Moderation
Sense restraint: We can easily recognize physical irregularities such as blindness, deafness, deformed limbs but irregularities of mind are another matter. When you begin to meditate, you see thing differently. You can see the mental distortions that previously you did not see it before. This brings sense of restraint. You become sensitive, like one who enters a forest or jungle and become aware of danger from poisonous creatures, thorns and so on.
One with a raw wound is likewise more aware of danger from flies and gnats. For one who meditates, the danger is from sense objects. Sense restraint is this necessary; in fact, it is the highest kind of virtue.
Moderation in eating: It is easy to fast, more difficult to eat little or in moderation in a meditation. Instead of frequent fasting, learn to eat with mindfulness and sensitivity to your needs, learn to distinguish needs from desires. Pushing the body is not in itself a self-torment. Going without sleep or without food may seem extreme at times but it can have valve. We must be willing to resist laziness and defilement, to stir them up and watch them. Once these are understood, such practice are no longer necessary. This is why we should eat, sleep and talk little for the purpose of opposing our desires and making them reveal themselves.
Wakefulness: To establish awareness, effort is required constantly, not just when you feel diligent. Even if you meditate all night at times it is not a correct practice if in all other times, you still follow your laziness. Constantly watch over the mind as a parent watches over a child. Protect it from its own foolishness, teach it what is right.
It is incorrect to think that at certain times you do not have the opportunity to meditate. You must constantly make the effort to know it yourself; it is as necessary as your breathing, which continues in all situations. If you do not like certain activities such as chanting or working and give up on them as meditation, you will never learn wakefulness.
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