Buddhist Lay Practice

L I F E S T Y L E 렁 L A Y P R A C T I C E

R E S O U R C E S

Teenagers

this i

iz juz wadging
- 4 now

i iz grapbing
- eny thing

So, you are reading this?

good

• Bodies: Allow that bodily energy for young people is not the same as older folks. Until you get old (whenever that is) things are growing and moving about. This can make it difficult just sitting still, let alone meditating. There is no right or wrong with this, it is just the way it is.
• Keeping precepts is much more difficult as these bodies are sense bodies and we learn about the world through our senses. Sexual energy is not only happening but it is a relatively new thing - you can read the books but it takes a while to figure out (a bit like this Buddhism stuff?) Drugs and music and parties and going here and there - so much of it about sense stimulation.
• One way or the other you will have some moral standards - have the courage to keep them. There can be a peer group testing thing where your boundaries are challenged.
'I dare you to do that!'
The bottom line is that if you don't conform to the group activity you can fall outside the group - i.e. lose your friends. Life is full of compromises but where is your bottom line? You like this person but you don't want to take drugs, or have sex with them, or steal cars, or shoplift, or miss school, or .... whatever. Then don't. There are many others who won't either - and you will find them.
• Minds: Things we don't understand are often confusing. The world is full of many many things and until a range of them are understood there is bound to be confusion. This is logical but the process is still painful. Craving is the cause but ignorance is what the Buddha put down as the root of suffering. [see TEACHINGS-DEPENDENT ARISING] Watching, reading, listening, touching -engaging all the senses - without being overwhelmed by the sense world. Not an easy balancing act.

a bottom line

hair today

peace today

Things to do:
• Silence and solitude can be useful. Spending time alone in nature is usually calming. Going for a walk on your own can sometimes seem like a losers choice - such is the emphasis on a social life - but it tends to peace. You can always join a plasticene modelers internet chat group if you need a social life.
• Spend time with animals. They tend to offer unconditional love in response to not much at all - why can't we do that with each other?
• Garden - or any project that gets you in touch with the earth.
• Spend time with others of like mind - discuss your interest in meditation. Be honest about your confusion, lousy dress sense, good looks - and such. There is an ideal of what it is to be cool, to be 'together', but my experience (and this includes the big people) is that most people are not really sure what they are up to or where they are headed. [see: spiritual friends]
• Try watching old people - the way they move, the general energy going on. Contemplate the difference between 'having a good time' and peace. Peace is not at all exciting - but it is peaceful. Relaxation and activity are not opposites but movement make mindfulness more difficult - unless of course it is a practice of awareness - like yoga or tai chi.
• AND - of course - meditate. [see: BHAVANA and MEDITATION]
It is about being awake in the present moment. It doesn't have to mean being still, although physical stillness makes it easier to see what's going on in the mind, and that's really where all this Buddhism stuff is pointing. Finding other people whose wisdom you respect or who seem to have a handle on peace is so useful but not always easy to do. Whatever understanding you have of peace / calm / meditation / wisdom / etc. then just give that a go. Making any kind of effort is never wasted.