Shadowing Practice: How To Practice Buddhism for Beginners and Westerners (Daily Practice) - Learn English Speaking with Video

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a daily buddhist practice is the foundation of buddhists around the world but

if you're new to buddhism

you may not be sure about well how do i begin what do i actually do for a daily practice

so what we're going to cover here in this video today is how to start off a daily buddhist practice

which is rooted in the buddhist traditions now there are many different buddhist traditions

and each one practice buddhism in a different way so when you find your tradition that speaks to you.

You should follow the practice that they are actually following.

So this will cover a lot of things, but of course, whatever tradition you find yourself in,

they may follow some or none of what I'm going to show you today.

So you really should follow what they're going to be teaching you.

I'll be standing up as I'm showing you all these steps today, and you can kind of go ahead

and replay me as part of your daily practice until you get the hang of it,

right so you can kind of do that uh it's perfectly fine to do

but you know if you have a meditation cushion you know want to do

that that's perfectly fine now if you can't do

that you can't you know maybe you know sit for long periods of time uh in

that position you can definitely use a chair couch something like

that that's perfectly acceptable

so many different ways you can begin your daily practice

you do not have to go very long in your daily practice the the point is practice to practice.

So when we're talking about the Eightfold Path in Buddhism, it's practicing that, you know, practicing the precepts, you know,

it's practicing this as part of our daily practice, not just when you're sitting, you know, for maybe 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes, but it's about,

you know, taking that out into the world when you go out there as a Buddhist.

So let's go ahead and begin.

I'm going to take you through each of the steps here today.

Now, if you have any questions as well, you know, absolutely ask the questions in the comments below,

but we're going to go through all these steps

and I'm going to take you through as if we are going through a daily practice together every single day.

So now we're going to start our daily practice.

What I have in my hand is like a little three ring binder.

It has plastic sheet protectors inside here.

You can find this online, department stores, off supply stores.

It's a nice way to actually organize your daily practice and you just go through it every single day.

You can have scriptures inside here as well and it keeps you on track and it's easy to do.

You You don't have to bring out like, you know, several books where you're, you know, bookmarking certain pages or whatever.

It keeps it organized.

You do not have to do this.

There's a nice way to do it unless your Buddhist tradition actually gives you,

for example, a book you can use for your daily practice and it's guided that way.

That might be good also.

So I'm going to be using this as I take you through the very, you know, basic daily practice.

A few different things, you know, I'm, of course, standing up and I mentioned before you can be on meditation cushion or sitting down, right?

You know, I'll be doing, you know, bowing as well.

if for some reason, you know, maybe a medical condition, you know, bowing is, you know, difficult for you, you don't have to do that.

Another thing, you've probably seen plenty of Buddhists, they're actually, you know, keeping their palms together when they're doing bowing.

So it's actually not flat together.

It's usually kind of like, you know, cusping a little bit.

So almost like where this looks like a lotus flower.

And lotus flowers are very symbolic inside Buddhism.

It's basically, you know, as they come up, it's symbolizing enlightenment.

So you can hold your binder, your scripture, your piece of paper, whatever you want to, you know, you have in your hand,

you can actually hold it the same way.

So when you're doing bowing, you're actually having your hands cussed together as well.

Now, if that's difficult, don't worry, you don't have to do that.

So first thing we're going to cover is the three refuges.

And this version comes from Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh.

I take refuge in the Buddha, the one who shows me the way in this life.

I take refuge in the Dharma, the way of understanding and of love.

I take refuge in the Sangha, the community that lives in harmony and awareness.

Dwelling in the refuge of Buddha, I clearly see the path of light and beauty in the world.

Dwelling in the refuge of Dharma, I learned to open many doors on a path of transformation.

Dwelling in the refuge of Sangha, shining light that supports me, keeping my practice free of obstruction.

Taking refuge in the Buddha, in myself, I aspire to help all people recognize their own awakened nature, realizing the mind of love.

Taking refuge in the Dharma,

in myself, I aspire to help all people fully master the ways of practice and walk together on a path of liberation.

Taking refuge in the Sangha, in myself, I aspire to help all people build fourfold communities to embrace all beings and support their transformation.

Next, we will go to the five precepts.

So these are what the laypersons, the laity, like you and me, take as our moral conduct and code as we go forward as Buddhists.

I will refrain from taking life.

I will refrain from stealing or taking what is not freely given.

I will refrain from sexual misconduct.

I will refrain from false speech.

I will refrain from consuming intoxicants and illegal drugs.

Next, we will cover the five remembrances.

This part of this is actually what the Buddha saw, which truly transformed him to engage on the past where he eventually became a Buddha.

So for us, it's very motivational as well.

The five remembrances.

I am of the nature to grow old.

There is no way to escape growing old.

I am of the nature to have ill health.

There is no way to escape having ill health.

I am of the nature to die.

There is no way to escape death.

All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change.

There is no way to escape being separated from them.

I inherit the results of my actions in body, speech, and mind.

My actions are the ground on which I stand.

Next, we will cover meditation.

So this can be many things in many different traditions.

This could be where you're going to engage in chanting, which is a form of meditative concentration, or it could be sitting meditation,

or it could be both.

