Why doesnt monks and nuns exercise?

[mrbambocha]

Why doesnt monks and nuns exercise since all the science show us how benifitial excercise is. (I dont count daily work as exercise, I mean something like yoga, or lifting weights/bodyweight)

[Indrajala]

Exercise is fine. Walking exercise was talk by the Buddha.

Running is against the rules.

[pueraeternus]

Running is against the rules.

Oh - this is in the Vinaya?

[Indrajala]

Running is against the rules.

Oh - this is in the Vinaya?

One Chinese monk explained it to me like this: "It looks bad for us to run in robes."

[mrbambocha]

It looks bad for us to run in robes.

Isnt the philosophy that there is no good or bad? That also mean that one is judging.

[Indrajala]

It looks bad for us to run in robes.

Isnt the philosophy that there is no good or bad? That also mean that one is judging.

There's also conventional reality that we have to live in where decorum is important if you rely on the good charity of the community.

[PorkChop]

Exercise is fine. Walking exercise was talk by the Buddha.
Running is against the rules.

Not to go off topic, but where do you think traditional Shaolin Chan fits into the picture?
I'm talking the old stuff, not the modern day gymnasts.
AFAIK jogging was a part of their old regimen, along with fetching water up the hill, wearing heavy shoes, taolu, and various gung trainings...

And where does that put the marathon monks of Japan?

Just curious, because with my long relationship with martial arts, the more physical forms of meditation come more naturally.

[pueraeternus]

One Chinese monk explained it to me like this: "It looks bad for us to run in robes."

I see. Is this in one of the qinggui (pure rules), or just an unspoken decorum rules?

[seeker242]

They do! Some monks do like upwards of 1,000 bows (prostrations) per day. Full prostrations are very good exercise. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTk929t3oFE

[Indrajala]

Not to go off topic, but where do you think traditional Shaolin Chan fits into the picture?
I'm talking the old stuff, not the modern day gymnasts.
AFAIK jogging was a part of their old regimen, along with fetching water up the hill, wearing heavy shoes, taolu, and various gung trainings...

Shaolin monks were unpopular with at least some more orthodox authors like Zongze 宗賾 (11th - 12th cent.). It seems they ignored the Chan rules as laid down by Baizhang.

[Indrajala]

One Chinese monk explained it to me like this: "It looks bad for us to run in robes."

I see. Is this in one of the qinggui (pure rules), or just an unspoken decorum rules?

There are many many decorum rules.

I'd have to double check, but if I recall correctly it is on the list.

[Yudron]

I believe I heard that Shechen monastery, Nepal, has a gym.

[jmlee369]

While this is during a short term ordination, I believe the full time monastics also jog. This is an innovation of the late Master Miao Lian of Ling Yan Mountain Monastery. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpmVViF2 ... ure=relmfu

[JKhedrup]

HH Drukchen Rinpoche's Kung-Fu nuns in Ladakh.

[Sherlock]

I think yoga (trul khor) exercises also exist in all Tibetan lineages -- the Vairo trul khor (Yantra Yoga as ChNN prefers to call it) has 108 different movements.

[Aemilius]

Master Hsing Yun at Foguang Shan encourages his monks and novices to play basketball, Hsing Yun himself has played basketball, has built basketball grounds for his students, and has given teachings on the benefits of playing basketball in the book Bright Star, Luminous Cloud: The Life of a Simple Monk. The role of sports in Foguang Shan is also discussed in Establishing a Pureland On Earth, The Foguang Buddhist Perspective.

[Aemilius]

There is also the practice of pilgrimages, on foot that is, and the Three Steps One Bow type of pilgrimages, and the walking pilgrimages of HH Gyalwang Drukpa.

[pemachophel]

When I lived across the field from Tharlam Monastery in Boudha, I used to watch the monks take off their robes and revela football/soccer garb underneath. They would run around for hours playing football. There was also a basketball court and a volleyball court inside the walls of the monastery. So those monks definitely exercised and ran, just not in robes.

[JKhedrup]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Icy4bwvHgQ

Sorry about that, above the link with the kung-fu nuns.

[tomamundsen]

Prostrations are good exercise.