Morning Practice: How do YOU start?

[conebeckham]

Mmm, I love me some peach yogurt, Catmoon....Brown Cow lowfat peach yogurt is the BOMB! Just had some, in fact.....

[catmoon]

But I would like to mention the stuff I'm getting is ony 1.5% m.f. so yes, you really can have it all and not bloat like dead whale on a tropical beach.

[Blue Garuda]

This morning my practice started with patience and compassion, and a bucket.

Puppy decided 2.30 am would be a good time to vomit, pee and produce projectile defaecation.

It is now 5.00 and he is fast asleep after racing around gaily spreading the mess.

I think he ate several ants yesterday. Maybe also a snail. And maybe a tiny frog.

Is this what they call shit karma?

[Steveyboy]

The moment I get up, I like to check my Facebook wall status on my mobile phone. Then, I force myself out of bed, hobble over to my Lama Tsongkhapa altar and collect all the water from the offering bowls and use it to water the plants on my balcony. Then I replace the empty offering bowls with water, light a candle filled with water and offer incense to purify the offerings. Then I clean up, prepare breakfast and get ready for work.

[little rock]

Wake up to the sound of my iPhone playing a soft harp sound at 5:20 AM. Quietly get up so as not to wake my wife sleeping peacefully beside me. Walk into the living room where my little meditating Buddha statue resides. Light up some sandalwood incense and plop down my zabuton and zafu. Open the iPhone to the insight timer app and click my preset morning session. Wait 30 seconds for the starting 3 bells and then take refuge with bows to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Sit zazen for 20 minutes until the ending 2 bells go off. Once again do my 3 refuge bows and that's it for the morning. Rinse and repeat for the evening session when I get home from work.

[Kaji]

My morning practice now has been streamlined, due to my recent lack of time. It goes something like this:
- Incense chant
- Various mantra to cleanse my 10 sins, cleanse the area, offer
- A chant to praise Buddha
- Make offering, usually water and the flower of my heart (sometimes also flowers, fruits and incense), to Buddha, Bodhisattva, Dharma protectors and the sarira of the Buddha, some of his personal students and other arahant/monk
- Refuge to the Triple Gems
- Recite the Casket Seal Dharani 7 times
- Repent
(- If it is the 15th or last day of a lunar month, recite the Five Precepts)
- The 4 Bodhisattva vows
- Various mantra to make complete the above practice and share karma
- Share karma

I used to recite other dharani, mantra and sutra, such as the Great Compassionate Dharani, the Heart Sutra, the Cundi Mantra etc. Now I will only recite a selection of them when I have time, like during a weekend day.

Sometimes I cannot get up early enough, see my newborn baby daughter and have enough time to do everything in preparation to leave for work, and so will do the above supposedly-morning practice together with my evening practice, preta-dana. I know, not best practice, so I shall improve on this.

[Kaji]

The other thing that I am trying to develop a habit of is to chant "namo amitaabhaaya tathaagathaaya" 10 times in my mind the very first thing I do when I wake up every morning.

I'd really like to make sure I can successfully go to the Pure Land when I pass away, no matter if I get to die peacefully or all suddenly in an accident.

[bunny]

Morning: wake up in bed, imagine blue fire cleansing me. Light insence on my altar thank my patron god, Hecate (goddess of witches) & the Lord and Lady for blessing me with another day. Extinguish insense. Take a cleansing shower, asking the water element to purify my body for the coming day. After shower, light insence again, cleanse myself in the insence smoke. Ask for patron god & hecate to guide me in the coming hours. Get dressed for work (if working day, if not stay in bathrobe). Meditate for at least 20 minutes using my meditation beads as an aid. Ground myself with clear quartz. Do my daily tarot card reading. Extinguish insence. Leave my bedroom to get on with the day.

Night: light insence on my altar, gave thanks to my patron god, Hecate & the Lord and Lady for aiding me throughout the day. Cleanse my face and toes (top & tail so to speak). Prepare for bed. Meditate for at least 20 minutes using my meditation beads as an aid. Ground myself with amethyst. Ask my patron god to watch over as I rest throughout the night. Extinguish insence. Sleep.

If it is a New Moon, Full Moon &/or a specific day then subtle changes occur, in morning and night I would also do a ritual.