So depending on your tradition, that's what you would follow.

So a good thing to actually start with now could be just sitting meditation.

I would encourage also looking towards chanting as well, so you can actually do both.

A lot of laypersons actually just do chanting as part of their meditative concentration.

So when you're sitting as far as meditating on a cushion or on a chair or whatever,

the purpose and the form that you're going to do is kind of trying to keep your back, you know, alignment.

So it's just going straight down.

A good analogy is you've got like a stack of quarters or coins, and you're just like stacking them up like that.

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That's what you want to actually do.

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You want to relax your body.

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You want to just do a body focus as you kind of go from like top to bottom

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and relax all your muscles, the tension inside your body so that you can relax.

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Your gaze should be roughly about maybe a 45 degree angle down.

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You can go ahead

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and you know slightly close your eyes as you do it you don't have to close them all the way

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that can make you a little too drowsy sometimes

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and then from there a very basic meditation practice is to count the breath

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so counting in you would say one you know counting out you would say one

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so so you just want to count you know one to ten then start over again one to ten

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if you lose your place start over again the purpose of what you're doing

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you're doing a bit of calming meditation you know

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you're trying to settle your mind our mind has lots of thoughts coming up

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so you want to settle your mind you also as you progress

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you want to as your mind is settled you focus in

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and get that insight into the true nature of our world the buddhist teachings

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but a very basic practice for all buddhists is calming the mind

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because if you can't calm the mind that's going to allow you to progress further

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so you can use a meditation app like insight timer

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or something like

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that you can have a bell to start a bell to end

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i'm going to leave it to you to what is best for you at this particular point in this video

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so you can actually pause this

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and then on the flip side we'll go to the the next portion of our practice

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but i would recommend just starting off with a five minute daily practice

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that's a good one as far as your meditation and then we will continue on.

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But if you want to go longer, if you want to go 10 minutes, great.

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If you want to go 15, 20 minutes, great.

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You don't have to make it hours long, especially for a daily practice you're doing in the morning or in the evening.

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You probably have to go to work or things going on.

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So keep it reasonable.

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Don't make a massive, like I'm going to do a two hour sitting meditation or something like that.

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Make sure you do something that's obtainable in a short amount of time you're doing your Buddhist practice.

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So go ahead and pause this right now and begin your meditation and or chanting.

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And then we will go ahead when you are ready, just press play again and we'll continue on.

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Now as you finish your meditation and or chanting, an extra step you can do is reading

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Buddhist scriptures, sutras or suttas.

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You can do this before meditation.

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or after meditation.

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So before meditation, you are going into meditation after reading

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Buddhist scriptures, which could be beneficial, but also afterwards, if you did it that way, where now it's settled my mind.

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So reading the Buddhist scriptures might be, I'm more receptive to it.

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So either way is fine.

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It has not always been a practice of layperson, it's a lady like you and me, but it's picked up in modern times,

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which is a great thing because remember in the Noble Eightfold path there's

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that wisdom category we're going to get the wisdom from the buddhist scriptures

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so it's great to actually you know read the scriptures

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if you were chanting as part of meditation and

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or chanting especially mahayana buddhism it is going to be chanting

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or reciting a mahayana sutra so you would have covered it

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that way but you can still read scriptures before or after

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and your tradition will tell you how you should do this as well.

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Now, if you're not sure what scriptures to actually read, refer to my website.

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I'll give you some examples.

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But you can also have them inside your binder.

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So when you get to that portion, you're flowing along and you're reading the scriptures at that particular point.

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It's a great way to do it.

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The last part of our practice is going to be dedication of merit.

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And so there's many beliefs and many practices as it comes to this

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and modifications i'm just going to give you one version

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but you can find many different other versions online it is a good practice

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because what we're trying to do in buddhism especially

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when it comes to you know morality conduct etc i want to arise your generosity compassion

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and loving kindness inside myself it's very central in buddhism so

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when you're dedicating merit now our practice today was rooted in the noble eightfold path

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we are following the his teachings it's very very notorious we've gained merit from it was wholesome but does

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that mean we keep it to ourselves it's not like somebody's you know has a coin put into a bank

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or something like that and we're not going to give out

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that coin so in some parts this is symbolic

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but what we're doing we're transforming ourselves

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and this is gonna be my opinion on this so

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when we are dedicating merit whether we are actually giving away our merit

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or you know it is going to be a

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symbolic type thing we're transforming remember the the compassionate generosity loving kindness we are transforming ourselves

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so when we engage with other sentient beings in the real world

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or outside of our daily practice inside our home that's a right

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so we are transforming ourselves and thus we are able to help them as well

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so it is a very good practice is helping you break down this belief in this permanent everlasting independent self

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which the buddha remember says doesn't exist so

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that delusion you're wiping it clean in your daily practice

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which is what we're doing as buddhists when we can break down

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and get rid of this belief in self we are engaging

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and advancing on the path the buddhist noble eightfold path

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and then we are able to get rid of this clinging craving

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that's resulting in dukkha the cycle of rebirth suffering etc

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it's very very important so this is just going to be my version right here again there's many different versions online.

