Sadhana on the go !?

[bambi]

It is definitely okay to chant and drive at the same time. I have been doing the same every time I am on the road. Sorry to say, even if accident do happen, it is entirely because of our karma. Then at least it was the last thing we did. You do not have to hold the rosary while chanting nor visualizing at the same time, which is definitely dangerous. Just chanting the mantra will be very good. Anyway, when we cant do our daily prayers for 1 day, we can add on when we recite the next day. As everyone is busy in these modern times, we have to find ways to adept efficiently!

[Big Uncle]

I personally don't recite mantras much while driving unless i see a dead animal on the street or I heard that a particular stretch of road is haunted. (haha! Maybe I am superstitious and I wanna calm the spirits so they leave me alone!) Well, I don't think it is wrong to recite mantras but I wouldn't do my Sadhana while I am on the road because mine is a little complicated and I have not memorized my Sadhana yet.

The things I do to cope with the shortage of time is to shorten the number of the mantra recitations when I am particularly busy. I also prefer to do it in the morning instead of the evenings. Why? It would be easier to fall asleep midway through the Sadhana if I do it at night. Sometimes, I would lay out the offerings on the altar and do it during lunch or in the evenings, just before dinner when I would most likely have the free time. I think it is good that this topic was brought up because we take our sadhanas seriously.

[vajratruth]

My personal feeling is that our Sadhana is our quiet time and a time we use to reflect and contemplate. It is not merely about completing how many malas of chanting and so on. Doing our Sadhana and at the same time something else is not giving full attention to our prayers and may be merely perfunctory.

It is still best to make the daily Sadhana one of the "must do" in our routine. After all we manage to squeeze in a lot of time for other things. There was a time when I got into a habit of doing my Sadhana on the go and justifying that by telling myself that I don't have time in the morning and that I am too tired by the end of the day.

I realized sometime later that what I was actually doing was choosing sleep over my Sadhana and making a habit out of it.

Plus how does one make water, light and incense offerings in the car? How does one perform the preparatory rites e.g. cleaning the altar and beautifying it if one does not allocate time for it? These are also part of our daily practice.

However, when we are truly on the go as in we are traveling, I feel that doing our Sadhana in the car or plane is totally fine.

[Positive Change]

Firstly, I do take my hat off to the person who can actually do his or her full sadhana while driving... Damn good memory I say!!! Moreover as most have said, it requires some form of meditative contemplation at the very least and I think driving kinda kicks that one off the window!

However, when it comes to mantras I think its ok. Sometimes it helps in relieving the stress of traffic jams. I find it very comforting to do certain mantras, in this case, while driving... What better way to control one's emotion and get blessings the same time!

[tsangpakarpo]

If you're highly attained, you can do your sadhana anywhere any time doing anything. But if you're not then obviously it will be good if you do your sadhana at at a proper location and environment. Not being able to wake up is really just an excuse. Dharma is not something we should do at our own convenience.

We should make time for our spiritual practice. This is the practice that will lead us to eternal happiness. So why are we being so lazy? Don't we allll want happiness? It is now right in front of us! Why throw it away?

Are we really serious about our practice? Or is it just to past time?

[Jessie Fong]

i think we can recite mantra when we are driving as it help us to focus our mind instead of thinking about other things which create more delusions.. As normally we never control our mind and it jump to everythings, never be with that moment, with what happening.

i do not agree with doing sadhana while we are driving or even in the traffic jam as sadhana we need to read the text (even if we can remember texts we still need to visualise or meditate in some part of sadhana) and need to do some visualisation or meditation in some part of sadhana. So how the visualise or meditation can be done while we are driving??!!! Perhap you asked about recite mantra while driving of part of sadhana??

You said here that it will help us "focus our mind" - where will the focus be?  If it is to be concentrated on just reciting the mantras, then what about the safety issue of driving?  Should not our concentration/focus be on our driving, to make it safely from point A to point B?  To ensure that the driver, passengers and vehicle all arrive intact?

If you are a passenger where you do not need to focus on the safety of yourself and the passengers (and also your vehicle), then it is fine tobe reciting mantras.

[negra orquida]

Our daily sadhana is a commitment, yes. But it should not be viewed as a chore!  Our minds should be happy and looking forward to doing our sadhana. If we really understood the benefits of doing sadhana, we would definitely make time and place priority on it to do it before we are "too tired".  It is just like how people can set aside time to go to gym or go for music class or dance class and always do it at the same time.  They make time for this class which they look forward to going to every time and they plan their schedule around it.

