My typical daily routine

Someone asked on reddit:

Hello Frank, can you write an article how you spend your days? 

What is your standard routine? 

Do you have any hobbies outside spirituality? 

Do you ever meet family or friends for worldly purposes? 

What do you eat?

What is your standard routine? 

My typical daily routine:

I try to stay on the raft, avoid the whirl pools, sea monsters, rough currents

https://lucid24.org/misc/raft/index.html

My time table follows the Buddha's schedule, see part 3 of AN 3.16

https://lucid24.org/an/main/an03/index.html#3.16

I usually go to sleep between 9 and 10pm,

wake up between 2 and 3am.

I take a few naps throughout the day as needed, between 10 min. to 60 min.

5:30am I do pāḷi chanting, almost all memorized from the raft, for 15-25 min.

The key thing about chanting, is I'm not just saying words.

I'm using vitakka, vicāra, and upekkha.

In fact it feels like there's 3 people doing the whole operation.

Frank #1 is doing the sati, remembering the memorized pāḷi, communicating by vocalizing with speech (vācā) the language of the memorized passage in the form of vitakka (verbal thought).

I pause between each phrase, 

to let Frank #2 do the listening, decoding vācā into vitakka verbal thoughts, then 

let vicāra (evaluation, pondering of Dhamma, lucid discerning of Dhamma) sink in. 

pause a little longer to have a moment or 2, or 3, or as long as I need, to let Frank #3 sink even deeper into the Dhamma meaning with upekkha, the factor for 7 awakening factors and 4th jhāna that penetrates the meaning of Dhamma at a much deeper level than thinking. 

After chanting, I dedicate merits, administer 8 precepts to myself, do sitting meditation for a while.

At 5:30pm (12 hours later) I do a short chanting session, 5-10 min., again followed by sitting.

Chanting and Dhamma study (whether reading suttas, listening to Dhamma talks) is important.

Have a structured scheduled time set aside is very helpful. 

Every 12 hours, it's like you reboot your computer, restart your phone, wipe out any spam and malignant viruses, and resinstall a brand new fresh pure Dhamma in your operating system.

As for alternating between sitting, standing, walking meditation

https://lucid24.org/an/main/an03/index.html#3.16

You learn from trial and error how long, and which things are most effective to do according to time and day and your energy level, etc.

For example, early morning and last few hours before I go to sleep,

I will do something that raises the heart rate a bit, some brisk walking, yoga, taiji, etc.,

rather than try to do a one hour sitting session, which will be drowsy after 10 minutes.

All of my taiji, qigong, yoga, I consider as part of "walking" meditation. Details: ☯🦍

Do you have any hobbies outside spirituality? 

I really try not do.

I try to limit to things like reading non fiction at the public library,

and internet surfing, try to limit to trustworthy news sources like Washington Post, New York Times.

My phone is in airplane mode 99.999% of the time, I only use it as a dumb phone, for voice calls and text messages.

I keep my computer on airplane mode, internet blackout periods for much of the day intentionally.

My normal lifestyle is like pandemic lifestyle. Pretty quiet, reclusive.

During the pandemic, other than wearing a mask there was no difference in my normal routine.

Do you ever meet family or friends for worldly purposes? 

rarely. I talk to my best friend once a week, 30 to 60min., mostly Dhamma related talk,

and that's about all the socialization I can take.

If there is interesting or worthwhile Dhamma discussion on the internet, I'll jump in.

Otherwise, I believe the Buddha's advice, when you meet with your spiritual friends, talk about Dhamma or do noble silence (second jhāna or better).

What do you eat?

Once again, I follow the Buddha's schedule on this for 8 preceptors.

Usually breakfast around 7am, lunch around 12pm, then a 17 hour fasting period with only water.

3.1.1 – proper way to eat: Eat for need, not for greed

        Goldcraft ^3.1.1 proper way to eat
            Goldcraft ^3.1.1.1 sutta passages on eating
            Goldcraft ^3.1.1.5 From Ajahn Mun biography
            Goldcraft ^3.1.1.5.1 arahant advice on proper way to eat
            Goldcraft ^3.1.1.5.2 Even near death, one meal a day and walking almsround
            Goldcraft ^3.1.1.5.3 {compassion for animals being eaten}
            Goldcraft ^3.1.1.7 eating misc.

Read the highlighted part in particular for details for exactly what sutta passages I reflect on as I eat.

As for what I eat, I'll need to update the page, but here's some of what I eat:

Recipes : quick healthy recipes