Here is a very simple and beautiful message from Thich Nhat Hahn taken from the Tricycle Wisdom articles.
In the
Lotus Sutra,
the Buddha is described as the most respected and loved creature who
walked on two feet. He was so loved because he knew how to enjoy a good
walk. Walking is an important form of Buddhist meditation. It can be a
very deep spiritual practice. But when the Buddha walked, he walked
without effort. He just enjoyed walking. He didn’t have to strain,
because when you walk practice ofin mindfulness, you are in touch with
the all the wonders of life within you and around you. This is the best
way to practice, with the appearance of nonpractice. You don’t make any
effort, you don’t struggle, you just enjoy walking, but it’s very deep.
“My practice,” the Buddha said, “is the nonpractice, the attainment of
nonattainment.”
For many of us, the idea of practice without
effort, of the relaxed pleasure of mindfulness, seems very difficult.
That is because we don’t walk with our feet. Of course, physically our
feet are doing the walking, but because our minds are elsewhere, we are
not walking with our full body and our full consciousness. We see our
minds and our bodies as two separate things. While our bodies are
walking one way, our consciousness is tugging us in a different
direction.
For
the Buddha, mind and the body are two aspects of the same thing.
Walking is as simple as putting one foot in front of the other. But we
often find it difficult or tedious. We drive a few blocks rather than
walk in order to “save time.” When we understand the interconnectedness
of our bodies and our minds, the simple act of walking like the Buddha
can feel supremely easy and pleasurable.
You can take a step and
touch the earth in such a way that you establish yourself in the present
moment; you will arrive in the here and the now. You don’t need to make
any effort at all. Your foot touches the earth mindfully, and you
arrive firmly in the here and the now. And suddenly you are free—free
from all projects, all worries, all expectations. You are fully present,
fully alive, and you are touching the earth.
When you practice
slow walking meditation alone, try this: Breathe in and take one step,
and focus all your attention on the sole of your foot. If you have not
arrived fully, one hundred percent in the here and the now, don’t make
the next step. You have the luxury of doing this. Then when you’re sure
that you’ve arrived one hundred percent in the here and the now,
touching reality deeply, then you smile and you make the next step. When
you walk like this, you print your stability, your solidity, your
freedom, your joy on the ground. Your foot is like a seal. When you put
the seal on a piece of paper, the seal makes an impression. Looking in
your footstep, you see the mark of freedom, the mark of solidity, the
mark of happiness, the mark of life. You can make a step like that
because there is a buddha in you—buddhanature, the capacity of being
aware of what is going on. There is a buddha in every one of us, and we
should allow the buddha to walk.
Even in the most difficult
situation, you can walk like a buddha. Last year I visited Korea, and
there was one moment when my group was surrounded by hundreds of people.
Each of them had a camera, and they were closing in. There was no path
to walk, and everyone was aiming their camera at us. It was a very
difficult situation in which to do walking meditation, so I said, “Dear
Buddha, I give up, you walk for me.” And right away the Buddha came, and
he walked, with complete freedom, and the crowd made room for the
Buddha to walk; no effort was made. If you find yourself in some
difficulty, step aside, and allow the Buddha to take your place. The
Buddha is in you. This works in all situations, I have tried it. It’s
like encountering a problem when you’re using the computer. You can’t
get out of the situation. But then your big brother who is very skillful
with computers comes along and says, “Move over a little, I’ll take
over.” And as soon as he sits down, everything is all right. It’s like
that. When you find it difficult, withdraw and allow the Buddha to take
your place. You have to have faith in the Buddha within, and allow the
Buddha to walk, and also allow the people dear to you to walk.
When
you walk, who do you walk for? You can walk to get somewhere but you
can also walk as a kind of meditative offering. It’s nice to walk for
your parents or for your grandparents who may not have known the
practice of walking in mindfulness. You ancestors may have spent their
whole life without the chance to make peaceful, happy steps and
establish themselves fully in the present moment.
It is possible
for you to walk with the feet of your mother. You can say, “Mother,
would you like to walk with me?” And then you walk with her, and your
heart will fill with love. You free yourself and you free her at the
same time, because your mother is in you, in every cell of your body.
Your father is also fully present in every cell of your body. You can
say, “Dad, would you like to join me?” Then suddenly you walk with the
feet of your father. It’s a joy. It’s very rewarding. You don’t have to
fight and struggle in order to do it. Just become aware.
After
you have been able to walk for your dear ones, you can walk for the
people who have made your life miserable. You can walk for those who
have attacked you, who have destroyed your home, your country, and your
people. These people weren’t happy. They didn’t have enough love for
themselves and for other people. They have made your life miserable, and
the life of your family and your people miserable. And there will be a
time when you’ll be able to walk for them too. Walking like that, you
become a buddha, you become a bodhisattva filled with love,
understanding, and compassion.
WALKING MEDITATION PRACTICE
The mind can go in a thousand directions.
But on this beautiful path, I walk in peace.
With each step, a gentle wind blows.
