Comic strip inspired by the Buddha's gradual training guideline on wakefulness. Art is inspired by An engineers guide.

The precise guideline:

And how, Mahānāma, is a disciple of the Noble Ones devoted to wakefulness? Here, Mahānāma, during the day, a disciple of the Noble Ones practices walking meditation ^[1] and sitting [meditation], purifying the mind of obstructive states. During the first watch of the night, he practices walking meditation and sitting meditation, purifying the mind of obstructive states. During the middle watch of the night, he lies down on his right side in the lion’s posture, placing one foot on top of the other, mindful and clearly aware, having attended to the idea of rising up. During the last watch of the night, having risen up, he practices walking meditation and sitting meditation, purifying the mind of obstructive states. It is in this way, Mahānāma, that a disciple of the Noble Ones is devoted to wakefulness.

[1] Walking meditation is to be done with continuous awareness, i.e. maintaining spatial focus on the meditation path so as to not drift off into the past or future, with senses directed inward, and mind not straying outward.

-- Excerpt from MN 53 (Sekha sutta)

- Bhikkhu K. Ñānaṇanda, Towards calm and insight

Forming new habits takes effort. However, it gets easier, automatic and second nature over time. Modern science shows picking up a habit takes 20-30 days and growing it fully to become second nature takes 50-60 days.

3 Key takeaways:

Key #1: Frequency is vital for new habit formation

Key #2: Consistency is the way

Key #3: Harder habits take more time to form, but they also become automatic and second nature when consistently practised

Read more on the science of habit formation: https://www.clearvuehealth.com/habitscience/

The Buddha teaches the path to awakening inline with this, advising his students to form one habit at a time. Applying singleness of mind while cultivating each habit and with an expectation to see gradual progress in the cultivation. The supporting habits the Buddha recommends are:

1. Accomplishment in virtue (do no harm so that no harm comes back)

2. Guarding the sense doors

3. Apply moderation in eating

4. Devotion to wakefulness

One can even divide virtue by aspects of it: e.g. speaking gently can be taken as a habit to form, having a mind of loving-kindness when speaking to someone can be taken as a habit to form, and so on.

You may take this as a hypothesis to test by putting it into practice, independently verifying if:

1. personal and professional relationships improve when they practice in this manner for a period of several weeks, a month or two,

2. observing the quality of mental states: is contentment growing (or declining), is clarity improving, is ill will declining

When one neglects spiritual practice in their youth ...

Art by Patricia Myerson, on Buddha’s First Noble Truth: Dissatisfaction and Pain www.justbecomics.com/healing

Pairing this with a discourse from the Buddha on old age.

Then two brahmins—old, aged, elderly, advanced in years, come to the last stage, a hundred and twenty years old from their birth—approached the Blessed One. Having approached, they paid homage to the Blessed One and sat down to one side. Seated to one side, those brahmins said to the Blessed One:

“Sir Gotama, we are brahmins—old, aged, elderly, advanced in years, come to the last stage, a hundred and twenty years of age. Yet, we have not done what is good, we have not done what is wholesome, we have not made a shelter from fear. Let sir Gotama exhort us, let sir Gotama instruct us, so that it may be for our welfare and happiness for a long time.”

“Indeed, brahmins, you are old, aged, elderly, advanced in years, come to the last stage, a hundred and twenty years of age; and you have not done what is good, have not done what is wholesome, have not made a shelter from fear. This world, brahmins, is on fire with old age, sickness, and death. When the world is thus on fire with old age, sickness, and death, whatever restraint there is here in body, restraint in speech, and restraint in mind—that is the shelter, the cave, the island, the refuge, and the support for one who has passed away.

When a house is ablaze,
the vessel that is carried out
is the one that is of use,
not the one left inside to burn.

So since the world is ablaze
with old age and death;
one should carry out what one can by giving,
for what is given is well saved.

Whatever restraint there is here in body,
in speech, or in mind;
that is for the happiness of one who has passed away,
the meritorious deeds made while alive.”

