AN 5.29: Cankama Sutta — Walking

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gavesako
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Re: AN 5.29: Cankama Sutta — Walking

Post by gavesako »

Yes, it is more the Goenka centers which are "sitting only", whereas in Mahasi centers they do emphasise walking meditation as well -- sloooow walking, that is. I think this extremely slow method is based on the Abhidhamma mind-set underlying the whole Mahasi system, splitting up experience into the smallest possible "bits" conceptually and then trying to perceive them. I don't find this emphasis in the Suttas though.
How fast should you walk? Ajahn Chah recommended walking naturally, not too slow or too fast. If you walk fast, you might find it very difficult to concentrate on the sensation of feeling arising and passing away. You may need to slow down. On the other hand, some people may need to speed up. You have to find your own pace, whatever works for you. You can begin slowly at first then gradually come to your normal walking pace.
If your mindfulness is weak (meaning your mind wanders a lot), then walk very slowly until you can stay in the present moment of each step.

There is a difference between just casual "pacing up and down" which prince Jayasena was doing, and the walking (cankama) referred to here. In the Sutta passage it says that the monk "determines (a path for) walking" (cankamam adhitthati) back and forth, focusing on the length of the space.
Bhikkhu Gavesako
Kiṃkusalagavesī anuttaraṃ santivarapadaṃ pariyesamāno... (MN 26)

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gavesako
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Re: AN 5.29: Cankama Sutta — Walking

Post by gavesako »

The importance of walking as a dynamic activity was recognized by some Greek philosophers and also:
“Above all, do not lose your desire to walk. Everyday, I walk myself into a state of well-being & walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it. But by sitting still, & the more one sits still, the closer one comes to feeling ill. Thus if one just keeps on walking, everything will be all right.”

“The task must be made difficult, for only the difficult inspires the noble-hearted.”
― Søren Kierkegaard
Bhikkhu Gavesako
Kiṃkusalagavesī anuttaraṃ santivarapadaṃ pariyesamāno... (MN 26)

Access to Insight - Theravada texts
Ancient Buddhist Texts - Translations and history of Pali texts
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mikenz66
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Re: AN 5.29: Cankama Sutta — Walking

Post by mikenz66 »

Thanks for the references, Bhante. The article by Ajahn Nyanadhammo:
Three Expositions on Walking Meditation
http://www.bps.lk/olib/wh/wh464-p.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
has a number of excellent sutta references.

:anjali:
Mike
lojong1
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Re: AN 5.29: Cankama Sutta — Walking

Post by lojong1 »

gavesako wrote:...focusing on the length of the space.
Much like the length of the breath-body.
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Sam Vara
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Re: AN 5.29: Cankama Sutta — Walking

Post by Sam Vara »

gavesako wrote:The importance of walking as a dynamic activity was recognized by some Greek philosophers and also:
“Above all, do not lose your desire to walk. Everyday, I walk myself into a state of well-being & walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it. But by sitting still, & the more one sits still, the closer one comes to feeling ill. Thus if one just keeps on walking, everything will be all right.”

“The task must be made difficult, for only the difficult inspires the noble-hearted.”
― Søren Kierkegaard
Interesting echo of Kierkegaard's point about walking away from every illness in artist and film-maker Derek Jarman's dying lament (in his film "Blue")
The Gautama Buddha instructs me to walk away from illness. But he wasn't attached to a drip.
I previously thought that Jarman was over-literalising something he had read in the Suttas, but he might have been confusing this with Kierkegaard.
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Sam Vara
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Re: AN 5.29: Cankama Sutta — Walking

Post by Sam Vara »

mikenz66 wrote:Since the point of the suttas is to inform practice, does anyone have further comments on their experience of the relative stability of concentration developed when walking rather than sitting?

