Shamatha through walking meditation?

[Maan]

Hello Everyone,

 

I'm wondering whether it is or could be possible to achieve shamatha as it is defined by Alan Wallace by doing a considerable amount or even mostly walking meditation. The latter i have done by eihter keeping my awareness in my feet and then mentally saying right left when the respective foot hits the ground or by keeping the focus on the breath while walking and counting the breaths.

 

Ajahn Brahm mentions walking meditation in his main book but said that deeper jhanic states could not be accessed in this way. He also wrote however that one could achieve enlightenment in this manner though.

 

Sincerely,

M

[yabyum24]

Hi Maan,

I don't know how Wallace defines it but I would advise getting an experience of it in seated meditation first. Then progress to walking when you have.

 

The reason being, that it's essential to remove (as far as possible) any extraneous distractions or considerations, like counting and so on. It's enough to bring the awareness to the breath and see what happens then.

 

Teachings on anapanasati are very effective.

[C T]

Do prostrations in addition to sitting and walking. Please...

 

Try it for 21 days and report the benefits!

[Seeker of Wisdom]

I don't think it's possible to achieve access concentration from walking meditation. It's not possible to focus the whole mind on one thing while doing any other activity (apart from things like breathing and digestion of course).

 

In access concentration, absolutely no mental activity is going on apart from focus on the object, you would not be discerning 'now my left foot is hitting the ground' because that simple inference is drawing on memory, language, notions of time... things like this and counting are fine, do them if they work at this stage, but just be aware that they can't lead all the way.

 

You will be using some conscious intention to walk, putting some awareness into your surroundings, and subconscious mental processes will be going on for balance and such.

 

You can get quite far in shamatha with walking meditation, it's practical if you're getting tired, and it's fine for vipashyana or 4 immeasurables. To get all the way to access concentration or the jhanas, though, ultimately requires prioritising practice sitting or lying down.

 

Once you have mastered a jhana, however, you could if desired dip in and out of it during the tiny pauses between motions as you walk.

 

Hope that helps.

Edited October 23, 2013 by Seeker of Tao

[Maan]

Okay, thanks everyone .

[PimonratC]

There are some important thing you may need to know.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJBERBnnDV0

 

 

This video is helpful for meditation and mindfulness.

 

 

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