Don't know if my sadhana is too long and/or overdoing it.

[Jainarayan]

It's tantra in the sense that the word was used in the Vedic era (meaning practice, more or less), in addition to the more explicitly tantric era. Life is the great rite. Breathing. Blinking. The sensation of time elapsing like the dancing forms of divine times. All sensory input at all times are the colors of the wind blown by force of awareness into the central channel, rising through the lokas dissolving the less-conscious into the self-aware. These are the animal sacrifices, these are the oblations, these are the pujas.

All mental activity is equally self-sacrficing in the void altar called mind, spilling its essence onto the blade of non-reproduction, dharma brushing the tangles of karma and vasana from the head of time.

That was great... very poetic. Not to mention a good explanation. Thanks. I think back to the time in my life when I never gave a thought to God, much less try to intertwine Him in my daily life. Big difference.

 

[DanielR]

Jainarayan, just out of curiosity, maybe I overread something in your posts, but do you have a guru, or do you do all by yourself ?

 

[Jainarayan]

No, I don't have a guru or lama. It's all d.i.y. That's why I'm limited to nama japa and prayers only to certain bodhisattvas and buddhas.

 

[DanielR]

ooh, I'm interested, may I send you a PM, I do have a question, don't know if this would fit in here, only if you don't mind ??

 

[Shuddhasattva]

I really don't think you need take the imposed Tibetan sadhana restrictions that seriously. Your chances of finding a lama in this life or the next who is authentically received borders on the nonexistent. Better you yourself do the needful by means of summoning yourself to the lama's presence.

The lineages are done, if we are waiting for authentic pointing-out instruction, the moon will pass before being seen.

BTW, did you happen to read the poem in the Vajrayana DIR (I think?). Perhaps it was too dense to convey this as well as I'd hoped.

 

[Jainarayan]

ooh, I'm interested, may I send you a PM, I do have a question, don't know if this would fit in here, only if you don't mind ??

No problem either way.

 

[Jainarayan]

I really don't think you need take the imposed Tibetan sadhana restrictions that seriously. Your chances of finding a lama in this life or the next who is authentically received borders on the nonexistent. Better you yourself do the needful by means of summoning yourself to the lama's presence.

The lineages are done, if we are waiting for authentic pointing-out instruction, the moon will pass before being seen.

:yes: I remember your advice and view on the restrictions and secrecy. I figure if I keep to the 'restrictions' I won't make more overthinking for myself.

BTW, did you happen to read the poem in the Vajrayana DIR (I think?). Perhaps it was too dense to convey this as well as I'd hoped.

Not sure, I'll go back.

 

[Aisling]

I don't do the typical Hindu puja with the bathing and such. And I'm not empowered to do sadhana per Tibetan Buddhism. I offer light, incense, sweets. Because I say prayers to a multiplicity of deities, both Hindu (Krishna/Vishnu; Lakshmi, Saraswati, Rama, Hanuman, Ganesha, Narasimha, Shiva, Devi) and Buddhist (the Twenty-one Taras, Chenrezig, Manjushri and Medicine Buddha). These are for blessings and help. I do japas to Avalokiteshvara (om mani padme hum), to Vishnu and to Shiva (to help in my meditation, He being the greatest of ascetics); and meditation. I found that my sadhana typically takes about an hour. I have a short version in which I offer light, incense, sweets, I say some mantras and a few generic prayers, and maybe a little meditation if I don't feel I can give it "my all". That can take 10-20 mins. Because in all honesty I find I cannot do the full one hour every day. So, I am just wondering how long people generally spend in sadhana, and if there is a way I can or should cut it back, or it's just about right.

Wow! You manage to do all these in an hour??? That's like a speed demon! lol

If you ask me if your Sadhana is too long, I'd say no. 1 hour is actually a very acceptable amount of time to get ourselves in tuned spiritually after 23 hours out in samsara.

Just to share with you, my Sadhana typically take 45 minutes a day... for the regular length. If I'm in a rush, it takes 20 minutes. If I have more time, it can go up to 1.5 hours. This is excluding the time I take to clean the room, the altar, prepare offerings and making black tea. So with all that included in average I'd say 1 hour is also the amount of time I spend doing my sadhana.

Just remember, the most important is your meditational deity. Like mine, is Lama Tsongkhapa, then Manjushri and protector practice. When I have more time I will do purification practice, just Vajrasattva mantras.

I am not too sure about Hindu deities, they are so beautiful, but I am not well learned about them.

There is really no harm in cutting down lol! For example, last time I used to do Green Tara as well, but her sadhana quite long, so I do not do her regularly. I can opt to not do because I do not have any initiations into her practice.

The only situation where you cannot stop any single one of your sadhana to a particular deity is when: 1) You receive instructions from your Guru to practice 2) You received initiation to this practice.

If you do not have either these 2 criteria, then you can stop certain deities and concentrate on deities that will help you achieve what you want at this point of time.

For example, I like doing Wisdom Buddha sadhanas, that's why my Yidam is Lama Tsongkhapa and Manjushri. I do protector practice so that my Dharma practice will not be interrupted by mundane things, and Vajrasattva to purify my karma so that I can absorb the Dharma quickly. Perhaps you can formulate something like this too. I'm not too sure of your situation so you will need to figure out what you need at this point of time so that your Spiritual practice can grow. Or you can request from your teacher on what specific practice you can do. (Remember to bring a nice offering for your teacher if you do that =))

Hope this helps!

 

[Jainarayan]

I did cut it down. It was the length and number of prayers to the deities and the japas that made it so long. I also decided that I don't have to do the same ritual each time. I can do the shorter prayers and stotrams in about 20 minutes. I'm not empowered or initiated, or have taken a vow to do X rounds of japa. Because of that I don't have to use a mala, though I can if I want to. I can do deity meditation and non-mala japa at another time that I feel is conducive and beneficial. But if I have the time to spend, I can do it all at once and derive a benefit and energy from it.

 

[Aisling]

I did cut it down. It was the length and number of prayers to the deities and the japas that made it so long. I also decided that I don't have to do the same ritual each time. I can do the shorter prayers and stotrams in about 20 minutes. I'm not empowered or initiated, or have taken a vow to do X rounds of japa. Because of that I don't have to use a mala, though I can if I want to. I can do deity meditation and non-mala japa at another time that I feel is conducive and beneficial. But if I have the time to spend, I can do it all at once and derive a benefit and energy from it.

That's wonderful =))))

It's quite a challenge to find people who are spiritual nowadays, nice to hear that you enjoy your practice and use your free time to engage in spirituality.

Just to share a little with you on what my Dharma bros and sisters taught me. When we are committed to do a practice daily, it would be best for us to take vow to do the practice. In that way, with everyday when we keep our vow, we generate a tremendous amount of merit which will support the growth of our spiritual practice.

So for example, I vow to do 3 malas/japas a day of Manjushri mantra, and for every day I keep that promise, I gain merits =)

Another example of taking a vow is being vegetarian, I vowed to be full time vegetarian (previously was twice a week) and so with every passing day I keep my promise, I gain merits instead of good karma because the vow I made is to a higher being, which is Buddha. This can be used in many situation, like some people who drink alcohol, they vow to stop for 1 month, or if they used to drink 5 cans of beer a day, they vow to reduce to 1 can of beer a day... etc. Recently I have a friend, who is a severe alcoholic, vowed to stop drinking for 1 month, so glad for him. Another of my friend vowed to stop smoking for life.

Perhaps you can do the same with your short sadhana if you haven't already hehe =)