Walking Meditation: An Introduction by Brother Phap Luu | #1

In, out, deep, slow,

calming, smiling

Present moment.

Wonderful moment

So it's a beautiful winter day here, in Deer Park.

And the question is whether we are present enough to enjoy it.

So walking meditation is to cultivate that kind of presence so we can see clearly what's going on in our body

and also what's going on with our walking

and with the nature around us and especially with the community around us.

So

when we practice walking, we cultivate presence by coming back to our breathing, into our step.

So when we breathe in.

We might take two or three steps.

And then breathe out.

We take three or four steps and we try to be 100% there with our breathing in our steps

to not caught in the future or the past.

So that phrase you see, "arrived at home", in the meditation hall.

It is to help us to come back to see that our home is right here and right now.

So you might like

to coordinate your breathing with your step so that you're not lost in your thinking.

Thinking about where you want to go or your projects, your worries, your fears.

You can just put it all down, let it go into the earth,

and you might like to, for example, count your steps, just one, two,

maybe one, two on the inbreath.

And then.

One, two, three.

On the outbreath.

You naturally find the rhythm.

It might be two steps or three steps, whatever it might be.

You don't force your breathing to change.

You just allow it to come naturally.

And however many steps go with the inbreath and however many go with the outbreath, you just let that be where you focus on coordinating them.

So that keeps us present.

And when you really are able to do that, you can continue on and practice the the teaching on "arrived at home".

So you might like to say arrived, arrived.

Arrived.

And then on the outbreath, at home.

At home.

At home.

It means that your step is home right here, right now, and not somewhere else.

So Thay, our teacher, love to remind us that the direction of life is here and now.

The address of life is here and now.

So wherever we are, we can be at home, wherever we are, we can be at peace.

Wherever we are, we can enjoy.

Life within us and around us.

Sometimes look at human beings and we think, "Why are we always running around everywhere?"

Why can we not just come back and enjoy this moment on the earth?

So let's try to realize that today.

The mind can go in a thousand directions.

But on this lovely path, I walk in peace

With each step, a gentle wind blow with each step of flower bloom.

The mind can go.

In a thousand directions.

But on this lovely path I walk in peace. With each step, a gentle wind blow.

With each step, a flower blooms.

You might like to also walk with your ancestors, your mother, your father.

Maybe they haven't ever had the chance to walk mindfully in their life.

But they are in every cell of our body.

So if we walk mindfully, we are also walking with them.

So we are walking for them.

So our peaceful steps of arriving at home also are transmitted to them, through every cell in our body.

And not only our mother, father, our grandparents, but also, you know, our ancient ancestors.

Something like a chimpanzee, something like a lizard.

You know, those are also in every cell of our body.

The very shape of our foot has grown up in contact with the earth.

That's why we are able to walk as two legged creature on the Earth.

This arch in our foot and the Achilles tendon is designed for us to walk like that, upright on the Earth.

So we are walking with our ancestors, our evolutionary ancestors as well.

And in this way, we we connect with the trees, with the plants.

And when we do that, our steps become legendary.

So wherever we walk becomes the legendary path. Where the Buddha walked in his time became a legendary path.

And that's not just because he is an important historical person, but it's because of his way of walking.

Walking and mindfulness.

Walking for all of his ancestors.

I

I am home.

In the here and in the now.

I have arrived.

I am home in the here and in the now.

I am solid.

I am free.

I am solid.

I am free.

In the ultimate, I dwell

In the ultimate, I dwell