About This Answer
Asked how to keep mindfulness in daily life, Ajahn Dtun advises being mindful of whatever one is doing, whether standing, walking, sitting or working. To strengthen mindfulness and concentration, whenever one is free from duties one can turn to the breath or the word buddho for three or five minutes, and do this often.
He describes his own habit, which he calls "playing with the breath": whenever he was not talking or working, he returned to the breath. Bringing the mind back to the present in this way gives control over it, so that it thinks, speaks and acts only in good ways. When unwholesome thoughts arise, mindfulness and wisdom should remove them as quickly as possible.
Suffering from greed, anger and sensual delight is not the mind itself but only conditions of the mind; it arises because one grasps at moods as oneself. He recalls Luang Ta Mahā Boowa, whose samādhi kept rising and falling until he vowed never to abandon buddho. His mindfulness became continuous, giving rise to concentration and wisdom. In the same way, the listener should never give up watching the breath. Meditation is hard for everyone, but with patience and perseverance human beings can do it.