Sadhana on the go !?

[Tammy]

Busy - no time - in a rush - traffic jam - tired etc etc etc... these are modern day's excuses for not keeping our commitment of daily sadhana. Whilst we either do our daily prayers in the morning, before the day starts, or late at night, when we have completed a full cycle of secular life-style. Most often then not, those who does morning prayer missed because they couldnt wake up, and those doing prayers at night were too tired to keep their eyes opened.

Hence the idea of praying while driving! Some of my friends take multitasking to a whole new level - they pray while driving (esp. when there is trafiic jam!)

Safety issue aside, can anyone advise whether this should be encouraged?

[brian]

Hi Tammy,

I do not encourage this to be done as i don't think this is possible as simple as these reasons:
1) you can't concentrate on driving or even when its a traffic congestion, as how multitasking as one person can be, it is
2) when you are not concentrating, how will you be sure you can do your meditation in your sadhannas?
3) if you can't concentrate on the meditation, don't that take away the benefits of sadhannas where you are supposed to be benefiting the person.

The purpose of sadhanas  i believe is to keep up with your commitments with your Guru, and to stay focus and to make us do it consistently right? I feel doing the mantras while being caught in the traffic jam will just be a blessing for you.

[dsdisciple]

Hi Tammy,

Mantra on the go? mmm this would be fine if you were:

a) the passenger in the said vehicle as you mentioned for safety reasons.

Brian has made a very good point about the purpose of your Saddhana? I guess it is too easy to fall into the trap of the more mantra's we get more benefit etc...etc.

Maybe a better goal maybe to work on setting a correct motivation pre-Sadhana? From my own experience if I am going to be traffic jam I will use this time to focus on my practice...of Watching my mind...I set myself a goal of controlling my anger and thoughts to other users on the road.

Setting myself little goals and realizing not all days are the same...Some days can count on one hand and some days it feels like falling off the wagon before my day has even started .

My work requires alot of travel but also as a result lots of opportunity for not so mindful road users on the road also arggghhhh!

So how can we expect our Sadhana and prayers to have power and blessings of the Buddha's to help us if we do not make ourselves a perfect recepticle to receive blessings.

Other reflections I will use throughout my travels is to reflect on impermanence? guru devotion? kindness of friends and loved ones? Than when it comes time to do your Sadhana you have done some internal housekeeping so to speak

Also you could consider doing some preliminary prayers before your day begins? I prefer to do this when I first wake in the morning, work on the practice during the day and actaul Sadhana at the end of the day not driving and quiet time.

Hope this helps?

xo

[Aurore]

I don't see anything wrong with reciting mantras when driving though ... Especially if on a highway and long distance. When I was in Nepal, I see a lot of old Tibetan man and ladies walking on the street while chanting mantras. So perhaps it's quite similar except one is walking and one and driving.

However, yes it shouldn't be considered to be part of a daily sadhana. To me mantra is acceptable because it can create a habit to be thinking about the 3 jewels at all times. I guess if you are travelling overnight and have no choice but to do your sadhana in the plane, etc then it's better to do it while travelling than none. The best is to plan out and organise our time especially if we know what is going to be ahead of us for the rest of the day. We should treat each day like it's our very last day.

[pgdharma]

I feel reciting mantras while drive is alright as it keeps our mind calm and also we will be thinking of the Three Jewels and not be preoccupied with impatience and venting our anger on other road users. However, it is not right to do sadhana while driving as our mind will be focus on the road and not meditating on the sadhanas so it will not be effective. It is alright to do the sadhana in the car if we are not the driver and we can hold our meditation well in a moving car without being distracted by the driver or other passengers in the car.

Doing sadhana is a personal practice for us to keep our commitments to our Guru and the Three Jewels. It is  sacred and precious and we should treat our sadhana with the highest respect and not simply do for the sake of doing.

[Tenzin K]

Personally I disagree with doing prayer while driving even when there is traffic jam.
They is no way we can focus on our sadhana and it defeat the purpose of doing sadhana. It just become doing for the sake for doing it but is empty.

Doing our sadhana we must focus and even sometimes we need to contemplate or even meditate. How can we do this while driving and it might invite accident too. Doing sadhana is a wonderful thing and should do it diligently.

[Midakpa]

Mantras can be recited while driving and may even prove to be beneficial. I've read testimonials of people who have avoided accidents because they were reciting mantras at the time. But reading one's sadhana should not be encouraged while driving even though the car has stopped. How can you be mindful of the road if you are reading? It is very dangerous. It's better to find another solution. How about getting up earlier?

[ratanasutra]

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??

[Q]

Hi Tammy,

Regarding doing our sadhana on the go ie driving... I would say that it is highly not recommended lol! I mean... imagine when you reach the Serkym part... how? I know we can just open a can of beer as offering but it is after all better to do it the traditional way.

