Thay - Instructions on Walking Meditation, April, 1989

When you practice kin-hin, slow walking meditation in the hall, you do like that, breathing in, you make a step.

And each step should bring you happiness, otherwise it would not be worth practicing.  You practice the gatha, 'In, out,in, out,' and so on. And these steps are very healing.  It has the healing power.  So enjoy your walking in the meditation hall.  

If  you have 100 steps to make, these 100 steps are 100 gems.  And all of them have to bring peace and happiness to you.  All of them have the power to bring healing to you.

And the same thing can be applied when we practice walking meditation outside, only we walk more quickly, because if we go slow like this in the park, people will think it is too queer.  So instead of making one breath, one word, instead of making 'in, out', you can do like this- 'in, in, out, out',- it means one breath may be measured by two steps. 

And if your lungs want three, you give them three, 'in, in, in, out, out, out', it means my in breath goes with three steps, and my out breath goes with three steps.  

And maybe later, when I climb the slope of the hill, my lungs will say that two are enough.  So you say, 'in, in, out, out'.  So listen to the needs of your lungs, and give them the exact number of steps they need.  And you can enjoy repeating that gatha several times before you go back to 'in, in, out, out'.

And practicing walking meditation you combine the breathing and your steps, because between the steps and the breath there is the counting.  The counting, 'one, two', 'one, two'.  So the counting is an element that combines the breath and the step into one, and you only have one object of concentration.

And walk as if you breathe with your own feet. Concentrate your mind on the sole of your feet.  And walk as if you kiss the earth with your feet.  All the pleasant feeling should come through the sole of your feet.  Even though you breathe here, the concentraton may be on the sole of your feet.
And if you see something too beautiful to neglect, please feel free to stop and to contemplate it, to be in touch.

You stop, but let people continue, but with the condition that you should continue the breathing.

     'Breathing in, the pine is so beautiful,
      breathing out, so green,
      Breathing in, I am the pine, 
      breathing out, the pine is me'

You create your own gathas when you breathe like that, otherwise the pine tree will vanish and the thinking will be resettled here.  So, mindful breathing is to nourish the mindfulness of what is in the present moment.  And that is the technique, the secret of success.

Inside here, we just take one breath, one step.  And you know that the wooden floor, it is as wonderful as the grass outside.  It is the sunshine that has made the floor.  It is the cloud that brings the water to the trees that grow.  So when you walk on the wooden floor you may have the feeling that you are walking on the rain, on the clouds, on the sunshine.  It depends on how deep is your power of concentration, your mindfulness.  The deeper the mindfulness is the more pleasant the contact between you and the floor will be.  So mindfulness, awareness, is the base of your peace and your happiness.

It's like when you have a toothache, you got enlightened- you know that not having a toothache is a wonderful thing.  Right?  But that enlightenment you don't keep very long.  When you do not have a toothache, you don't feel very happy.  Because you don't nourish the mindfulness that not having a toothache is a wonderful thing.

We shall go out and practice, and enjoy our walking, walking, but not arriving.  We don't need to arrive.