Friday, August 28, 2015

Walking meditation (1)

The following Thay's messages are very useful.

The here and the now is the address of life. Life is available only in the here and now. That is the teaching of the Buddha. The past is already gone and the future is not yet there. So, there is only one moment you can truly live. And that is the present moment. And that is why each step should bring you home to the here and the now. 

Right. So, breathing in, you make one step and you say, "I have arrived". But in order to truly arrive, you have to invest yourself 100% of your body and mind. Otherwise, you may arrive only 20% or 30%. That's not your true arrival. Because in us there is a tendency, there is a habit of running. We have been running. Our parents and our ancestors have been running. So, they have transmitted to us the energy, the habit energy of running. (The runner is ego, or separate self who separates oneself from others.)

We believe that happiness is not possible in the here and the now and that we need to go to the future to get more conditions in order to be truly happy. And that is our belief. That is why most of us sacrifice the present for the sake of the future. We are very good at preparing for the future but we are not good enough to live in the present moment. (Belief is an idea or notion created by ego or our brain. So, our belief is an illusion, not the reality as it is.)  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B014NYEP04

So, even during our sleep, we still continue to run into the future. It has become a habit. And that is why walking meditation is to counter this kind of habit. You are determined to stop the running. I have been running all my life. Now I want to stop and live my life properly. So, it starts like this to stop. 

You are walking but you are stopping. So, every step will help you to stop to be established in the here and the now. And the mindfulness is needed. You need to invest 100% of your body and mind into making your step in order to arrive truly 100%. That is a challenge. If you notice that you have not arrived completely 100%, then stay there. Don't make another step. Stay there until you arrive 100%. (Our body walks, but mind stops.)

(to be continued) 

(Notes) The descriptions in the parenthesis are my commentaries.


(Cf.) http://www.slideshare.net/compassion5151/meditation-selfinquiry

Walking meditation