With each step, a flower blooms.
During
walking meditation we walk slowly, in a relaxed way, keeping a light
smile on our lips. When we practice this way, we feel deeply at ease,
and our steps are those of the most secure person on Earth. Walking
meditation is really to enjoy the walking—walking not in order to
arrive, just for walking, to be in the present moment, and to enjoy each
step. Therefore you have to shake off all worries and anxieties, not
thinking of the future, not thinking of the past, just enjoying the
present moment. Anyone can do it. It takes only a little time, a little
mindfulness, and the wish to be happy.
We walk all the time, but
usually it is more like running. Our hurried steps print anxiety and
sorrow on the Earth. If we can take one step in peace, we can take two,
three, four, and then five steps for the peace and happiness of
humankind.
Our mind darts from one thing to another, like a
monkey swinging from branch to branch without stopping to rest. Thoughts
have millions of pathways, and we are forever pulled along by them into
the world of forgetfulness. If we can transform our walking path into a
field for meditation, our feet will take every step in full awareness,
our breathing will be in harmony with our steps, and our mind will
naturally be at ease. Every step we take will reinforce our peace and
joy and cause a stream of calm energy to flow through us. Then we can
say, “With each step, a gentle wind blows.”
While walking,
practice conscious breathing by counting steps. Notice each breath and
the number of steps you take as you breathe in and as you breathe out.
If you take three steps during an in-breath, say, silently, “One, two,
three,” or “In, in, in,” one word with each step. As you breathe out, if
you take three steps, say, “Out, out, out,” with each step. If you take
three steps as you breathe in and four steps as you breathe out, you
say, “In, in, in. Out, out, out, out,” or “One, two, three. One, two,
three, four.”
Don’t try to control your breathing. Allow your
lungs as much time and air as they need, and simply notice how many
steps you take as your lungs fill up and how many you take as they
empty, mindful of both your breath and your steps. The key is
mindfulness.
When you walk uphill or downhill, the number of
steps per breath will change. Always follow the needs of your lungs. Do
not try to control your breathing or your walking. Just observe them
deeply.
When you begin to practice, your exhalation may be longer
than your inhalation. You might find that you take three steps during
your in-breath and four steps on your out-breath. If this is comfortable
for you, enjoy practicing this way. After you have been doing walking
meditation for some time, your in-breath and out-breath will probably
become equal: 3-3, or 2-2, or 4-4.
If you see something along the
way that you want to touch with your mindfulness—the blue sky, the
hills, a tree, or a bird—just stop, but while you do, continue breathing
mindfully. You can keep the object of your contemplation alive by means
of mindful breathing. If you don’t breathe consciously, sooner or later
your thinking will settle back in, and the bird or the tree will
disappear. Always stay with your breathing.
After you have been
practicing for a few days, try adding one more step to your exhalation.
For example, if your normal breathing is 2-2, without walking any
faster, lengthen your exhalation and practice 2-3 for four or five
times. Then go back to 2-2. In normal breathing, we never expel all the
air from our lungs. There is always some left. By adding another step to
your exhalation, you will push out more of this stale air. Don’t overdo
it. Four or five times are enough. More can make you tired. After
breathing this way four or five times, let your breath return to norma1.
Then, five or ten minutes later, you can repeat the process. Remember
to add a step to the exhalation, not the inhalation.
After
practicing for a few more days, your lungs might say to you, “If we
could do 3-3 instead of 2-3, that would be wonderful.” If the message is
clear, try it, but even then, only do it four or five times. Then go
back to 2-2. In five or ten minutes, begin 2-3, and then do 3-3 again.
After several months, your lungs will be healthier and your blood will
circulate better. Your way of breathing will have been transformed.
When
we practice walking meditation, we arrive in each moment. When we enter
the present moment deeply, our regrets and sorrows disappear, and we
discover life with all its wonders. Breathing in, we say to ourselves,
“I have arrived.” Breathing out, we say, “I am home.” When we do this,
we overcome dispersion and dwell peacefully in the present moment, which
is the only moment for us to be alive.
You can also practice walking meditation using the lines of a poem. In Zen Buddhism, poetry and practice always go together.
I have arrived.
I am home
in the here,
in the now.
I am solid.
I am free.
In the ultimate
I dwell.
As
you walk, be fully aware of your foot, the ground, and the connection
between them, which is your conscious breathing. People say that walking
on water is a miracle, but to me, walking peacefully on the Earth is
the real miracle. The Earth is a miracle. Each step is a miracle. Taking
steps on our beautiful planet can bring real happiness.
Thich Nhat Hanh
is a Buddhist monk, poet, scholar, and human rights activist. In 1967,
he was nominated by Martin Luther King, Jr. for the Nobel Peace Prize.
He lives at Plum Village, his meditation center in France. This article
was adapted from From Buddha Mind, Buddha Body: Walking Toward Enlightenment
© 2007 by Thich Nhat Hanh. Reprinted with permission of Parallax Press, Berkeley, California, www.parallax.org.