If we find that we can't wake up earlier to do sadhana, or always leave sadhana as the last thing to do at night, knowing full well we'd be tired by then, then it means that we think we don't really need to do sadhana.  I would admit that I'm guilty of this.  When i think deeper on this, its a matter of changing habits and educating ourselves more on the meanings of the sadhana we are doing.

So my take on doing sadhana in the car: I think its disrespecting the Buddha we are praying to.  Its like.. Hi Buddha, I'm too busy to talk to you all day, so I allocate my time in the car to you, please dissolve into me while i'm in this traffic jam? I've done this before but i felt it was very "low quality" sadhana.

[pgdharma]

Hi negra orquida, i like the way you mentioned  "low quality" sadhana. This is so true as we always find excuses like no time to do our sadhana so we do it quickly as though it a chore.  I feel that time management is very important.  We should set some time aside and the best time is in the morning before the bad rush of the day sets in as by then we will be too preoccupied with our secular activities and too tired to do our sadhana.

[Tenzin Malgyur]

Personally, I will not do my sadhana while driving as it is not possible to visualise and at the same time to concentrate on driving safely. I agree with biggy boy that we should regard doing our sadhana with respect.
Yes, I like the idea of chanting mantra (without a mala) while driving or when we are waiting in a queue as it will bring to our mind the Buddha instead of letting our mind drift away. We must make it a priority to set aside some time daily to do our sadhana as it is a very sacred and precious practice given to us by our Guru.

[sonamdhargey]

Reciting Mantras while driving is all right. But doing the Sadhana with driving is dangerous and defeat the purpose of being discipline to do the Sadhana with respect. The practice of daily Sadhana is also to develop discipline and we cannot say we have no time for Sadhana as it is clearly our laziness and not to make time for it.

[kris]

Reciting mantra while driving is a definite yes for me. I don't think it is dangerous at all, because even if I am not reciting mantras, my mind wonder everywhere and sometimes I got distracted by some billboard advertisements which nearly caused me into accidents. Reciting mantras while driving actually make me more concentrated.

However, doing Sadhana while driving is a different matters all together. I am not talking about reading and safety here. I can remember my entire Sadhana (my Sadhana is not too long), and I have done Sadhana in car while driving to work (and sometimes going back home), especially caught in jam. However, I am not getting even the least benefit of doing Sadhana.. I can't do any visualization (how can I do visualization when there are so many distractions and need to stay alert on the surrounding environment, in order not to bang someone else). As such, I have stopped doing Sadhana very quickly.

If you travel a lot on car, may be you can get someone to drive for you (if you have company), and I don't see any reasons why you cannot do your Sadhana as a passenger.

Wish you have your enlightenment in the car!!

[Positive Change]

Just a thought: Driving is an automatic action, especially on a commute journey that we know well.

So why not doing sadhanas... after all, we can talk when we drive, proof that the mind can multi-task combining:

1. the automatic action of driving,
2. the prayer and even the visualization.

What can't be done while driving is anything that occupies the hands, like holding a phone, holding a hamburger, sending sms, etc...

So for as long as we do sadhanas without using bell and damaru, and as long as we know the prayers by heart, I do not see the problem... do you?

[Tammy]

THANK YOU EVERYONE for sharing your view and suggestions!

Summary of of all the posts thus far:

(1) Its ok to chant mantras while driving
- calm our minds
- helps concentration (?)
- not counted as part of daily sadhana

(2) Not ok to do sadhana while driving
- how to do tea offerings while driving (or can of beer or drink, can?)
- can't visualize while driving hence sadhana not complete
- cant multi-task while driving

I do still chant mantra while driving cos it helps to prevent my mind from running wild unless I need to plan and do some serious thinking

welcome anymore new ideas and comments.

[brian]

Well, we can see it is not a brilliant idea to be doing your daily sadhanna in your car while driving? We should by all means treat our sadhanas gifted by our Guru(s) to be very sacred and precious and not being done anywhere else but only when we are seated right in front of our altar. So the very least we are respecting our Guru's gift or instruction.

I came to terms on Siting on the sofa or any nice cushion in your house as long as facing the altar. This is better than sitting in a car reciting whatever sadhanas. If we are driving, it is ok for us to be reciting mantras because it blesses our mind and as well as the beings whom we may bumped into without knowing but certainly not doing sadhanas in your car while you are driving. heck you do not even have any statues to visualise on unless you have your tsa tsa. And when you have tsa tsa, where is your offering?