Most householders cannot practice steadily and energetically for a long time because of responsibilities and obligations. However, if you are single, and have a flexible job, you can devote yourself to long-term practice ─ one or more years. In most cases, such people live in monasteries or retreat centers, where the environment is conducive to practice. Many householders do so on a temporary basis. They practice intensely, leave to work a while, and afterward return to practice. Although beneficial, this is not genuine long-term practice. The best way is to live in a monastery or center and practice continuously for several years.

Until now I have been talking about lay practitioners. The correct attitude of a home-leaver is fundamentally different from that of a householder. In taking vows, monks and nuns should leave behind self-centeredness and devote all their time and effort to the practice of Buddhadharma. Home-leavers do not have a family, a home, a career, or possessions. They have no worldly responsibilities and obligations. The true meaning of leaving home is to leave everything behind ─ intellect, emotions, ego, desire, body and mind. In effect, abandoning everything except the vows and Buddhadharma.

Many people say that the Ch'an Center belongs to me ─ Shih-fu Sheng-yen. They are mistaken. I live here and work here, but it is not my place. Nor does it belong to the monks and nuns who live here. A person who has left home has nothing. If a monk or nun thinks, "This is my home, " he or she should immediately remember what it means to have left home. People who have truly left home have nothing except practice; no cares, no worries, no goals. To an outsider, it may seem that they are working and acting like lay people, but to monastics, everything is practice. It would be difficult for householders to have this kind of attitude.

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