Buddhist Practice Plan
This Buddhist practice plan asks four questions: your tradition, the time you have, morning or evening, and what you would like the practice to grow. It then gives a short daily plan in which every step is a real practice of that tradition, linked to a guide or a tool. Keep it, tick the steps, and look at it again in two weeks. Nothing leaves your browser.
Build a daily practice you can keep
Every step comes from the tradition you choose, in its own words where we quote it. There is no single Buddhist routine, so the plan changes with your answers.
Do you practise in a tradition?
How long, each time?
Our guide starts at five or ten a day; teachers differ, from five or ten minutes to twenty for a beginner. See how long to meditate.
When?
What would you most like the practice to grow?
Kept in this browser only. Nothing is sent to us or anyone else, and there is no account.
Why the plan asks your tradition first
There is no one Buddhist routine. Bhikkhu Khantipalo, writing for lay Buddhists in 1982, put it plainly: "There is no such thing as a standard morning and evening service in the Buddhist world." So the plan does not mix and match. A Theravāda plan begins with the homage and the refuges; a Sōtō plan is zazen, with no breath counting, because the Sōtō school's own instruction is to hold no object; a Jōdo-shū plan is the nembutsu with no count, because Hōnen taught that the number is not what counts; and a Jōdo Shinshū plan sets no count or time at all, because in Shin the nembutsu is gratitude, not a practice for merit. The Soka Gakkai and Nichiren Shū have separate plans, because their practice differs. If you have no tradition yet, the plan uses general practices from our guide to how to meditate. It does not yet have tracks for Chinese or Korean Mahāyāna or for Rinzai Zen; if one of those is your tradition, your temple or teacher is the place to ask, and the general plan is only a starting point.
What the plan leaves out
Some practices are given only with a teacher. The Tibetan plan keeps to the refuge and bodhicitta prayer, the mantra Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ and the dedication; the preliminaries (ngöndro) and deity meditation are taken up with a teacher's transmission. The plan also sets no session longer than twenty minutes, and the lengths follow our guide to how long to meditate, where teachers' views on longer sits are set out.
Why there is no streak
A streak turns one missed day into a failure. The plan shows the days you practised and suggests looking at it again after two weeks: is it the right size, or should it change? That is the test the Sōtō teacher Norman Fischer suggests for a new home practice: "Try this for two weeks, taking a day or so off each week. If you miss a day, that's OK." The Buddha's own image for steady practice, given to the monk Soṇa, is a harp tuned neither too tight nor too slack.
For your first sit, see Buddhism for beginners and a Buddhist morning routine. Time a sit with the meditation timer, review the day with the Five Precepts Check-In, or write a few lines in the Gratitude & Merit Journal. See all our free tools.
Frequently asked questions
What should a daily Buddhist practice include?
It depends on the tradition. Bhikkhu Khantipalo wrote that 'there is no such thing as a standard morning and evening service in the Buddhist world'. A Theravada lay practice might be homage, the refuges, the precepts, a short sit and a dedication; Soto Zen centres on zazen; Pure Land on the nembutsu; Nichiren on chanting the daimoku. The plan gives each tradition's own steps.
What can I do with only five minutes a day?
Something real. Five minutes, or a little more, holds the homage and refuges with a short sit, a few minutes of zazen, the refuge prayer with a round of Om mani padme hum, or the nembutsu. How long a beginner should sit, and how often, is on our guide to how long to meditate; the plan follows it and shows where teachers differ.
Is it bad to miss a day of practice?
Teachers differ in tone. Bhikkhu Khantipalo calls it good discipline to practise every day at the same time, and warns against practising on some days but not others; the Soto Zen teacher Norman Fischer writes 'If you miss a day, that's OK'; the Soka Gakkai's Buddhability says 'no need to panic'. This plan keeps no streak: it shows the days you practised and suggests looking at the plan again after two weeks.
Which Buddhist practices need a teacher?
In Tibetan Buddhism, practices such as the preliminaries (ngondro) and deity meditation are given with a teacher's transmission; Lotsawa House marks such texts as meant for those with 'the requisite empowerments, transmissions and instructions'. The plan leaves them out and keeps to refuge, bodhicitta, the six-syllable mantra and dedication, which are offered openly.
