1,Take disciplines(Consentration&Meditation Training)

Before we start training concentration meditation we need to make a firm decision, manifest a great wish to do so. Our reason to train must be completed. We must take discipline firmly and seriously to control all our bad habits. After time, discipline can be taken quietly and softly, there is no need for firmness because the bad habits have already gone.
It is written in scripture that all kinds of Zen Samadhi come from discipline. Discipline also lays the path for wisdom which can overcome our afflictions.
The trainee who takes the rules, practices concentration meditation and practices Buddhism is like the clean cloth which can be dyed with the greatest of ease. But…………if a trainee takes a vow to be disciplined but after time breaks his vow, what then? Like cloth which is stained, before you go ahead with the dying process you need to wash out the stain, in the same way, someone who has broken his vow needs to wash himself clean before continuing along his path, this is so-called regret and promise.
Below are 10 ideas to be considered with regard to regret and promise;
1, Understand and believe in karma, we should constantly remind ourselves of the implications of our actions.
2, Keep a fearful mind, because we are aware of the sins we have committed.
3, Feel regret and shame for our actions.
4, Let the sins go, ask for a way to overcome them, leave them far away from us, let them be nothing.
5, Confess our sins.
6, Stop sins from continuing, use the mind to stop sins from being committed in the future.
7, Make a mind to service the dharma, stand firm and protect the teachings.
8, Make a determined promise, to help all beings get relief.
9, Miss all the Buddhas,
10, Meditate on the fact that sins are just artificial, they have no truth, no nature, in fact they are nothing at all.
We should practice regret regularly- it’s a good idea to set ourselves a specific period of time in which to whole-heartedly practice regret i.e. a week or 10 days.
Regret and promise are just a teaching, not the goal.
By frequent sitting and agreeing with the dharma teaching, our sins will stop, Zen Samadhi will become a truth. After the sins disappear the trainee will know, the sins will leave away from him and the practice of regret and promise will become unnecessary. After that, the trainee keeps the principles, keeps concentrating, keeps controlling the mind, keeps sitting practice and admiring and worshipping the Buddhist teachings, through this, all the serious sins will be overcome and at last Zen Samadhi will become a truth.
2, Get enough clothes and food
Take enough clean clothes as you need. The word ‘enough’ here should be understood to mean not too many. In the modern world it’s very easy to get ‘things’ and it has become a modern past time of the masses to go shopping, buy! Buy! Buy! No money? No problem! We have our flexible friends, plastic fantastic, loans, store credit, obliging bank managers eagerly tallying up all those little red numbers. This craving to accumulate seems to be spreading like wild fire, but as a Zen practitioner it needs to be avoided. Accumulating means grasping and it can disturb and make a serious block for our Zen practice.
As for food…….this will be discussed in a later section, but for now it will suffice to say that food should be simple and easy.
3, Live quietly
‘Quiet’ here means not doing anything, but in the modern world, the impracticalities of this may soon be noted. We should take the word ‘quiet’ to mean not doing unnecessary things, it’s up to the trainee to judge which things in his life are necessary and which are not.
4, Stop relationships
This applies to both personal and business, but again the emphasis should be placed on unnecessary, the trainee needs to evaluate which relationships in his life are deemed essential for a continued smooth and happy life.
5, Keep your good friends close
What is a good friend? The 1st kind is someone who supplies the trainee, but lets him be quiet. The 2nd kind is someone who trains alongside the trainee but doesn’t disturb him. The 3rd kind someone who directs, protects and helps the trainee get happiness from the dharma.