Can following Buddhist practices help me in my studies?

Question

I am a student and follow Buddhist ideas. Can Buddhist practices increase my capabilities to be a better student? More discipline? Clearer mind? What practices would be of the most benefit to achieve my academic goals?

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Related questions (involve increasing focus/ attention, productivity/ efficiency/ time management)

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• Best type of meditation for attention
• Does meditation increase productivity for software developers and related professions?

Additionally, what studies have been done for the more general "spillover" type benefits such as greater well being and confidence?

Answer 1

You didn't mention whether you are a University student or a high school student. I'm going to assume you are in University for this answer.

Since you follow Buddhist ideas, you are likely familiar with the 5 precepts which are voluntarily taken by lay people who wish to follow the Buddha's teachings and who recognize that living in a manner that is harmless to others is needed as a first step. By taking the 5 precepts, a University student would be avoiding some of the worst problems that plague University populations many of which are related to alcohol and drug use and the regrettable behaviors that can follow. Here's a recent example of highly intelligent students ruining their reputations and educational opportunity by engaging in Wrong Livelihood. The practice of sīla can serve a student well and preserve educational opportunity.

The benefits to a student of practicing mindfulness are many and are briefly outlined here from the Brown University Student Health Services page. An excerpt:

Several studies with college students suggest that the practice of mindfulness leads to decreases in stress and anxiety, improvements in concentration and attention, and increases in self-awareness and overall emotional well-being. Professor Willoughby Britton, a clinical psychologist at Brown, has studied the effects of mindfulness meditation on Brown students and has found that meditation decreases anxiety.

Here's enough data to make your head spin from the American Mindfulness Research Association, much of it new and with mixed results. As is often said said regarding following Buddhist teachings and practices, try it for yourself. See if you see beneficial changes in yourself. When you see it for yourself; you'll know. :)

Answer 2

Can Buddhist practices increase my capabilities to be a better student?

Absolutely: increased calm and alertness, improved memory and health, reduced daydreaming — how could it not help?

Yoga too.

What practices would be of the most benefit to achieve my academic goals?

Sitting meditation

There are two main ways (that I know of) to do it:

• One is counting breaths. My mind is extremely active so that method wouldn't have worked well for me.

• What I used to do (for many years and hope to return to — it's much like the gym in that regard, I've found) is to watch your mind, your being itself; for example: "now I'm feeling the heat from sunlight through the window, now I'm having an argument do-over from the real one yesterday, now I'm feeling awesome because I quickly came out of fantasy daydream to recall I'm sitting doing this practice, now I'm remembering...".

Sending and receiving

There is a Tibetan practice you and anyone, Buddhist or not (same as sitting meditation) can do — it's called "sending and receiving": you breath in all the world's pain and other crap, hold it a sec to transform it, and breath it back as joy, health, and so on (this is an outline — instructions are good to do it right but they aren't complicated).