WALK TO NIBBĀNA (A Guide to Walking Meditation) Bhikkhu K. Ñāṇananda

The Importance of Walking Meditation

In the practice of meditation leading to Nibbāna, the two postures – sitting and walking are mutually helpful. Generally, we depict the idea of meditation by the figure of a person seated in the cross-legged posture. For that very reason the importance of walking meditation in the promenade (caṅkamana) is very often overlooked. When the Buddha was explaining the path of practice recommended for attaining Nibbāna with…… 

...it clear that the meditator should try to maintain the seated posture which is more restful and take to the walking posture (caṅkamana) only as the last resort in one’s course of training for overcoming drowsiness. One should not uncritically interpret the onset of drowsiness as an invitation to the promenade. Owing to the necessity of a fixed timetable, in some meditation centers, the routine of one hour sitting and one hour walking is recommended. It is true that it affords a certain amount of training to the beginner. But if even a beginner builds up some concentration (samādhi) towards the end of the period for sitting, it is not advisable to make it compulsory for him to break that samādhi and go to the caṅkamana.

However, it might occur to a certain meditator who had mastered the training for wakefulness (jāgariyānuyoga) by following the instructions given by the Buddha, that the ‘caṅkamana’ is more conducive to his concentration according to his character. If that is so, there is nothing wrong in his spending a greater part of his time in the caṅkamana. Generally speaking, the reclining posture is not very advisable for a meditator because of its proximity to sleep. But in the case of a meditator who has done excessive pacing up and down to the point of restlessness, it may so happen that in the reclining posture, his restlessness subsides allowing a balancing of spiritual faculties heralding the attainment of concentration and wisdom…….

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