:anjali:
Mike
Not based on personal experience (!) but it might be worth noting that Nanavira thought that he "entered the stream" while undertaking walking meditation:
HOMAGE TO THE AUSPICIOUS ONE, WORTHY, FULLY AWAKENED. - At one time the monk Nanavira was staying in a forest hut near Bundala village. It was during that time, as he was walking up and down in the first watch of the night, that the monk Nanavira made his mind quite pure of constraining things, and kept thinking and pondering and reflexively observing the Dhamma as he had heard and learnt it, the clear and stainless Eye of the Dhamma arose in him: "Whatever has the nature of arising, all that has the nature of ceasing." Having been a teaching-follower for a month, he became one attained to right view.
(Recorded in his private notebook, and published after his death).
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mikenz66
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Re: AN 5.29: Cankama Sutta — Walking

Post by mikenz66 »

Thanks Sam,

Does anyone have a reference to Ven Ananda's full awakening? As I recall he was walking, determined to achieve arahantship on the eve of the the First Council (since otherwise he would be the only non-arahant --- he was a stream-enterer at the time). He decided he had too much energy and should do some meditation lying down. During the change in position from standing to lying down he became an arahant. This story is often told on retreats to emphasise how important it is to be mindful at all times.

I think that the account is in the Vinaya somewhere.

:anjali:
Mike
Sylvester
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Re: AN 5.29: Cankama Sutta — Walking

Post by Sylvester »

Hi Mike
Then the venerable Ananda, thinking : “ Tomorrow is the
assembly. Now it is not suitable in me that I, being (only)
a learner, should go to the assembly,” and having passed much
of that night in mindfulness as to body, when the night was
nearly spent thinking : “ I will lie down,” he inclined his body,
but (before) his head had touched the mattress and while his
feet were free from the ground— in that interval his mind was
freed from the cankers with no residuum (for rebirth) remaining.
Then the venerable Ananda, being a perfected one, went to
the assembly.
from Horner's translation of the Culavagga, p 395 - 396, Vol V.

Thus awakened in none of the 4 iriyāpatha .
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Anagarika
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Re: AN 5.29: Cankama Sutta — Walking

Post by Anagarika »

I may be slightly off topic but can't resist mentioning a fine book that I am reading now. It's focus is on walking meditation, and it goes inside the sutta based instructions, and goes outside the suttas to discuss walking meditation in its many practice forms. The author is a Tendai priest, who also trained and ordained earlier in his life in Thailand. It's a good read for anyone with an interest in walking meditation:

http://walklikeamountain.blogspot.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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zavk
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Re: AN 5.29: Cankama Sutta — Walking

Post by zavk »

mikenz66 wrote:Since the point of the suttas is to inform practice, does anyone have further comments on their experience of the relative stability of concentration developed when walking rather than sitting?

:anjali:
Mike
Hi Mike

As it turns out, I developed a new appreciation for walking meditation when I stayed at Ajahn Kalyano's monastery, Bodhivana, a couple of weeks ago. While I now hope to practice it more regularly, in the past, I've only done walking meditation very occasionally, so I don't yet feel confident or competent enough to comment on the quality of concentration that could be developed through walking. What I will say, however, is simply that my experience of walking meditation at this recent retreat has prompted a reconsideration of some of the unacknowledged assumptions - and I would even say, conceits - I had about formal practice. At the monastery, I also chanced upon and found inspiration in Ajaan Khao Analayo's biography, which is divided intro three sections, each beginning with:

When Ajaan Khao lived in the forests and the
mountains, he got the local villagers to lay out
three different paths for walking meditation. The
first path he used for paying homage to the Lord
Buddha, the second for homage to the Dhamma,
and the third for homage to the Sangha. He
walked caçkama on these three paths at three
different times each day.

As soon as he had finished his morning meal, he
began walking meditation on the Buddha Pūjā.

...

In the early afternoon, he started walking on
the path dedicated to Dhamma Pūjā.

...

In the early evening, he began walking
meditation on the path reserved for Sangha Pūjā.

Available here: http://www.abhayagiri.org/books/venerab ... o-anaalayo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
With metta,
zavk
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