Should a Buddhist lay-practitioner schedule his/her daily life

Question

I'm currently considering making schedules for my daily life in order to counteract boredom and restlessness. Does anyone has experience with doing this and maybe can give me some tips? Is it beneficial and if yes, how strict should you schedule your day?

Answer 1

Routine is a good thing to have for a Buddhist, I believe. While this will vary person to person based on their circumstances, these are my suggestions to incorporate in a daily routine of a lay Buddhist.

Throughout the day continue to

1. maintain and develop the 10 skillful deeds.
2. efface and prevent the 10 unskillful deeds.

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an10/an10.176.than.html

These 2 items were recommended by the Buddha as daily contemplations, almost must haves in any schedule.

• Recollect the 5 daily subjects of contemplation as part of the morning, afternoon or evening ritual http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an05/an05.057.than.html

• Perform this check in the evening. http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn22/sn22.101.than.html

Once a week keep the Uposatha practice:

1. The Buddha's strong recommendation of this practice is found here: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an10/an10.046.than.html
2. Details of the practice is found here: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an03/an03.070.than.html

There are many other beneficial contemplations and practices that can be incorporated into a routine.

Do share your routine once you have compiled it.

May you be happy -/\-

Answer 2

A monk's daily routine requires the minimum of morning and evening chanting. In the Theravada tradition this also includes going for daily alms.

So I would suggest the following schedule:

Morning

Morning meditation

Morning chants

Lunch

Lunch break meditation

Evening

Evening meditation

Evening chants

Try to make use of free time to study the Dharma. You can also practice sutra calligraphy if that exist in your tradition but that is more time consuming.

Answer 3

I try to make sure I follow one curiosity a day regarding the dharma. Then I make sure 3 times a day I sit outside and take it all in. I close my eyes and try to hear the furthest sounds that I can all the way back to the closest and identify them. Then the smells followed by the sensations on my skin.

I offer this because so often we sacrifice the enjoyment around us for more order. For this reason I often purposefully shun order and focus on enjoying the world around me as it comes. It could be cold, or raining, or noisy, or smelly. Yet I enjoy the sensations. The simplicity and innocence.

Order and discipline certainly have their place, but dont forget to schedule or not even schedule some disorder and simple pleasures. balance. damyata datta dayadhvam.