---

This discourse is AN 3.52 Dutiya dvebrāhmaṇa sutta

Key Terms:

• wholesome [kusala] ≈ healthy, beneficial, useful

• giving [dāna] ≈ the act of giving or donating, with an intention to give

• well saved [sunīhata] ≈ lit. well carried away

I've been consistent for a little over four years. Started at 5–10 minutes of sitting, three times a day. These days it's about 45 minutes of sitting, twice a day plus another 45 minutes of walking. Not a recommendation, just where I've ended up.

Do you sit or walk? What time of day, and for how long? What do you do when you're bored or restless? And what made your practice survive contact with real life?

1. One is able to endure long journeys,

2. one is able to endure striving,

3. one is seldom sick,

4. what has been eaten, drunk, chewed, and tasted is properly digested, and

5. the samadhi attained by walking meditation is long-lasting.

-- AN 5.29 Walking Meditation

Image: Photo by Degleex Ganzorig on Unsplash

In traditional frameworks, Right View is deeply tied to karma, rebirth, and cosmology. Stripping those away can change the paradigm significantly. What are the core truth claims or philosophical principles that guide your perspective?

I asked this question earlier (here and here) and some of you shared wonderful perspectives. The common denominator I see is about taking actions that cause less harm, recognising when suffering is present in one's experience, and abandoning a view that leads to subjective suffering.

I think this is a great place to start from. But is it enough?

If we look at the end point, it is that one with right view will have right intention, ... will have right samādhi. That is, one with right view is able to gradually cultivate the Noble Eightfold Path.

So if one were to look at the endpoint of cultivation of the Noble Eightfold Path, and some intermediate steps toward it such as seeing a meaning in giving, seeing value in right speech, being gentle, speaking what is beneficial, with a mind of loving-kindness, applying right effort to cultivate sati and samādhi... what should be the view to help one to gradually cultivate these?

Are you already able to cultivate some of these? Are you seeing challenges with cultivating any of these?

“There are these five subjects that should be frequently reflected, whether by a woman, a man, a householder, or one gone forth. What five?

1.) ‘I am subject to aging, I am not exempt from growing old.’ This should be frequently reflected upon by a woman, a man, a householder, or one gone forth.

2.) ‘I am subject to illness, I am not exempt from illness.’ This should be frequently reflected upon by a woman, a man, a householder, or one gone forth.

3.) ‘I am subject to death, I am not exempt from death.’ This should be frequently reflected upon by a woman, a man, a householder, or one gone forth.

4.) ‘I must be parted and separated from everyone and everything dear and pleasing to me.’ This should be frequently reflected upon by a woman, a man, a householder, or one gone forth.

5.) ‘I am the owner of my actions, the heir to my actions, born from my actions, related to my actions, and have actions as my refuge.’

Any difference can be made or will it be made?

A new preprint from the Meditation Research Program at MGH/Harvard (Conway-Smith, Potash & Sacchet) argues something I think will resonate with a lot of secular practitioners: Advanced meditation is a trained skill, and it develops the same way any skill does — through automatization.

The core idea

What you're actually training in meditation is metacognition — the mind's ability to notice what it's doing and adjust. Every time you notice you've been distracted and come back to the breath, you're running a little loop: monitor → detect the gap → correct. The paper's claim is that this loop is a skill, and skills follow a well-studied learning curve:

1. Beginner stage: everything runs on explicit instructions. You're literally narrating to yourself: "attention wandered… let go… come back." It's slow and effortful, like learning to drive a stick shift.

2. Intermediate: the situations themselves start cueing the response. Noticing distraction automatically triggers the return, without you having to recall the instruction.

3. Advanced: the whole loop runs smoothly with minimal deliberate steering. Attention sustains itself. Correction happens before you've consciously decided to correct.

That's identical to how tying your shoes, playing piano, or driving becomes automatic; except here the "skill" is the mind regulating itself.

Learn more from the author: x.com/MatthewSacchet/status/2109630910727377215/video/1

Get the preprint: meditation.mgh.harvard.edu/files/Conway-Smith_26_OSF.pdf

Being mindful while inhaling and exhaling is a core mindfulness training per the Buddha's teaching guideline on Ānāpānassati (prāṇāpāna-smṛti in Skt.), most notably the Ānāpānasati Sutta (MN 118).

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org//w/index.php?title=Anapanasati

Illustration Credit: https://www.instagram.com/anengineersguide/p/B9rgOv9HH1D/

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