This morning I was reading Thich Nhat Hanh's Living Buddha, Living Christ. TNH writes:
If you read the Bible but do not practice, it will not help much. In Buddhism, practicing the teaching of the Buddha is the highest form of prayer. The Buddha said, “If someone is standing on one shore and wants to get to the other shore, he has to either use a boat or swim across. He cannot just pray, ‘Oh, other shore, please come over here for me to step across!’”. To a Buddhist, praying without practicing is not real prayer.
I have always thought of prayer as a form of meditation. I have always thought that prayer was designed to help inform our day to day interaction with the world.
Similarly, I have always thought the object of formal meditation is to nourish and inform our daily practice of life/the dharma.
Formal mediation helps me to lead a more ‘meditative’ life. The experience of sitting meditation, in all the forms that I practice, assists me in more fully realising the dharma in my every day life.
I agree with TNH - the practice of the dharma in the moment is the highest form of prayer. But in order to step towards this highest form I know I need the formal sitting. I also need the teaching, reading, thinking and support of the people and world around me.
Formal meditation, the guidance of skilful teachers and the love of those that support me have been crucial in my cultivation of the Path. Cultivating the Path in my day-to-day life is my opportunity to practice the highest form of prayer.
