Dhamma Sukha Meditation Center

Student’s question: There are many references to walking meditation in the talks, but they all seem to assume that the listener heard the instructions given by Bhante at some earlier time. Somehow, the instructions I have read by Vipassana writers, (lift, lift, lift, push, push, push, set, set, set, etc.) don't make much sense after listening to Bhante.
I think it would be very helpful to have the instructions for the walking meditation on the site.
>>>KK
Yes. I agree with you. The instructions given for Vipassana retreats are
very different. You have probably seen people do a very V E R Y slow
walking meditation at such retreats where the emphasis is on noticing each
of the parts of the movements which occur in the foot. Bhante was trained
this way originally in Burma (Myanmar) too. It took over 45 minutes for him
to cross a room sometimes with these extremely slow movements as he
attempted to note them. It does have value in a particular way. It is a
lesson in observing the many movements to a step and that each fraction of a
movement in the process is IMPERMANENT.
BUT, the question here is, what are we learning overall during the
meditation? Once you go into the suttas and you begin to realize that the
meditation instructions have the intention of helping the practitioner to
see clearly the impersonal process of Dependent Origination, then you wonder
about the value of observing thousands of movements in each step and so very
slowly?
The other very important point for the walking meditation is that
"walking" is supposed to "get the circulation moving in the
body for a healthier situation to sit longer and deeper and see more".
This is pretty cut and dry. With this practice of Tranquil Wisdom
meditation using the Breath or Loving Kindness for the object of the
meditation, there is no 1 hour sit, 1 hour walk again and again with a bell
happening on the hour. Here, people join together in one room for the first
sit of each morning and the first sitting after lunch, for whatever length
of time they can. Then, after doing the walking meditation, they go and sit
wherever and for however long they individually can within their own point
of development. So in this way it differs from a group Vipassana Retreat.
You do learn about impermanence by walking slowly, it's true. But it's more
important to get the blood flowing when you are in a retreat for days on end
sitting and walking. the longer you sit, the longer you should walk. So this
is why we do a more natural form of walking which increases circulation and
stretches our muscles.
So, what are we doing with our minds in this situation when we walk more
naturally? One is continuing the meditation of the previous sitting, keeping
it going, continuing to send out the loving kindness and tranquilizing or
using the breath and tranquilizing while OBSERVING THE MOVEMENTS OF MIND'S
ATTENTION MOMENT TO MOMENT. One is just walking now instead of sitting while
they are staying on the object of the meditation: the observation. In this
way the student continues the meditation without a break.
Another point to this walking meditation is that one should think of this as
the first step of integrating the practice of the meditation into one's
life. HOW? Because you are now walking and continuing to observe in the same
way as when you were sitting! One discovers that you can walk to a
car, be doing most anything and as it becomes more and more a part of you
this observation technique will eventually continue to be going on all the
time at some level. You begin to see how your mind can wander off task as
you are working and as this happens, you release the arising distraction,
relax body and mind, begin to smile again and then put that smile into what
you are doing while you are doing it.
You get to observe how this practice can become integrated into daily
life firsthand and it begins with the technique of keeping the meditation
going while walking. The amount of time you can focus on any daily task is
directly proportional to the development of this technique.
This training is an amazing practice for a person who is in R&D work
environment of any kind performing concentrated work with experiments or
engineering projects where tasks can take large amounts of time needing
special focus. This technique can be put to the test to see the difference
by training a particular team to try it out.
Therefore, in this way, our walking meditation is seen here as simply
an extension of our sitting meditation, a continuation of the observation
technique observing the movements of mind's attention while getting our
circulation moving in a healthy way.
[ Side note: Ever since I began training with Bhante, having previously
been in personnel placement work, I have wanted an opportunity to train
project teams in this way for a company. This would be a case to prove the
specific difference this can bring about for the results of a specific
project team. But the opportunity has never come about for us to work with a
large company, YET.]
KK
December 22, 2005
Gainesville, FL