[hitaEtela]

Thanks for Aloka-D for the useful clarification.

Hello Hajurba, nice to meet you and many thanks for your compliments. I have to agree with your comments. As I am also working in a private company and having a family, I understand your comments well.

Dhamma taught by the Buddha is various and wide. The Buddha did not require everyone to leave the ‘Gharavasa’ life (the household life) and enter into the ‘Pabbajjita’ life (monk life). On the contrary, the Buddha taught many ways to practice since we are still in ‘Gharavasa’ life. And practicing in ‘Gharavasa’ life could also lead us to reach the ‘Sotāpanna’ (the stream-winner)

Also the Dhamma taught by the Buddha is for various levels since the beginner to the master and until ‘Arahanta’. So, everyone could select and take any part or level of the Buddha’s teaching which is matched to his own level and his own ‘Carita’ (instrinsic nature of a person). It would not be wrong for anyone to focus on different part or level of Buddha’s teaching since everyone could have different ‘Bala’ (Dhamma strength).

There have been long arguments between two groups of followers (i.e. the first group who focus on studying theory and the second group who focus on practicing real) whether which way/group is more useful. In view of the third group (which I agree with this), both studying theory and practicing real are both important.

We should not just study theory without practicing real; otherwise we do not gain real benefits from such study. It is like we study how to swim but we do not go swimming. We should not just practicing real without studying theory; otherwise we have nothing to check whether we go to the right way or wrong way. It is like we travel without a map, so we would not know even though we are lost. So, in fact, both studying theory and practicing real support to each other.

On another issue, practicing Dhamma does not require anything special, it is normal, simple and convenient. And we can do it anywhere. There are two questions which I would share.
There was a female millionaire asking a question to a senior monk long time ago.

She asked ‘Where should I go to practice Dhamma?’
The senior monk replied ‘We practice Dhamma without mind and body. Whereever you go you have to bring your mind and body with you. So, the place does not matter. Your mind and body do.’

She further asked ‘I am very busy in my business and have no time to practice Dhamma.’
The senior monk asked ‘Do you breath?’
‘Yes, all the time’ She replied.
The senior said ‘If you have time to breath, you surely have time to practice. It is just that you do not know how to practice when you breath in your daily life.’

So, according to the two questions/answers above, if we truly understand how to practice, it does not matter whether where we are, e.g. working place, hallway, supermarket, temple, toilet, bed room, school bus, taxi etc., we can practice. Because we have our mind and body to practice at that time. In other words, practicing Dhamma and having the household life do not conflict to each other. The real question is that how could we synchronize them or how could we practice in our household life.

Some people set their own conditions that they can practice only when they go the temple on a holiday, or they can practice only when they are in a specific place or a specific atmosphere. In fact, such conditions (set by himself) deceive himself for not practicing. It is like a spider shoots its web and then it is caught by its own web and cannot move anywhere.

If we set a condition that we can practice Dhamma only at temple on Sunday, it means that we go forward on Sunday but in other six days we could go back. So, at the end, how far we would go. If we set a condition that we have to practice in our bed room, it means that when we are at other places we could go back. How much time we spend in our bed room for practicing, and how much time we spend in bed room and other places for other activities.

So, the key is that we have to synchronize practicing to our daily life. Whenever we breath if we aware of our mind and body, it is already the time which we practice. On the contrary, if we breath, and we forget that our body is breathing or moving, or our mind is thinking, or feeling, it means that our breath is just waste and we do not practice.

I do not require anyone to follow my comments (due to the reasons explained above) or tell that my comments are correct or whatsoever. Everyone can take his/her own path which he/she views that it is useful to his/her studying and practicing.

Cheers with warm regards