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MIND & BRAIN

10 Buddhist monk habits: Hard to adopt, but life

changing when you do
by Lachlan Brown
2 years ago

What’s the secret to feeling calm and focused?

It’s not an easy question to answer.

So why do Buddhist monks appear peaceful and present all the time?

How do they do it? Do they know some hidden secret that you don’t?

Actually, yes they do!

For thousands of years, Buddhist philosophy has focused solely on how to reduce
human suffering and keep the mind focused on the present moment.

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And today, we’re going to go through Buddhism’s most important principles and
habits that we can all adopt in our daily lives.

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While they may appear di cult at rst, if you keep at it, they’ll bene t you for a
lifetime.

Habit 1 – Outer de-cluttering

Did you know that the Buddha was born a prince? Yep, he could have spent his life
in a big, beautiful palace where everything is done for him.

But he didn’t.
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He abandoned everything when he realized the frustrating nature of materialism.

2300 years later, Buddhist monks do the same. They keep material possessions to
a minimum and only hold what they need to live their life. Usually this will all t in a
small backpack.

They completely de-clutter their life.

Habit 2 – Inner de-cluttering: taking care of others

In many Buddhist circles, monks learn to do things not for themselves, but for the
whole world.

When they meditate, it’s for the sake of everyone. They attempt to attain
enlightenment to reach their full potential and help those in need.

When you can develop this kind of sel ess attitude, you focus less on your
personal problems. You get less emotional about small things and your mind
becomes more calm.

This is what’s called inner de-cluttering: making room for others and dumping
sel sh habits.

Habit 3 – Meditating A LOT

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One of the main reasons you become a monk is to have more time to meditate.
Most monks wake up early and meditate for 1 to 3 hours and do the same at night.
This kind of practice changes the brain. If you’ve read any articles on the bene ts
of meditation, then you know what I mean.

You don’t have to adopt this kind of rigorous schedule, but what if you started the
day with 30 minutes of meditation?

Habit 4 – Following the wise

In western society, we have an unhealthy relationship with old age. But for Buddhist
monks, they see elder people as having wisdom. They seek elder spiritual guides 
that can help them on their path.

If you look around, there are always insightful people to learn from. Older people
have more experience which means they can offer countless life lessons.

Habit 5 – Listen mindfully and without judgment

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Our brains naturally judges others. But according to Buddhists, the point of
communication is to help others and ourselves suffer less.

Criticizing and judging obviously doesn’t help. 

What’s wonderful about mindfulness is that it’s judgment-free. The main goal of
mindful communication is to take in everything that someone is saying without
evaluating it.

So many of us pre-plan our answers while we’re listening but the main goal here is
to simply take in all that they are saying.

It leads to more mutual respect, understanding and chances for progress in the
conversation.

Habit 6 – Change is the only law of the universe

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According to Buddhist master Suzuki, a crucial principle we all need to learn is to
accept change:

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“Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find
perfect composure. But unfortunately, although it is true, it is difficult
for us to accept it. Because we cannot accept the truth of transiency,
we suffer.”

Everything changes, it’s the fundamental law of the universe. Yet, we nd it hard to
accept it. We identify strongly with our xed appearance, with our body and our
personality. And when it changes, we suffer.

However, Suzuki says we can overcome this by recognizing that the contents of
our minds are in perpetual ux. Everything about consciousness comes and goes.
Realizing this in the heat of the moment can diffuse fear, anxiety, anger, grasping,
despair. For example, it’s hard to stay angry when you see anger for what it is. This
is why Zen teach that the moment is all that exists.

Suzuki says: “Whatever you do, it should be an expression of the same deep
activity. We should appreciate what we are doing. There is no preparation for
something else”

Habit 7 – Living the moment

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As humans it can be tough to simply embrace the present moment. We tend to

think about past events or worry about what the future holds. Our mind can
naturally drift.

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But mindfulness encourages us to refocus. Practising mindfulness enables us to
get better at redirecting our thoughts back to what we’re actually engaged in.

Without judging ourselves for getting lost in our thoughts, we simply acknowledge
that we lost our attention and direct our focus to our senses or any task we’re
engaged in.

It takes discipline but it’s what we need to do if we want to be present for the
miracles of life.

Habit 8 – Focus on one thing

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This is a simple point, but underlines a key aspect of Buddhist philosophy.

Buddhist monks are taught to focus on one thing at a time. Whatever is happening
in your present moment, give it your full attention.

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When we multi-task, we often think we’re getting more done. Yet it’s been
scienti cally demonstrated that the brain doesn’t cope well with multi-tasking. In
reality, the quality of your work when multi-tasking isn’t as high.

If you can be like a Buddhist monk and focus on one thing at a time, you’ll be more
engaged with what you’re doing and probably will experience more peace and
calmness as a result.
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Habit 9 – Give it everything you’ve got

Giving something your all is similar to focusing on one thing at a time.

When you are doing something, embrace it with every aspect of your being.

This doesn’t mean turning into an aggressive work horse, creating stress for
yourself and people around you.

Instead, focus on the present moment with a sense of peacefulness and sustained
concentration.

After all, you’re living here right now. There’s nowhere else to be, nothing else to do.
Give what you’re doing everything you’ve got and wait for the results to kick in.
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Habit 10 – Let go of what you can’t control

I wrote about this recently on Hack Spirit. Letting go of things you can’t control is a
huge part of how Buddhist monks live their lives.

When you realize how impermanent everything is, you begin to let go and enjoy life
for what it is in that moment.

The opposite way of living life is to get attached to things and try to hold onto
them.

But this isn’t how life works. Everything changes over time. When you try and keep
things xed, you’re resisting the natural way things are.

NOW READ: Buddhist Monk Breaks the Scales of Brain Activity While Meditating in
a Laboratory 
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Notable replies

BillAmes
2 months ago
It is very likely they are as you describe because they believe all will be well, and accept the path
they travel and know (that does not require belief) where it leads as all ways have the same
destination. They know what is true because the truth is what you believe it to be, that can make
virtually anyone content.

saintmel45
2 months ago
Buddhism is all about Negation, I suggest Christianity instead. If you want a deeper spiritual
meditation, turn into Latin Gregorian Chants instead.

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Written by Lachlan Brown

I’m Lachlan Brown, the editor of Ideapod and founder of Hack Spirit. I love writing practical
articles that help others live a mindful and better life. I have a graduate degree in Psychology
and I’ve spent the last 6 years reading and studying all I can about human psychology and
practical ways to hack our mindsets. If you to want to get in touch with me, hit me up on Twitter
or Facebook.

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