THE PURPOSE OF THESE PRACTICES  

This is simply to generate some zeal for Dhamma in oneself. To bring the Dhamma to life in oneself. To get away from reading books on it and into doing it. Not just to take a mild intellectual interest in it but to make it the basis of one's life. Not only to go to an occasional lecture on the subject but to consider. "What can I DO?" Not to be content to play with the ideas of "Buddhism" — making sure that these do not touch one's precious self, but to get into Dhamma so that what is rotten in oneself is changed. Not to haggle about the finer points of atta and anatta (self-and non-self) when one has not even got round to making effort with the Five Precepts. Not to talk of the Void while one harbors hatred in one's heart. Not to be way up there with subtle ideas but to get down to being loving and generous. Not to be swayed at every turn by the world but to have a discipline based on Dhamma for one's life.

A lay person in a non-Buddhist country is not only surrounded by a culture which is opposed to the practice of many aspects of Dhamma but he is often without the help which can be got from bhikkhus and experienced lay teachers. If then he does make the effort to practice along the lines suggested here, sooner or later he will be engulfed. His mild interest in Dhamma fades away or gets lost in the jungle of conflicting desires.

One cannot stand still in Dhamma. Either one makes effort and cultivates oneself, or one slides away from Dhamma to deterioration. Everything suggested here is on the side of Dhamma and leads one to grow in Dhamma, so here is a chance to put into practice the Buddha's words:

Make haste towards the good
and check your mind from evil.
Whoso is slow in making puñña
his mind delights in evil.

If a man should puñña make
let him do it again and again;
he should make a wish for that:
happy is the piling up of puñña.
— Dhp. 116, 118