Is my practice plan saved anywhere?
Only in your own browser. The plan, the boxes you tick and the review date stay on this device; there is no account and nothing is sent to us or anyone else. Clearing your browser's data, or the delete button, removes them.
Sources
- Bhikkhu Khantipalo, Lay Buddhist Practice (BPS Wheel 206/207, 1982), Access to Insight: 'There is no such thing as a standard morning and evening service in the Buddhist world'; the lay sequence of homage, refuges, precepts, meditation and dedication; dedicating, not 'sharing'
- Bhikkhu Bodhi, Going for Refuge & Taking the Precepts (BPS Wheel 282/284, 1981), Access to Insight: the refuges 'renewed every day'; the precepts 'preferably on a daily basis'
- The Three Refuges (Kp 1), trans. Bhikkhu Sujato, SuttaCentral (CC0): the homage and the refuges
- Mindfulness of Breathing (MN 118), trans. Bhikkhu Sujato, SuttaCentral (CC0): sitting with the breath (17.1–17.2), an instruction given to monastics
- The Discourse on Love (Snp 1.8), trans. Bhikkhu Sujato, SuttaCentral (CC0): 'May all beings be happy!'
- Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, With Each & Every Breath, dhammatalks.org (CC BY-NC 4.0): the sublime attitudes, goodwill first among them, 'for a few minutes at the beginning of every meditation session'
- With Soṇa (AN 6.55), trans. Bhikkhu Sujato, SuttaCentral (CC0): the harp tuned 'neither too tight nor too slack', said to a monk
- The Adze (SN 22.101), trans. Bhikkhu Sujato, SuttaCentral (CC0): the worn handle of the adze
- Verses on the Sharing of Merit, Chanting Book, Volume One (Amaravati Publications, 2021), p. 34 (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), hosted by Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery
- Sōtōshū, 'How to do Zazen': 'Do not concentrate on any particular object or control your thought'
- Sōtōshū, 'The Butsudan: A Family Buddha Altar': gassho, bowing and the refuge chant at home
- Sōtōshū, 'The Soto Zen School's Zazen': Dōgen on everyday activity as practice
- Patrul Rinpoche, An Essential Instruction on Refuge and Bodhicitta, trans. Adam Pearcey, Lotsawa House (CC BY-NC 4.0): the four-line refuge and bodhicitta prayer, 'three times during the day and three times at night'
- The Dedication of Merit from the Jātakas, trans. Rigpa Translations, Lotsawa House (CC BY-NC 4.0)
- Lotsawa House, Dedication Series: 'The most popular four-line prayer for the dedication of merit, which is said to derive from the Jātaka tales'
- Lotsawa House, Karling Zhitro series: restricted texts are for those with 'the requisite empowerments, transmissions and instructions'
- Jodo Shu, official English site: the nembutsu 'can be done at any time or any place'
- Jodo Shu, 'Honen's Teachings': the number of recitations is not what counts
- Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii, 'The Jodo Shinshu Service': the nembutsu 'not recited as a mantra or religious practice to gain merit'; gassho; nenju are not for counting
- Soka Gakkai, 'Daily Practice': chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and reciting gongyo
- Buddhability (SGI-USA), 'Buddhism Applied': 'Whether it's 15 minutes or 5 minutes, it's all good'; 'if you miss a day, no need to panic'
- Nichiren Shu, 'Morning and Evening Services at Home': the home service and its order
- Nichiren Shu, 'Our Practice': 'No matter how many times you chant the Odaimoku'
- Plum Village, 'The Art of Mindful Living': breath and steps; 'We don't need to control the breath in any way'
- Plum Village, 'Extended Practices': three breaths on waking
- Norman Fischer, 'How to Start a Home Meditation Practice', Lion's Roar: 'Try this for two weeks… If you miss a day, that's OK'
- How Long and How Often Should You Meditate?, e-Buddhism.com: the session lengths the plan follows