HOW TO PRACTICE WALKING MEDITATION

The goal of walking meditation is to be in the present moment and to develop Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration and Wisdom!

You can either walk fast or slow, depending on what is suitable for you to cultivate Mindfulness. Relax and walk on the path or the street, whichever you like and are comfortable with and whichever makes it easy to gain Mindfulness. You can walk a long or short distance – it doesn’t matter. But the principle of walking meditation is to relax and observe the whole body walking at the Base and observe the mind that wanders off.

Don’t try to control or suppress the mind to be at the Base all the time. Just simply relax and be conscious of the whole body moving or sitting as your Base of Mindfulness and observe the mind straying, recognize it and bring it back to the Base. Whenever the mind wanders off to the six sense organs or runs to any part of the body or attempts to control or suppress the mind to remain at the Base, just recognize it and bring it back to the Base.

Keep walking on the same path, back and forth, and let the Five Aggregates arise by themselves. Let good or bad, wholesome or unwholesome thoughts arise and just relax, observe them and bring the mind back to the Base. If your mind is lost in thought or sensation, then recognize it and bring it back to the Base. Always keep practicing persistently with Effort and without Clinging or Attachment. The more you recognize the mind when it has run away and bring it back to the Base, the more Mindfulness will develop.

Let good or bad, wholesome or unwholesome thoughts arise and just relax, and observe them and bring the mind back to the Base. If your mind is lost in thought or sensation, then recognize it and bring it back to the Base. Always keep practicing persistently with Effort and without Clinging or Attachment. The more you recognize the mind when it has run away and bring it back to the Base, the more Mindfulness will develop.

Keep practicing until the mind is naturally relaxed and spontaneously at the Base by itself without forcing or suppressing it to remain or to be still.

The longer we sit in meditation, the more the Five Aggregates will be activated and sensations and mind-states like pain in your legs or back or boredom or drowsiness will arise, and you will gain the benefits of increased Mindfulness, Concentration and Wisdom, when you practice with Effort, Forbearance, and Truthfulness. Then Equanimity or Insight Meditation will arise spontaneously, and we will see the truth of body and mind.
Remember that when we practice our goal is to gain Mindfulness, Concentration and Wisdom, not to gain happiness or rapture or to control or suppress the Five Aggregates of sensations. Whenever pain arises, the mind is busy or a crucial situation has occurred, is the perfect time to practice Mindfulness and Wisdom.

May your practice bring you joy and happiness and abundant energy to lead you to the end of Suffering.

The four foundations of mindfulness is a discourse on how to separate from this false sense of self by cultivating mindfulness using one of the four foundations as a starting point.

The buddha has never taught anything that is far from our mind and body. Everything he has taught is in our possession. The five aggregates is a system for receiving karma, and it is what causes rebirth. The five aggregates is the equipment we will need from the beginning through to the end of our journey.

In order to understand mindfulness, we need to understand the five aggregates well:

The five aggregates consist of the following:

  • The first one is rupa
  • The second one is vedana
  • The third is sanna
  • The fourth is sankhara
  • The fifth is vinnana

If you are attached to the five aggregates you will have to be reborn because of that emotion. So the five aggregates is the reason that we are attached and it is what takes us through samsara.

Enlightenment, at the end, is when we become detached from the five aggregrates.