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For all sentient beings, I dedicate the meritorious actions of this practice

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so they may be guided and liberated from delusion and suffering with the light of the Buddha's Dharma.

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And with that, you have concluded your daily practice.

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A great step to do afterwards is actually to give thanks.

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And so remember that generosity, compassion, everything.

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Giving thanks is a good thing.

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So in the beginning, we did our triple gem, right?

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So we can give thanks as well.

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You do not have to do this, but it's a great practice as well.

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And remember, when you are bowing to the Buddha, yes, it is to the Buddha, our teacher, but also to our inner

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Buddha nature, to the Buddha inside of us.

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So the Buddha, upon his awakening, he was astonished, you know, that upon his realization that all sentient beings can do exactly what he did.

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It was not a miraculous feat in the sense that only he could do it, that anybody can do it,

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but we were so caught in delusion, so in love with self and everything else that we can't see it.

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And he's helping us see that.

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And through our daily practice, we are trying to advance on that as well.

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So remember, when you are bowing to the Buddha, it is to the Buddha, but also to the Buddha inside yourself.

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What we're seeing with the Buddha, that's what we want to arise also.

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So you can follow along with me if you'd like to.

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We give thanks to the Buddha.

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we give thanks to the Dharma, we give thanks to the Sangha,

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and we give thanks to all practitioners, yourself included.

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We are all practicing at different times, different locations, but we are all in this together as Buddhists,

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and so engaging in daily practice we're all connected in that way

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because we are following the buddhist teachings we are thankful we are grateful to have him his teachings the dharma

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that are helping us that are prescription and we are thankful

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and grateful to have the monastics were basically his aids in helping us progress as well

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so thank you for joining me if you have any questions, including what Buddhist practice you're actually doing,

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daily practice, I would love to hear that in the comments below.

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Thank you.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “How To Practice Buddhism for Beginners and Westerners”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: practice, buddhist, daily, meditation, buddha. This video has 216 sentences and 2772 words to shadow. The speech runs for 15:57. The speaker talks at a natural 174 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
meditation noun	/mɛdɪˈteɪʃn̩/	A devotional exercise of, or leading to, contemplation.
refuge noun	/ˈɹɛfjuːd͡ʒ/	A state of safety, protection or shelter.
scripture noun	/ˈskɹɪpt͡ʃɚ/	A sacred writing or holy book.
chant verb	/t͡ʃænt/	To sing, especially without instruments, and as applied to monophonic and pre-modern music.
bow noun	/ˈboʊ̯/	A weapon made of a curved piece of wood or other flexible material whose ends are connected by a string, used for shooting arrows.
engage verb	/ɪnˈɡeɪd͡ʒ/	To engross or hold the attention of; to keep busy or occupied.
merit noun	/ˈmɛɹɪt/	A claim to commendation or a reward.
transform verb	/tɹænsˈfɔɹm/	To change greatly the appearance or form of.
refrain noun	/ɹɪˈfɹeɪn/	The chorus or burden of a song repeated at the end of each verse or stanza.
settle verb	/ˈsɛtəl/	To determine (something which was exposed to doubt or question); to resolve conclusively; to set or fix (a time, an order of succession, etc).
belief noun	/bɪˈliːf/	Mental acceptance of a claim as true.
relax verb	/ɹɪˈlæks/	To make something loose.
noble adjective	/ˈnoʊbəl/	Having honorable qualities; having moral eminence and freedom from anything petty, mean or dubious in conduct and character.
coin noun	/ˈkoɪ̯n/	A piece of currency, usually metallic and in the shape of a disc, but sometimes polygonal, or with a hole in the middle.
symbolic adjective		Pertaining to a symbol.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
go ahead verb	/ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/	To proceed with; to begin.
go through verb		To travel from one end of something to the other.
break down verb		To stop functioning.
come up verb		To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly.
stand up verb		To rise from a lying or sitting position.
start over verb		to begin again; to return to the beginning
bring out verb		To elicit, evoke, or emphasize (a particular quality).
count out verb		To exclude; to dismiss from participation or eligibility.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is rooted · is not freely given · being separated
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	you've probably seen · has not always been · we've gained
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	one who shows · chanting, which is
Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain	may not be · may follow · might be

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 69 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, we're, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: thankful /ˈθæŋkfəl/, rebirth /ɹiːˈbɜːθ/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: meditation /mɛdɪˈteɪʃn̩/, cushion /ˈkʊʃən/, concentration /ˌkɑn.sənˈtɹeɪ.ʃən/, transformation /ˌtɹæns.fɔɹˈmeɪ.ʃən/, compassion /kəmˈpæʃ.ən/
Long words — get the stress right: generosity /ˌd͡ʒɛn.əˈɹɑ.sə.ti/, concentration /ˌkɑn.sənˈtɹeɪ.ʃən/, transformation /ˌtɹæns.fɔɹˈmeɪ.ʃən/, acceptable /əkˈsɛp.tə.bəl/, beneficial /ˌbɛn.ɪˈfɪʃ.əl/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like meditation, refuge, scripture.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: How To Practice Buddhism for Beginners and Westerners (Daily Practice) - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?