Lets not talk about the safety issue... i think we all know that doing out sadhana while driving would make us a dangerous driver on the road (hehe...). After all, there are scientific research that indicates a person's capability to engage something with full concentration can only be placed on one thing at a time (Yes... you heard that right to all the multitaskers out there)... and our sadhana should demand our full attention. We allocate so much of out time to concentrate on samsaric matters, i think it is reasonable to place a side 30 minutes for a short daily sadhana... after all, our sadhanas is what matters most if we truly are serious in advancing in our spiritual path.

The very reason why Buddhists have their own personal altar already indicates the importance of doing our daily sadhana or meditation when we are settled down. Having full concentration is most important, as our sadhanas do demand a certain level of visualisation (speaking in a beginner sense). Even while sitting down infront the altar, sometimes it is difficult to maintain visualisation, not to mention while driving a car!! After all, doing our sadhana without visualisation is equal to a parrot talking... just words that hold no meaning or blessings.

Conclusion? I think doing our sadhana in the car (even if the car is static in the traffic) is just not practical. However, you can recite mantras in the car.

[Manjushri]

I agree with Aurore.

Reciting mantras whilst driving is alright , sometimes I do it too, but over here where I stay, I don't drive as much as I walk, so I do recite mantras whilst walking. I guess that's less dangerous  than reciting mantras whilst driving.. imagine you're using ur mala, whilst driving, so you have one hand on the steering wheel, another using the mala. Could be a little distracting and dangerous. Reciting without using a mala, whilst driving would be my best bet - instead of turning on the radio and singing along to it, you can do recitation of mantras. But recitation of the mantras whilst driving should not be counted as part of one's daily prayers.

How do you do prostrations, mudras, or whatever whilst driving and doing your sadhana? How do you do visualisations and at the same time concentrate on driving? I dont think the prayer session would be focused at all. 

When you're moving around or travelling alot, you can carry along with you some Buddha images or something and just set up a very simple altar whereever you are to do your daily prayer. I feel that one's sadhana should always be done infront of one's altar as that is your field of merit.

[biggyboy]

Hmmm...I would regard that doing a sadhana while driving is a no no especially when one needs to do visualisation or meditation. How would one be mindful on one's driving while on the road?  In my opinion, when we do visualisation or meditation it has to be focused and not be distracted.  We should regard doing sadhana with respect as it is a form of instruction to help and train our mind.

Should one chant mantra (without holding a mala) while driving, I would say it is alright as long as one is mindful on their driving.  Most of the time, I did that too especially when we are so clouded with frustrations and anger while on the road to calm our mind....isn't chanting mantra better than we sing to songs blasting on radio or CDs?

[Gypsy]

I don't think doing sadhana in a vehicle is appropriate, however reciting mantra when caught in a traffic jam is acceptable. Like what Brian has said, we cannot focus on the prayers while we are moving on the road, there's no way we can meditate and do visualization in a car also. Without full concentration, just do for the sake of doing, why waste time then?

Doing sadhana can be part of the practice for being consistent and discipline. When we set a time to do sadhana, for example morning before the day starts, it's good that we keep this as a habit no matter where we are, even when we are traveling. Doing sadhana can be a form of training our mind, whether we see it as a beneficial practice or just another routine to fulfill your guru's instruction?

[RedLantern]

It is a fast paced world and it can be difficult to fit everything into a person's schedule everyday.So,it is nice to fit in as many things possible in to a day just to stay ahead.There is a point and time where it is just not smart to combine certain tasks;this include doing sadhana while driving.
The point is there is really no need to do anything else while driving but to focus on the road and ready for what might happen.Things can change in an instant and being distracted while driving can have seriously negative consequences.To recite mantras is alright buy doing sadhana,needs our full concentration.

[DS Star]

As most despondent mentioned here, doing mantras while driving is alright as it helps to calm oneself and we can skip the visualisation part. Only concentrate on the reciting, this is a good practice to calm our minds especially during heavy traffic jam.

As for doing sadhana, it not recommended because it is our private practice that required us to do vidualisation and meditation. We need to be in full concentration when we are driving, we need to pay attention to the roads and other vehicles.

[rossoneri]

I don't encourage doing our daily Sadhana in the car. If we wanted to do something to a Holy Buddha, it should be done as proper as it should be. We don't give in to our lame excuses by being tired, no time and laziness. (mostly) By doing proper Sadhana daily will encourage our good qualities to emerge. Should you have your private practice which requires you to visualise and meditate, i don't think it is very appropriate. How can one achieve the ultimate enlightenment if we can't even do something as simple as daily Sadhana.

However reciting mantra and simple visualisation should be encourage, especially during traffic congestion.