The Necessity of Cultivating Good Habits

Question: When the fixed time for sitting meditation arrives, I feel the urge to take my seat. Does this mean I have become habituated to sitting meditation?

Answer: When you sit in meditation at a fixed time and place over a long period, a habit is formed. Once the habit is established, you no longer fear the noise and disturbance of the surrounding environment, and the mind can be emptied. Habit is the inertia of the manas. The manas is rather attached and grasping; for things done frequently, it follows the routine without needing to deliberate. Habit has its negative side, but also its positive side. If you make good use of habit and cultivate good habits, you will achieve twice the result with half the effort.

It is very worthwhile to spend a certain amount of time and energy cultivating some good habits. It is like manufacturing molds at the cost of time, energy, and resources in order to produce goods in batches—at this stage it takes painstaking effort and time, but once the molds are made, producing the products afterward saves an enormous amount of time and cost. As the saying goes, twice the result with half the effort—at the very least, it saves four times to countless times the time and cost, which is extremely worthwhile. During the stage of cultivating a habit, it is very arduous; there are successes and failures, advances and retreats, and it is not easy to persist. At such times, one needs someone nearby to urge and supervise; being able to partner with others and mutually encourage one another makes things easier. So what good habits need to be cultivated?