Mantra couch potato

[pummy369]

A quote taken from Rinpoche's teaching on Setrap Meditation (he is talking about saying mantras in front of the TV) -

Yes you can watch TV and do it.  Why can you watch TV and do it?  Because you’re gonna watch TV anyway.  I watch TV, so we may as well do mantras and watch TV, then TV and no mantras.

This is very liberating news for a couch potato.  I sometimes say mantras while watching TV and this can be due to the fact that it is the warmest/coolest room in the house, or that I get to be in there spending time with my husband and not isolated in another room, or that I am just plain lazy.  I find that I am only half concentrating on the TV when I do this, but hey, that's no great loss is it.   I don't presume that Rinpoche is advocating laziness in your practice, but rather that this is better than nothing.  

What thinkest thou?

[SharpPudding]

 Doing mantras while simultaneously doing other things is awesome as long as you have built up the deity in your mind.  If you've been doing the practice for a long time and when you say the mantra the deity with their qualities comes to mind effortlessly it's really great and you can say the mantra all day long. I don't think saying mantras all day long does much though if you don't have some competency in the sadhana already.

 You can bring up a lot of joy by reciting mantras throughout the day.

[goat]

myself while watching tv...no...but if in a crowded room or watching the sunset..yes

[GonzoEnder]

Well it's saying that mantra's and TV is better than no mantra's but he's basically calling it a last resort.

It will be much better to focus on the sounds quietly and contemplate.

BUT--since people don't do that enough. He is accepting a more modern reduced practice and praising it as better than no practice. He is the Guru, I believe him without question, after much time contemplating. In other words, don't feel worse about yourself if this is all you can do!