So we're trying to do things here that are aligned with what we see monastics do,

But in a very,

Very small way.

So even though these eight precepts seem like a lot,

Monastics have hundreds of precepts that they follow,

And they have to as monastics.

As laypersons,

These are bare bones.

And when we add in those three more and make it to eight precepts,

That's what we're trying to do,

A little taste of monastic life just for this one day,

This observance day.

Now,

Our observance days can be multiple times during the month.

Like I mentioned,

It's going to maybe follow the lunar cycle.

It doesn't mean you always have to do every single day.

Some people,

For example,

That's just not going to work for them because of work or other obligations.

And so they may align it with where their weekend is,

Or maybe other times of the week,

For example,

Or the month.

Maybe it's just one time a month.

Maybe they can do it more than that.

So it will depend a little bit there.

So the eight precepts is a really nice way to kind of get a taste of monastic life while you are observing more things.

For example,

These precepts is going to help us develop that conduct,

The morality inside us,

Those ethics,

And it's going to help us with our practice as well.

Another practice that's very popular is vegetarian meals.

And you may also see this in a lot of East Asian countries as well,

Where you are just not going to eat meat.

And this is really kind of going back to one of those precepts as well,

Where you're not going to take life.

And when you are being in this diet where you are not eating meat,

You're going,

You know what?

I know,

Of course,

That life is still being killed for meat around the world,

But I'm not going to partake in it during this time.

My observance days is a spiritual effort,

And I'm going to make sure I can make it as pure as possible during this day to alleviate the suffering of other beings.

And so when practitioners just take vegetarian meals,

Yes,

They know this is just but one day,

But it's making a difference on that one day for themselves spiritually,

Mentally,

Everything else,

But also it may reduce the demand to kill as well.

So this is going to be a very popular practice in a lot of traditions in different countries as well.

Now,

In addition to that,

Not saying they are tied together,

But in some other traditions and countries,

Especially in East Asia,

It also may be,

You know,

Strong smelling foods are also not consumed.

This may be everything from garlic and onion.

Those may be avoided as well because they are going to be imparting smells.

They may be affecting your practice as well.

And so that all kind of ties into a Mahayana sutra as well,

Which is why that's practiced.

Again,

Doesn't mean that you do or do not have to practice that,

But that is part of many traditions as well.

And then another thing that's also done is fasting.

If you remember one of the eight precepts,

One of those was,

Hey,

There's going to be no eating after a certain period of the day,

Typically noon,

But there's also fasting.

So that period right there where I'm not going to be eating afternoon,

I'm going to be fasting until the next day,

Of course,

Right?

That's a big stretch for a lot of us who may be eating three meals a day.

You're going to be snacking.

So that's a big change.

And these are also why you want to check with physician to make sure you can do things like fasting or skipping meals.

Maybe you can't medically.

So you want to make sure that,

But fasting is very popular as well.

And again,

This podcast really can go over every single aspect of fasting,

But when you're fasting,

It could be everything from yes,

Just that observance day.

Some lay Buddhists like to stretch that out.

They may be going for more than one day as part of their practice.

And so it doesn't mean you're going to be doing that right off the bat,

But as practitioners get more involved in observance days or even stretching beyond observance days,

They may be fasting more.

Now you of course don't want to do anything that harms your body.

So we're not talking about maybe like the fasting or the diet that Siddhartha Gautama had before he became the Buddha,

Where he was just skin and bones and he was just not healthy.

That is what the Buddha says we do not want to do.

That's where we have that middle way,

Right?

Many things that means that middle past and middle way,

One part of that is not going to extremes,

Including your health.

So he realized that,

Yeah,

You know,

That extreme diet that he was doing was bad for his body.

It didn't lead to any type of enlightenment at all,

Nor is being just like,

You know,

Just eating whatever you want to.

That doesn't help either.

So there's that middle way there,

Right?

So that's what we're talking about with fasting.

It's not,

You know,

You know,

Hurting yourself.

You want to make sure you don't do that.

And you,

I highly recommend you talk to a physician just to make sure you're okay to do something like that.

If you have a temple or group,

Definitely have them as your support.

You know,

A podcast can do that for you,

But when you actually have a teacher that can show you correctly how to do it,

That's what you want.

So when we're looking at fasting,

This is going to be just like it sounds.

Maybe you are not going to be eating at all for a period of time or for maybe a length of time.

Like I kind of mentioned,

Maybe,

You know,

Only up until noon,

You know,

Nothing beyond that.

So it could mean many different things based upon your different tradition.

So this isn't always done on every single observance days.

So depending upon the tradition and in the practitioner in general,

They may decide on their schedule to modify their fasting days to only be twice a month,

Whereas near the full moon,

New moon,

Or simply,

You know,

Maybe on a Sunday or something where they can just devote time to doing that.

So in other words,

They're not out working,

Right?

Where maybe,

You know,

That's not going to work well just not to be eating.

Here,

Maybe they're at home and they can actually partake in that practice in a healthy and safe way.

But why do we have fasting in Buddhism?

Well,

It's not alone in Buddhism.

A lot of religions have this.

And one of the reasons that we have fasting is that it helps us kind of shift our mindset and our body and everything else away from food and more towards practice,

This religious practice.

So we are transforming our body with fasting that helps us with our practice.

And it's a very interesting,

You know,

Notion there and practice there of what fasting actually does.

