Just to comment on some points I missed out just now...
how do you make buddhism relevant
to your life?
Buddhist practise is meant to be practised in life. Or else...
practise when you are dead? 
rather than meditate all day and try to reach nirvana
This is one of the misconceptions of Buddhism. A Buddhist who
wishes to attain Nirvana does not necessarily have to practise
meditation all day. There are 84000 dharma doors, sitting
meditation is only one of them. In fact I think it is good if you
can do sitting meditation. My dharma teacher recommends that we sit
30 minutes meditation everyday. But even if you can't, it does not
mean you cannot practise. It depends on what dharma you are
practising. The dharma that my taiwanese teacher transmitted to us
can be practised wherever we go - even during sleep!
Actually cultivation is a simple thing. You have to understand what
Buddhist cultivation is about. Buddha himself was not a person who
spend all his life meditating! He walked throughout India helping
people and teaching the dharma.
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http://www.jenchen.org.sg/cultivat.htm
The correct concept of cultivation
First of all we need to understand what is cultivation.
Some people think that cultivation means not having an
occupation but to be engaged in the daily activities of prayers to
the Buddha, meditation or chanting the sutras. The actual purpose
of cultivation is to eradicate our undesirable conduct and to
maintain our good conduct. In other words, to follow the
Bodhisattva path in emulating the practices of the
Bodhisattvas. When we know the meaning of cultivation,
then we understand its purpose, which is to eradicate our self
serving and evil habits and thus reduce our negative karma.
However, many people do not understand this principle and they
misinterpret its meaning. Actually, not only those who have
renounced to be Buddhist monks or nuns need to cultivate,
lay-Buddhists also need to cultivate, if not more diligently. Even
those who do not subscribe to any religion need to cultivate.
Cultivation is not only a matter for monks or nuns alone.
What is cultivation? Where do we practise cultivation? Let me tell
you a story: More than twenty years ago, I took four years to
cultivate as I travelled across the country. Step by step, I
covered Taiwan by walking. Once when I was in Hua-Lian, an elderly
Buddhist asked me, "Master! A monk should reside in the temple to
meditate, pray and chant sutras, but when you travel about what are
you cultivating? I replied, "ThatÂ’s right! I am cultivating.
Sakyamuni Buddha teaches us to cultivate our conduct. He does not
encourage us to cultivate sitting down! In the past few years I had
been practising sitting meditation, now I wish to travel about.
While walking and also amidst all my other activities, I do not
commit evil deeds, I chant the names of the Buddhas, I praise and
commend others, I tell people about the Dharma, I avoid the places
of vice, this is the way I cultivate."
Thus, to cultivate means cultivating in the midst of our
activities. This is a point that many people do not understand.
They think that cultivation will result in a society that is
pessimistic and low-spirited. This is a mistake. Jen Chen Buddhism
advocates cultivating in the midst of our daily activities. Many
retired old folks have no need to attend to household chores
anymore, thus they can afford to spend their time to chant the
names of the Buddhas and to cultivate in the midst of their
leisure. However, there are many housewives who need to tend to
their children, household chores and many other matters. How do you
expect them to cultivate in their leisure? Thus, the need to
cultivate in the midst of their activities; while cooking they
could chant the names of the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas. No
matter what activities they are engaged in, it is always possible
to cultivate. Instead of gossipping about our neighbours and
friends or engaging in other frivolous talks, why not refrain from
all these. This is cultivation. Therefore, only when we cultivate
in the midst of our activities do we understand the meaning of
cultivation. To cultivate in our leisure may cause others a lot of
frustrations. For example, a husband may be upset because his wife
neglects the household by spending too much time chanting or
running from temple to temple. For her to introduce Buddhism to her
husband, thus, would not be an easy task. If she understands the
principle of cultivating in the midst of her activities, it would
be acceptable to the husband. Should he be invited to places of
vice, he would know how to turn them down because his wife is a
diligent cultivator. Both husband and wife are then cultivating at
the same time.
There will be progress in our society when we understand the
principle of cultivation. Otherwise, society will backslide. Over
the last few decades, I have come to realize that we need to
cultivate wherever we are. When we possess the correct concept of
cultivation, any time is an appropriate time for cultivation, any
place can be the place for us to seek enlightenment. If each and
everyone of us conduct ourselves in this way, then the world will
become a pure land. If we think that we can only cultivate in the
temples, or that we cannot cultivate when we are working, then it
is very possible that we commit evils deeds without even knowing.
When we are with Buddha every moment, and cultivate constantly,
then we are truly practitioners of Buddhism.
As to when in the cultivation process does one awaken and what it
is like to be awakened, only when you follow the guidance of the
Dharma and put it into practice, will you know you have awakened:
when you drink the water, only you know how warm or cold it
is.
continued in the
webpage...
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There is another saying by my Master:
To cultivate our actions is not
as good as to cultivate the body,
To cultivate the body is not as good as to cultivate the
mind,
To cultivate the mind is not as good as not having arising of the
mind.
---
My daily activities are not
unusual,
I'm just naturally in harmony with them.
Grasping nothing, discarding nothing...
Supernatural power and marvelous activity -
Drawing water and carrying firewood.
Layman Pang-yun
