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Originally Posted by aloks5
I wonder if we can meditate while working, or doing other kind of things, If it is possible, or has any one been able to do so, Please let us know about it. Thanks.
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From my own experience I would say "yes" and "no" but rather "no".
Of course it depends on what kind of activity you are doing, and what you mean by "meditation".
If you do something relatively simple and mainly physical - sweeping the footpath for example - then it's easier to be present to a bigger extent ... to do it as meditation in this sense.
But if the activity you are doing is stressful and requires lot of thinking and decision making then I think for an ordinary person it is very difficult to do it meditatively.
And if we talk about meditation as being a witness or a watcher then I think it's not really possible to do this and at the same time to do lot of purposeful thinking. In my opinion these two things are kind of opposites. Although maybe Buddhas can do both at the same time.
And regarding these simple and mainly physical activities - from my personal experience I can say that although I had read the zen advice "when washing dishes then just wash dishes" or "when chopping tomatoes then just chop tomatoes" long long time ago, and I had tried to do it too sometimes ... but only after I started doing regular daily sitting meditation and after I had spent hours and hours sitting and either witnessing or emptying my mind ... only after that I realised what it actually means - in experience - to be fully present when washing dishes or chopping tomatoes.
When I run I can do it in a meditative state of mind ... dancing the same ... must be the same with painting for some people ... but then when I'm in this state then I find it sometimes very difficult to talk if someone wants to talk to me ... as I've switched my rational mind off ... and I'm also not able to do much purposeful thinking when in this state - thoughts (sometimes very good ones) just come and go randomly. If I start following my thoughts then I can't be present in the moment any more, and it's not a meditation any more.
Hope this helps a bit :)