I'm not trying in any way to dismiss walking meditation. It's a wonderful practice. Thank you for stipulating that. Practices that don't give rise to jhana directly are still worth just as much. And that's not just meditation. Just as an example, following the precepts quite obviously (at least to me) doesn't immediately result in jhana. Still, without these we wouldn't get very far.tiltbillings wrote:One can reach with walking meditation very profound levels of "absorbed" concetration. Often we do not give this practice the credit it is due. But the primary question is, of course, what is meant by jhana/absoprtion. Opinions vary.reflection wrote:Jhana is absorption. So to enter jhana without absorption is impossible. And absorption naturally is in one object, in the case of jhana the mind. So it's also not reasonably possible to enter it while walking.
With metta,
Reflection
I wouldn't say the question is 'what is meant by jhana', but 'what is jhana'. And opinions vary on this, indeed. But some idea of what practices make it possible is also partly answering that question in a way. Of course, opinions vary. What I say is my view, what somebody else says is theirs. But every post here could use such a disclaimer and it would get quite tiresome to add it every time. Still useful to point it out once more, I agree.
But more on topic perhaps: One other piece of evidence why jhana is something not attained during most activities, is the fact the Buddha wasn't always in jhana. He had to enter it too, applying some effort to get there.
With metta,
Reflection