Meditación Caminando en la Unificación del Cuerpo

En algunas escrituras se menciona que Buda andaba lentamente en el bosque, con el espíritu recogido, después de haberse sentado. Lo que se cultiva en la sesión sentada se aplica en la marcha.

Pero ¿qué significa esto? It is certain that walking meditation in terms of the basic mental state of silence, the presence of the breathing in and out as a background, remains the same but it neither implies that they should always be applied together or that both are essential.

What we can say however is that for Huineng "seated meditation" did not mean that one had to be seated in meditation. The idea was that the mind should be seated no matter what the body was doing and that those moments were indeed meditation.

But what about the formal meditation? It is not simply walking with the mind silenced, for even sitting in a formal physically seated meditation with the mind empty achieves nothing, as Huineng declared, except sitting there with an empty mind... Neither is therefore a valid meditation.

We should best call walking meditation 踥蹀, qiè dié, for walking here means motion. When we normally walk there is some intention present to achieve something other than walking... But walking meditation is being completely attentive to the act of walking and the characters 踥蹀 also mean "motion".

Now that makes the task clearer, for the attention is not externally on what is happening, but what is happening with regard to the motions of the body.

We can say then, "when walking be walking" and that means attending to nothing else with the mind.

What is this attention then...?

It is attending to the actual movements of the body when involved in walking.

We begin by watching the movements, but as we become more used to the idea we become attentive to the experiences involved in walking, the sensations of all tact which includes the proprioceptive experiences of movement.

Se anda lentamente, muy lentamente, colocamos la espalda recta, perpendicular al suelo, al ritmo de la inspiración y de la espiración del aliento. Se escucha la respiración, como se dice arriba, y nos ponemos a su ritmo respirando naturalmente. The most useful then to avoid thinking about the steps themselves is to walk with slow short steps with an inspiration with one foot and the expiration with the other.

This concentration upon the breath and the pace itself acts to still disturbing mental intrusions.

The posture should be erect and the hands stilled in one position, but an awareness must be obtained of the whole body, the defensive qi while maintaining the awareness of breath and walking. Los pies se colocan paralelos, separados la distancia de los hombros. Las rodillas están ligermente flexionadas, lo que permite que el peso lo soporten los músculos de las piernas y no la articulación de la rodilla.

As a general advice, although it should not be considered as ritual, the mano izquierda está cerrada en un relajado puño, con la mano derecha cubriéndola. Igual que en la sesión sentada, los pulgares se aprietan suavemente, pero se acepta también que los hombros se dejen caer relajados y que los brazos también se dejen caer de forma natural a ambos lados del cuerpo, con los dedos de las manos ligeramente separados y relajados.

La posición de los ojos es idéntica a la de la meditación sentada, los ojos están entreabiertos, la mirada baja delante de sí, con un ángulo de cuarenta y cinco grados.

Se anda como una pluma que flota en el espacio, sin fuerza y de manera natural.

What does one achieve with this form of walking, which can be performed in a closed circle or in a direct line backwards and forward?

We achieve two things. A stillness in the mind (not an emptiness) and an aware attention on the body motions, allowing the natural system to work for us without cognitive direction.