Do not expect too much. Sakyamuni practiced through many lives, over many kalpas, before finally becoming a Buddha. Do you seriously expect to experience the first stage, then the second and third, right on up to Complete Enlightenment, with no effort or interruptions? Are you planning to put aside a month or so to attain Buddhahood, and then move on to something else? That would be a little unfair not only to Sakyamuni Buddha, but to yourselves as well, if you truly value attaining enlightenment. We should not hope for quick results. We should just practice.

Make practice its own goal, and accept it as a responsibility, a necessity, like eating and sleeping. Do not practice to attain something. Do not have the idea that practice will transform you into a Buddha during the course of a retreat, or even a lifetime. We are caterpillars crawling on the ground and eating leaves. We cannot expect to change into butterflies overnight.

Living in a hermitage deep in the mountains,
On a lonely peak under a thick pine tree.
I would meditate contentedly in a monk's hut,
At ease in this tranquil place.


Although masters and patriarchs through the ages have said that Ch'an practice should not be separate from the normal activities of daily life, Yung-chia says that there should be an extended period of time during which one practices away from society. After this stage of solitary practice is completed, the practitioner can return to society and ordinary, day-to-day life.