SuttaCentral
I’ve been trying to look for a thread about this topic but couldn’t find it. I’ve heard that meditation is a more advanced practice, not exactly recommended for beginners lay followers.
Besides reading the suttas, is there any teaching specifically talking about passing time skillfully for lay followers?
Thank you in advance!
Where’d you hear that?
I mean, it is an advanced practice. But it’s also a beginner’s practice. And a middling practice as well.
This kinda relate with my questioning. Does the Buddha ever advice lay people to meditate?
This is gold advice! As a avid anime watcher Go only come to my knowledge by watching HunterXHunter 
Will definitely take a look at it!
Not sure who you have been talking to, but meditation is very often the first subject upon introduction to Buddhism.
The Sigalovada Sutta is worth a look.
Of course. Some householders in the Buddha’s day were even recognized as very adept, such as Citta the Householder.
You haven’t seen Hikaru no Go?
This sutta is very very good. I had read it in the past, but it was worth the reading again! Although it does not mention meditation…
I didn’t 
but I think I heard about it!
I did find the sutta where Citta explain his experience on the Jhana states (SN 41.8) but I couldn’t find yet with ChatGPT a sutta where the Buddha speaking with a householder directly advice them to meditate any specific meditation.
Yeah, I don’t recall that specifically either.
But there are examples of other monks teaching meditation to householders. For example in MN 143 or SN 47.29
And though the Buddha explicitly addressed e.g. the satipaṭṭhāna sutta only to “monks” the commentary reports that nuns, householders, and devas were also included in the audience as well.
Has anyone mentioned AN11.11?
Other suttas with Mahanama might also be useful.
There are a few suttas that come to mind that may be relevant:
In MN51, after the Buddha describes satipaṭṭhāna practice to the lay disciple Pessa, Pessa notes that he and other lay disciples also practice it in the same way.
In SN47.29, Ānanda visits a seriously-ill Sirivaḍḍha and teaches him satipaṭṭhāna, but Sirivaḍḍha has already learned this (and has already become a non-returner too!)
SN55.53 has the Buddha instructing Dhammadinna the lay follower to “undertake and dwell upon the discourses spoken by the Realized One that are deep, profound, transcendent, dealing with emptiness,” which could easily be taken as meditative contemplation. Unfortunately, Dhammadinna wasn’t interested in this kind of contemplation.
In AN5.176, the wealthy benefactor Anāthapiṇḍika and a lot of his followers visit the Buddha, who highlights their generosity in supporting the Saṅgha but then encourages them to go further: “You should train yourselves: How can we, from time to time, enter and dwell in the bliss of seclusion?”
I only understood the Buddha recommending the recollections on the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha, Dana and Devas. I tried to search on how to transform these recollections in some type of meditation but didn’t find it. Is there any “guided recollection” btw?
They are meditations.
The guided recollection is what is found in that sutta itself.
(Side note… You put this post in the Q&A category, but it’s more of a discussion topic. Also, you marked it as solved so this means that every time someone tries to reply the forum software will disccourage them from doing so. I recommend removing the “solved” mark and changing the category to Discussion .
Thank you for the advice about the topic matter.
I was looking for a video/audio guided meditation on the recollections. I know the recollections but in literature they seem like a constant reminder than a meditation like mindfulness of breathing that you could spend an hour on it or more.
Keep in mind that Mindfulness and Recollection are both the translations for the same word sati, which is something like Remembrance / Memory in abstract.
Right Mindfulness = Sammasati
Buddha Recollection = Buddhānussati
Here’s Venerable Canda’s guided meditations on Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha recollections:
The Buddha taught many laypeople. Spiritual aptitudes varied. He taught meditation to those who were ready. He taught the brahmaviharas to laypeople in several suttas, even in the well-known Kalama Sutta. If someone is serious about Dhamma practice, I think it’s good to practice meditation as a beginner, all things being equal.
The Visuddhimagga has an entire chapter devoted to the recollections. There are a lot of great ideas in there.
And then in AN 5.179 we see the results of their practice of meditation 
My teacher taught me how to behave myself for 6 years before giving me instructions to cultivate the bramaviharas for a short formal daily meditation session. Another way could have proven counterproductive for me. I still can’t behave myself!
SN 47.8 is an interesting sutta that shows how a meditator should investigate the mind to see which type of meditation is appropriate in the present. The Venerable Sunyo has a nice video on this sutta.
The suttas in which the Buddha speaks about advanced meditation to laypeople (at least the ones I know) are usually directed toward celibate lay followers, especially non-returners.
I understand that many lay disciples were pleasure-seekers (kāma-bhogi) and had little interest in advanced meditation practice. So the Buddha offered teachings like the Recollections precisely because they could be incorporated into the busy lives of this type of householders.
It’s also important to remember that right view and virtuous conduct are prerequisites for successful formal ('sitting") meditation. So cultivating these qualities before engaging in meditation seems to be a skillful way to pass time. Chanting sessions are also useful to develop saddha (confidence) and tranquility.
The Buddha acknowledged that a noble disciple might live without meditating, but he considered such behavior to be negligent. Any noble disciple who wishes to practice diligently must “make a further effort for solitude by day and retreat by night” (SN 55.40). Once in retreat, they should engage in formal meditation, such as the Four Foundations of Mindfulness.
It seems that some disciples, like Pessa, practiced in this way “from time to time”—perhaps on Uposatha days (when the Eight Precepts are traditionally observed). But the more dedicated ones practiced daily—and reaped the fruits of that effort.
If you have a decent understanding of the Dhamma, a reasonable amount of faith, and fairly good virtue, it’s possible that practicing the Four Foundations of Mindfulness could be more beneficial than engaging in a formal meditation based on the Recollections. You’d have to check that with someone more experienced in meditation, though — I’m not.