I have a question about scheduling and planning things up. That constitutes a source of stress for me, as I find it difficult to plan everything and achieve a specific outcome, so I let things flow naturally; but, as I’m studying in college, then that pressure to plan and schedule re-appears again.
So here’s my question: how would the Buddha approach his day? Would he schedule and plan his day, or would he let things happen as they are? I don’t if there are any suttas that talk about this topic; that would be a great inspiration for me.
Well, the first thing that comes to mind for me is that kind of stress would fall under restlessness and worry, one of the five hinderances. Usually a strong sense of self and discontent is associated with this hinderance. The antidote would be when there’s contact with those thoughts, there should not be engagement with those thoughts, not allowing the worries and stress to occupy the mind. Being a busy lay person is cramped and dirty where renunciation like the Buddha was is wide open.
A mix. There was a general structure to the Buddha’s day (alms round in the morning, eating, retreat, teach in the evening…) but the Buddha was flexible when needed (Bahiya asked for a teaching in the morning and was told it was the wrong time but got a short teaching when he persisted, etc)
You might be interested in Bhante S. Dhammika’s book ‘Footprints in the Dust’. It goes into a lot of detail about how the Buddha conducted himself, pieced together for the suttas
As a side note… In many ways we should be trying to imitate the Buddha, but mainly in terms of his wisdom. For ordinary things (like planning our day) not so much. He was a unique individual in many ways and so we need to be careful what we try and copy from him.
For example, he would often take time in the morning to survey the world with the divine eye and see if anyone was ready to attain enlightenment. (we find this mostly in the commentaries, but it does occur in sutta.) I wouldn’t recommend imitating that.
On the flip side, we don’t see any cases (as far as I know) of the Buddha going over his schedule for the whole day with his attendant Ven. Ananda. He usually would just mention the next thing to do. However, he was living the life of a monk. You are not. So expecting to get good results from lay life by living like a monk… it’s just not going to work.
You may want to explore suttas on the topic of lay life
There are moments when I can “mention the next thing” and then do it without pressure; but, as you said, I can’t live the life of a monk in a lay environment. I know you facilitated an index of suttas related to lay life: I thank you for that. If possible, will it be possible to find a sutta related to planning and lay life? That would be fantastic.
Topics like that can be difficult because there isn’t much (that I’m aware of) that addresses it directly. The Dhamma is a teaching to put an end to the round of Samsara. We can’t expect guidance on every problem we experience in life. At least not explicitly. I think if one were able to figure out the underlying difficulties (like, what is the deeper issue around planning) then targeted Dhamma solutions could be found.
In the suttas there seems to be the assumption that lay life is very difficult and full of distractions. The main solution to that is to become a monastic, with the ultimate solution being Nibbana.
Perhaps you have the belief that the Buddha said we should not plan? There is a wrong idea out there that following the Buddha’s teachings mean “living in the moment” and not thinking about the future at all. This is, of course, wrong. Especially for lay people. It’s the way we think about the future that causes problems (and provides a solution).
If you take MN 131/MN 133, you can see that the verses seem to support “only living in the moment,” but when you look at the explanation given for the verse meaning, it becomes clear that how we think about the past, present, and future is what matters.
AN 8.54 don’t mention planning directly, but planning is obviously required to earn a living, protect one’s wealth, keep balanced finances, etc.
Unless you are completely dependent on others because you can’t do basic activities of daily living (feed, bathe, toilet, etc.), you’re going to have to plan, whether you’re a monk or layperson or king or whatever. It’s just part of human existence.
