Walking Meditation

Wherever we walk, we can practice meditation. This means that we know that we are walking. We walk just for walking. We walk with freedom and solidity, no longer in a hurry. We are present with each step. And when we wish to talk we stop our movement and give our full attention to the other person, to our words and to listening.
Walking in this way should not be a privilege. We should be able to do it in every moment. Look around and see how vast life is, the trees, the white clouds, the limitless sky. Listen to the birds. Feel the fresh breeze. Life is all around and we are alive and healthy and capable of walking in peace. Let us walk as a free person and feel our steps get lighter. Let us enjoy every step we make. Each step is nourishing and healing. As we walk, imprint our gratitude and our love on the earth. We may like to use a gatha as we walk. Taking two or three steps for each in-breath and each out-breath,

Thich Nhat Hanh

Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh
Organisation: The Community of Mindful Living
Source: Web site: www.iamhome.org

Lineage: The Community of Mindful Living (CML) is guided by the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings for Engaged Buddhism of the Order of Interbeing–the Tiep Hien Order. Tiep means “being in touch with” and “continuing.” Hien means “realizing” and “making it here and now.” The Order of Interbeing was formed by Thich Nhat Hanh in the mid-1960s, at a time when the Vietnam War was escalating and the teachings of the Buddha were desperately needed to combat the hatred, violence, and divisiveness enveloping his country. From its inception and in the present, the Order was comprised of all four membership categories of the original Buddhist community–monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen.

The Hippie Era – 1969 79

Hippies are against fur coats. (again, because we must love one another, including animals and plants, and everything!) They also do not believe in “testing on animals”, which is only right! Why don’t they do the tests on actual humans?
Hippies, in other words, were “naturalists”… They wanted nothing more than peace, love and happiness. (And I wonder if the assassination of John Lennon was because the government was afraid to have everyone happy, because then they wouldn’t be in control…) Who knows? But I know this much- Hippies, in 1969, were mostly happy, and this was mostly due to yoga, meditation, mind-over-matter, “inner peace”… and some fancy-named drugs. (reefer, magic mushrooms, acid, coke, LSD, heroine… actually, they came out with some pretty cool names for these drugs, but the outcomes were tragic…)

Matthieu Ricard

Matthieu Ricard – Buddhist Monk, Photographer, Scientist, and Happiness Expert
Matthieu Ricard is a Buddhist monk who resides at the Shechen Tennyi Dargyeling Monastery in Nepal. He was born in 1946 in Paris, France. His father, Jean-Francois Revel–born Jean-Francois Ricard–was a renowned French philosopher, and Matthieu grew up among the French personalities and intellectuals of the time.
Ricard first traveled to India in 1967. Then, after completing his doctoral thesis in molecular genetics at the Institut Pasteur in 1972, Ricard decided to forsake his scientific career and concentrate on the practice of Tibetan Buddhism.

Ricard lived in the Himalayas studying with the Kangyur Rinpoche and some other great masters of that tradition and became the close student and attendant of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche until his passing in 1991. Since then, Ricard has dedicated his activities to fulfilling Khyentse Rinpoche’s vision. He has been dubbed the “happiest person in the world” by scientists.

Mindfulness Training

Mindfulness is the energy of being aware and awake to the present moment. It is the continuous practice of touching life deeply in every moment of daily life. To be mindful is to be truly alive, present and at one with those around you and with what you are doing. We bring our body and mind into harmony while we wash the dishes, drive the car or take our morning shower. Here in Blue Cliff Monastery, we do very much the same things as when we are at home- walking, sitting, working, eating, etc.- except now we learn to do them with mindfulness, with an awareness that we are doing it.