As I mentioned,

It's not the same as what Siddhartha Gautama did,

Where he was skin and bones and on the verge of death.

But we are in some ways mimicking a portion of what he did.

For example,

When he was sitting under what we now call the Bodhi tree,

Tree of enlightenment,

He was basically fasting during that time.

And so we are also,

Of course,

We're not to his level,

But we can also partake a little bit of that as we engage in our practice as Buddhists.

And of course,

Your observance,

It can include meditation as well.

In Mahayana Buddhism,

Those who have taken the Bodhisattva precepts typically fast for six days a month,

And they stop eating before the solar noon.

That one of those precepts I was talking about,

The eight precepts.

And so they are doing this for a variety of reasons.

Yes,

We just talked about some of the benefits of fasting,

But they also do that as Bodhisattvas in training.

They're doing that to alleviate the suffering of others,

Sentient beings,

For example,

And also to ease up on the food supply.

So it's just not always consumption.

There's a little bit more left there,

At least for that one day,

For example.

And of course,

We're doing several days a month.

Well,

That's going to alleviate some more food for the food supply.

Now,

When we are talking about fasting to finish up that portion of it,

Children shouldn't be fasting.

That's going to be a difference here.

They should not be fasting.

This is something that adults do,

And we're talking about healthy adults can do it.

So again,

Talk with your physician.

As I just mentioned,

With the Bodhisattva precepts in Mahayana Buddhism,

That's one of the last levels a lay Buddhist may be taking inside a Mahayana tradition.

And when they are taking these Bodhisattva precepts,

They are going to be taking these precepts in every day of their life.

It's just not going to be observance days.

They're going to be doing that as much as they can.

So you basically have the triple gem where you become a Buddhist,

And you can stay there.

A lot go on to the five precepts,

Right?

I want to uphold more precepts because precepts are those guardrails,

If you will,

That help us as we navigate the Buddhist path.

They're keeping us away from the extremes.

They're keeping us on the right path towards enlightenment.

And so when we take the Bodhisattva precepts,

This is where a Mahayana Buddhist,

And Mahayana Buddhism is the path of the Bodhisattva toward full Buddhahood.

So when they take the Bodhisattva precepts,

They're like,

I've realized my practices now achieve this level,

And I want to take the Bodhisattva precepts that I'm going to uphold every day of my life.

But for those who have not taken the Bodhisattva precepts yet,

They can take them during observance days.

This is a nice little add-on,

I think,

To the eight precepts because here you're going even beyond that,

And you're refining it to the path of the Bodhisattva.

So Siddhartha Gautama in his prior lifetimes,

Prior existences,

He was on the Bodhisattva path.

And so we want to be on a Bodhisattva path as well if you're inside Mahayana Buddhism.

And so we can take these Bodhisattva precepts on observance days.

You don't have to,

But it could be an additional step that you want to do.

So here are the Bodhisattva precepts.

One,

Do not kill or encourage others to kill.

You can see very quickly a lot of these are going to be very similar in some ways to the five precepts.

But here,

This is going to be the ethical path of the Bodhisattva.

Two,

Do not steal or encourage others to steal.

Three,

Do not engage in promiscuous acts or encourage others to do so.

Now,

Of course,

Monastics are expected to abstain from sexual conduct entirely,

But as laypersons,

If you are observing the Bodhisattva precepts,

That's what you're going to do as part of it for this observance day.

Four,

Do not use false words and speech or encourage others to do so.

You can probably see a trend going on here,

And encourage others to do so.

So it's just not about you.

You want to help make sure others don't do this as well because you care about their karma.

Five,

Do not trade or sell alcoholic beverages or encourage others to do so.

Six,

Do not broadcast the misdeeds or faults of the Buddhist assembly nor encourage others to do so.

Seven,

Do not praise oneself and speak ill of others or encourage others to do so.

Eight,

Do not be stingy or encourage others to do so.

Nine,

Do not harbor anger or encourage others to be angry.

And ten,

Do not speak ill of the Buddha,

The Dharma,

Or the Sangha or encourage others to do so.

So remember the triple gem or three jewels,

We want to ensure we do not speak bad words or negative things about them because we have taken refuge in them as well.

Even though we are taking on these observance days,

If you have not taken the Bodhisattva precepts yet,

These additional ten precepts of the Bodhisattva,

There's actually many more.

There's 48,

You know,

Once these are the ten major precepts,

But they could be something that you can do because you're going to be out in everyday life on your observance day as well probably.

So this can help you kind of become a Bodhisattva,

If you will,

A lay Bodhisattva,

An enlightened Bodhisattva,

As you go out and practice and engage with others in your family,

Your life,

And others you don't know.

So observance days are a wonderful way to elevate your practice inside Buddhism,

Where we are going to be doing things such as taking on additional precepts.

We are going to be maybe eating vegetarian meals.

Maybe we're going to be even taking the Bodhisattva precepts if you're inside Mahayana Buddhism.

We're doing things during this time that are going to be similar to us going to the gym.

We are going to be practicing a little bit harder because we're trying to be aligned a little bit more like the monastic lifestyle to make sure we can get to that end goal where we are ending the three fires of greed,

Anger,

And ignorance so we can realize nirvana.

Do you have any questions about observance days?

I'd like to hear back from you.

You can leave a reply to this podcast if you're on Spotify,

Or you send me a message at my website,

Alanpeto.

Com,

Or on social media.

Thank you,

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