Walking with awareness A guide to Walking Meditation

by Luang Por Liem
Thitadhammo

Translated by
Thaniyo Bhikku

If we are able to step on the surface of this earth with happiness and serenity, then there is no need at all to travel to the land of the Buddha. Both that which is mundane and  that which is pure are born right here in this heart of ours.

Walking jong-grom is a way to practise meditation while walking up and down. Cultivating this will bring happiness and serenity to our practice.

When walking meditation, we should move unhurriedly, with a peaceful and relaxed attitude, and a smile on our face. Walking, we have all the time in the world, and nothing else whatsoever that we have to do.

With every step, we let our worries and concerns fall away. We should take every single step in this way, for the sake of abiding in serene happiness.

This is not beyond our capability. Every one of us can do it, for we all truly wish to dwell in serene happiness.

Walking with ease

In our daily lives, the steps we take are laden with our anxieties and concerns-weighed down with fear. You could say our lives are built up on months and years of worry. That is why we cannot take our steps with ease.

This world is full of beauty, with many lovely and captivating paths to choose from. There are paths scented with the fragrance of blossoms, and arrayed with tasteful selections of colour.

But we pass by unaware, not pausing to admire our surroundings, with the faltering steps of one ill-at-ease.

Walking jong-grom involves re-training the way we walk- so that we learn to move with ease.

When I was new to this training of Dhamma-Vinaya, I initially walked without confidence, without steadiness. In the beginning we are all like this. But then, after not so many weeks, we are able to walk assuredly and steadily; clear, bright and calm-quite naturally.

Our lives are often haphazard and chaotic. We are continually rushed and under pressure due to this matter or that. We feel that we have to dash about constantly. But just where is it that we are rushing to? This is a question we tend not to ask ourselves.

Walking jong-grom is like taking a stroll. We don’t need to set any definite goal, or time-limit. We walk meditation just to walk meditation. The point is just to walk, without any goal to be reached. Walking meditation is not a method - it is an aim. Each step that we take is our life.

Serene happiness

Each step is serene happiness. That is the reason we don’t walk in a hurry. That is the reason we step with measured dignity. There’s nowhere we must get to, no goal to pull us forward. In this way, we walk mindfully, with contentment on our face.

We walk meditation to cast away our worries, once and for all.

Suppose that we had the eyes of the Buddha, we could see the footsteps of others impressed in the ground - engraved records of their worries and sadness. We would take note of these marks as we passed by, as a scientist observes micro-organisms through a microscope.

The secret of walking jong-grom is to walk in manner that will imprint nothing but peaceful happiness with each step. To walk like this, we must learn how to throw off all of our sadness and worries, without exception.

Walk in a place free from dust

We must walk in the way of one with no worries. This means to walk in a place of purity. In such a place, there is striking beauty, peace, and immense happiness.

Should you find yourself in such a place, in what manner would you walk? Can you really be sure that you would not leave impressions of the worry and sadness of the world, there in your footprints, in that pure place? If we bring sadness and worries, and print them into the ground, we will leave the earth tainted and blemished with traces of our gloom. If we are to live in this world serenely and happily, it is essential that we walk with peace and ease right from this moment on.

If we are able to step on the surface of this earth with happiness and serenity, then there is no need at all to travel to the land of the Buddha. Both that which is mundane and that which is pure are born right here in this heart of ours.

In any moment that we are free, peaceful and happy, the mundane is pure, and purity is mundane. There is nowhere at all that we need to go, and no need to depend upon the footsteps of the historical Buddha.

The moment we realise that the mundane and the pure truly are born from the heart, we are filled with happiness. We are happy because we know that there is both dust and freedom from that dust.

Should we open our eyes and stride, mindful, serene and happy, we will walk in that place of purity. This will be our inspiration to walk jong-grom every day.

To be continued