How to Pass Time Skillfully?

[Jhana4]

@Khemarato.bhikkhu

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.

Good in the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end.

[am7]

A simple advice from MN51:

“You must do, Pessa, whatever you think it is now the right time for.”

[Mkoll]

@moxu

About this. The walking meditation that I saw untill now was very slow walking, mindful steps, almost like a turtle (doing at home with closed eyes, is almost a necessary condition). Of course, you are moving, but do you get fit?

That’s hard to answer. People have different fitness goals and views of what being fit is. These goals and views change as we age.

@moxu

In the sense that, is it considered an exercise for a modern perspective?

If you consider regular walking exercise for a modern perspective, walking meditation is too, all things being equal.

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Please forgive me for not really answering your questions. They are good questions that I don’t have good answers for.

To leave a parting thought on the subject that I wish the younger me would have heard and heeded: Take care of your joints! No muscular strength or size, aerobic or anaerobic fitness, endurance level, personal record, body appearance, or whatever other fitness metric you can strive for is worth damaging them.

[osamu]

These 5 qualities are frequently taught to lay people in various suttas: Faith, ethics, learning, generosity, and wisdom.
I try to cultivate these qualities in my own life through various means.
Learning for me includes reading and reflection, but also attending a Buddhist discussion group and exposing myself to different Buddhist traditions. This helps inform the development of the other qualities as I learn from other Buddhists how they practice and reflect on the ways they embody Buddhist principles.

[thistle]

@Snowbird

That’s because there is nothing in the suttas on these topics. If I missed them I’d be more than happy to add.

Yoga as a form of exercise with all the postures, etc., is a modern phenomenon.

Take a look at a map of India and see the distances the Buddha traveled repeatedly by foot. There would have been little need for exercise with that kind of lifestyle.

I never replied I was thinking along the lines of light gymnastics and advice given to lay people on a “healthy mind in a healthy body” to be able to practise better…that kind of thing. Not obsessing with it or clinging to it of course. Doesn’t seem to be a priority, though.

[Snowbird]

Have you looked at the two health entries in the CIPS?

SN 22.1 Nakulapitusutta Kind of has the opposite attitude:

“That’s so true, householder! That’s so true, householder! For this body is ailing, swaddled in its shell. If anyone dragging around this body claimed to be healthy even for an hour, what is that but foolishness?

So you should train like this: ‘Though my body is ailing, my mind will be healthy.’ That’s how you should train.”

[Khemarato.bhikkhu]

@thistle

advice given to lay people on a “healthy mind in a healthy body”

Yeah, I was going to say, “Do you have a citation for this?”

The Buddha did encourage moderation in eating to King Pasenadi in SN 3.13 but this is at least as much about mindfulness and effacing the kilesas as it about the health of the body…

[osamu]

The mangala sutta also comes to mind. Numerous virtuous activities and qualities are described, starting with association with the wise and ending with the attainment of nibbana.