Why Can't Buddhist Monks Ride Bicycles?

[WoodsyLadyM]

I don’t see a problem with monks riding a bike either for transportation or exercise. I can’t quote suttas like you all do, but to me it’s just common sense. If you have a long way to go and riding a bike makes the trip less onerous then fine. If it’s for exercise, then fine too. It’s not like the monks would be hanging out at a gym comparing abs, glutes, and biceps.

[anon15117020]

@Subharo

By the way, my original Acariya suffered a (non-fatal) heart attack while in the robes (before I ever met him). So I have a vested interest in trying to gain a sense why that happened, and put in some good causes and conditions, such that it doesn’t happen to me as well. Before that heart attack, my original Acariya went on lots of walks daily, and did tons of yoga. But his monastic life around the time of the heart attack very likely had little to no cardio-vascular exercise. I’m no doctor, of course, but the lack of cardio-vascular exercise in a large majority of all monastics I’ve ever met has not gone unnoticed by me.

I am sorry to hear of your teacher’s heart attack and hope all preventable illnesses among the sangha are prevented.

I’d add that cardio is also helpful in the prevention and management of type 2 diabetes, another tragic monk-killer